Clinton and Obama Spar Over the Economy
By Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny
KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Underscoring the fierce competition to win the Iowa presidential caucuses in January, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton this morning intensified her critique of a leading Democratic rival, Barack Obama, suggesting that he lacked her ability and experience to manage the economy.
Mr. Obama, who was also campaigning in Iowa, pushed back swiftly and with humor, saying he did not know “exactly what experiences she’s claiming” and pointing out that she herself had never held a job like, say, Treasury Secretary.
Both candidates seized on and elevated the economy as a major new sparring point Monday, reflecting the mounting concerns among Americans, not to mention Democratic primary voters, about employment, mortgage foreclosures, and rising oil, gas, and energy bills as the winter approaches. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama, along with former Senator John Edwards, are bunched closely together in public opinion polls of likely Iowa caucus-goers, with each of the three searching for issues and a message to break ahead of the Democratic pack.
Mrs. Clinton has outlined her major economic proposals in past speeches, including ideas to create 5 million new jobs through energy research and aid Americans facing mortgage foreclosures. Her thrust today was that the American economy has been damaged with deficits, tax cuts for wealthy Americans, and other choices by the Bush administration, and that the nation needed an experienced fiscal steward in its next president.
Mrs. Clinton did not criticize Mr. Obama by name today (she rarely does), but aides said she was referring to him as she said – in an economic policy speech here – that the next president needs preparation to deal with “eight years of neglect and mismanagement.”
“There is one job we can’t afford on-the-job training for – that’s the job of our next president,” Mrs. Clinton said. “That could be the costliest job training in history. Every day that’s spent learning the ropes is another day of rising costs, mounting deficits, and growing anxiety for our families. And they cannot afford to keep waiting.”
“We need a president who understands the magnitude and complexity of the challenges we face – and has the strength and experience to address them from day one,” she continued, speaking at a school here.
Mrs. Clinton also made a glancing hit on the push by Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards, and others to undertake a major overhaul of Social Security, which, Mrs. Clinton has asserted, they would pursue by raising taxes at a trillion-dollar level. Mrs. Clinton has called for appointing a bipartisan commission to study the issue.
“We don’t need more Republican scare tactics about a social security crisis and we don’t need a trillion dollar tax increase,” she said.
Not far away in the town of Fort Dodge, Mr. Obama smiled when told of Mrs. Clinton’s jab about on-the-job training.
“I agree,” he told reporters at a press conference, which he called to promote his own economic plan to boost community colleges.
Obama on the Trail (mp3)
In Iowa today, Barack Obama responded to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s critique of his “experience.”A bit later, when asked specifically about experience running the economy, Mr. Obama fought back.
“I am happy to compare my experiences to hers when it comes to the economy,” he said. “My understanding was that she wasn’t Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration, so I don’t know exactly what experiences she’s claiming.”
He added: “I think she’s a capable person. She’s been a senator, like I have. Rather than just assert experience, if she has specific differences with me with respect to economic policy, I’m happy to have those debates. T his sort of general notion of experience based on longevity in Washington, I don’t think is sufficient to make the case to the voters of Iowa or the American people.”
By Mrs. Clinton’s standards, it was a pretty tough hit against a Democratic rival, and advisers said it was part of her campaign’s strategy to take on Mr. Obama in Iowa as she seeks to edge out him and Mr. Edwards. The hit was also noteworthy because most of her economic speeches have dwelled on her criticisms of President Bush, rather than pay notice to her Democratic rivals.
Messrs. Obama and Edwards have criticized Mrs. Clinton for pursuing a general election strategy instead of a primary strategy, suggesting that she is taking victory for granted; in mixing it up with Mr. Obama, at least, Mrs. Clinton is signaling in part that she does not believe she is entitled to anything.
Mrs. Clinton also criticized the Republican presidential field, though she did not single out leading candidates like Rudolph W. Giuliani or Mitt Romney, who attack her by name on an almost daily basis.
‘What is truly amazing is that the Republican candidates for president are determined to continue these failed policies,” Mrs. Clinton said about the Bush administration’s agenda. “In fatc, we can describe their approach to the economy in four simple words: More of the same.”
“In short, they see eight years of Bush economics and say, why not eight more? Well, here’s my response to that: You’ve got until January 20, 2009, and not another day more,” she said, referring to Inauguration Day.
The substance of the Clinton speech was largely a summary of economic policy ideas that Mrs. Clinton has previously outlined. In terms of new proposals, she called for doubling the amount of federal housing aid for counseling people who face foreclosures and mortgage crises, and increasing emergency energy assistance to help an additional one million families help pay their bills. |
