Barack Obama Blasts Bill Clinton for ‘Mischaracterizing’ His Words
by FOXNews.com
Monday, January 21, 2008
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama turned his fight against rival Hillary Rodham Clinton toward her husband, former President Bill Clinton, on Monday accusing him of “completely mischaracterizing” Obama’s words.
Obama’s taped remarks about Bill Clinton were made in an interview that appeared on a morning television network. They come on the heels of the Illinois senator’s loss to Clinton in the Nevada caucuses and continue the recent trade of barbs between the two campaigns over race and voter disenfranchisement.
“I have to say just broadly, you know, the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling,” Obama said.
“If you have something that just directly contradicts the facts and it’s coming from a former president, I think that’s a problem, because people presume that a former president is going to have more credibility. And I think there are certain responsibilities that are carried with that.” he said.
Referring to a specific incident in which Clinton remarked on statements Obama made that Ronald Reagan had shifted the way America thought, Obama said, “President Clinton went in front of a large group, said that I had claimed that only Republicans had had any good ideas since 1980. And then he added, ‘I’m not making this up.’ He was making it up and completely mischaracterizing my statement.”
Responding to Obama’s statements, the Clinton campaign posted a fact-check on a campaign Web site to bolster Bill Clinton’s arguments against Obama.
“We understand Senator Obama is frustrated by his loss in Nevada, but facts are facts,” Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer said.
Obama countered that on several occasions, Bill Clinton has taken his words and twisted them to distort his record.
“You know, he continues to make statements that aren’t supported by the facts, whether it’s about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq, or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas. You know, this has become a habit. And one of the things that I think we’re going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he’s not making statements that are factually accurate,” he said.
When asked if he believed Bill Clinton is taking an appropriate role on his wife’s campaign, Obama said that while he understood that Bill Clinton would want to support his wife’s campaign — much like Michele Obama is supporting his own campaign — “there should be some standards of honesty in any political discourse. That’s part of the change that I want to bring about.”
In the interview with ABC News, Obama also countered claims by the former president that vote-tampering in Nevada appeared to benefit Obama. He said Clinton is also bending the truth about that. While not refuting that improper activity might have taken place on behalf of his supporters, Obama said, “What I’m absolutely sure about is that if there was improper activity, it was taking place on behalf of Clinton supporters who we know were trying to get doors closed before people went in.”
The Obama campaign is looking into whether Nevada caucus sites closed early to prevent Obama supporters from voting. Nevada Democratic Party rules said caucus sites had to stay open until noon on primary day.
Obama campaign attorney Bob Bauer said that’s not what happened. There was a “significant amount of reporting from precinct locations that doors were closing well before noon, many times as early as 11:30.”
Campaign officials said they also got reports that a manual had been distributed to Clinton precinct captains that said that registration deadline for caucuses ended at 11:30. They had an “unusual high number reports that the Clinton campaign was insisting on this.”
The Obama camp said it was not “not calling the results into question at all,” but merely said the effort to close doors early disenfranchised people. Campaign officials also argued that their motive is not to protect only Obama voters, but to make sure all voters who wanted to participate could do so.
The Obama campaign contends that because of the high turn out and the pressure on campaign staff, the Clinton people abided by their own rules and not by party rules.
The campaign was notifying the Nevada Democratic Party and requesting that they and the Democratic National Committee investigate to “collect all the relevant facts.”
Meanwhile, Obama and Hillary Clinton face off again Saturday in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel are also vying for the nomination in that state.
FOX News’ Bonney Kapp and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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