Democratic
senator Barack Obama said a Hillary Rodham Clinton
presidency would be a step back to the past, turning
her husband's image of a bridge to the future against
her. The former first lady decried the tenor of his
comments in an interview with the Associated Press.
''I know it is
tempting -- after another presidency by a man named George
Bush -- to simply turn back the clock, and to build a bridge
back to the 20th century,'' Obama said Wednesday in
Denver.
''It's not enough
to say you'll be ready from day 1 -- you have to be
right from day 1,'' he added in unmistakable criticisms of
Clinton, who often claims she's better prepared to
govern, and her husband, who pledged during his own
presidency to build a bridge to the 21st century.
Within hours,
Hillary Clinton pushed back in an interview with the AP --
and got in her own dig.
''That certainly
sounds audacious, but not hopeful,'' said Clinton, in a
play on the title of Obama's book, The Audacity of
Hope. ''It's not hopeful and it's not what we
should be talking about in this campaign,'' said
Clinton, suggesting Obama was abandoning the core of his
campaign.
''I would
certainly, through you, hope we could get back to talking
about the issues, drawing the contrasts that are based
in fact that have a connection to the American
people,'' said Clinton.
In his speech,
Obama depicted Clinton as a calculating, poll-tested
divisive figure who will only inspire greater partisan
divisions as she sides with Republicans on issues such
as trade, the role of lobbyists in politics, and
national security. At the same time, he elevated McCain,
fresh off a victory in Florida's crucial primary, as the
likely Republican nominee.
In the AP
interview, Clinton vowed to take the high road and warned
that voters in the mega-primaries next week expect
that.
''I'm going to
continue to talk to people about what we need to do in our
country to try to lift people up, to keep focused on the
future, to be very specific about what I want to do as
president, because I want to be held accountable,''
said Clinton.
Obama drew more
than 10,000 people to his speech at the University of
Denver. They packed a hockey arena and crammed into two
overflow rooms and still were lined up outside to get
in. Colorado is a caucus state, one of 22 to hold
nominating contests Tuesday, and is one of a handful of
states where the Obama campaign is predicting victory.
Clinton has the advantage in several others, while
several are still up for grabs.
''Democrats will
win in November and build a majority in Congress not by
nominating a candidate who will unite the other party
against us, but by choosing one who can unite this
country around a movement for change,'' Obama said,
speaking as rival John Edwards was pulling out of the race
in New Orleans, leaving a Clinton-Obama fight for the
Democratic nomination.
''It is time for
new leadership that understands the way to win a debate
with John McCain, or any Republican who is nominated, is not
by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting
for the war in Iraq or who agreed with him in voting
to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran,
who agrees with him in embracing the Bush-Cheney policy of
not talking to leaders we don't like, who actually differed
with him by arguing for exceptions for torture before
changing positions when the politics of the moment
changed,'' Obama said.
''We need to
offer the American people a clear contrast on national
security, and when I am the nominee of the Democratic Party,
that is exactly what I will do,'' he said.
The two rivals
fought hard prior to the South Carolina primary, but the
tenor has eased a bit since then.
''I've been
trying to keep this on a level where the contrasts and
comparisons are certainly fair; this is an election after
all,'' said Clinton. ''I've been trying very hard to
set the right tone, to be focused on bringing the
party together, bringing the country together, but
around specific goals.''
Clinton spent her
day in Little Rock, before heading to Atlanta for
speeches to the Southern Baptist Convention and a major
Democratic fund-raiser. She took a colorful diversion
on the trip to Atlanta, heading down the aisle of her
campaign plane serving peach cobbler to reporters and
staffers.
''It was fresh
this morning,'' said Clinton. ''I love anything peach.''
Obama said he
understands voters might feel some comfort at the idea of
returning to another President Clinton after eight years of
Bush. But he cautioned voters not to buy the argument
that Clinton's experience is what the country needs.
''It is about the
past versus the future,'' he said. ''And when I am the
nominee, the Republicans won't be able to make this election
about the past.
''If you choose
change, you will have a nominee who doesn't just tell
people what they want to hear,'' Obama told them.
''Poll-tested positions, calculated answers might be
how Washington confronts challenges, but it's not how
you overcome those challenges; it's not how you
inspire our nation to come together behind a common purpose,
and it's not what America needs right now. You need a
candidate who will tell you the truth.''
Later Wednesday,
Obama gave a 10-minute talk by live broadcast to a joint
meeting in Atlanta of four historically black Baptist
denominations, where Clinton was to appear in person
later. These groups produced some of the most
prominent civil rights leaders, including the Reverend
Martin Luther King Jr., whom Obama quoted.
''Pastors are
pushing this movement forward,'' Obama said of his
campaign, ''and I need each and every one of you in this
fight.''
He asked the
audience to imagine what it would mean for the country to
see him with his hand on the Bible, taking the presidential
oath of office.
''Our children
will look at themselves differently and their
possibilities differently. They'll look at each other
differently,'' he said.
Clinton addressed
the same group with a theme that aides described as a
call for togetherness they contrasted with Obama's
criticism. ''Let us consider how we may spur one
another to love and good deeds,'' Clinton said. She
ended the day with a speech to a rowdy fund-raising dinner.
''This has been a
vigorous campaign,'' she said. ''Whatever differences
we have, they pale with the differences we have with
Republicans.'' (Nedra Pickler, AP)