Clinton camp targets Obama adviser saying neither candidate ready for 3 a.m. call David Edwards and Nick Juliano

Published: Thursday March 6, 2008



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Print This Email This Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's campaigns continued to battle Thursday over national security credentials with Clinton attempting to pin a damaging "YouTube moment" on its opponent. Clinton distributed a clip of Obama adviser Susan Rice arguing that neither candidate would be ready for the type of 3 a.m. phone call Clinton portrayed in a recent ad. A cable host asked when Obama had been in the position to handle a similar crisis. "He hasn't. And he hasn't claimed that he's been in a position to have to answer the phone at three o'clock in the morning in a crisis situation," Rice said on MSNBC Wednesday night. "That's the difference between the two of them. Hillary Clinton hasn't had to answer the phone at three o'clock in the morning, and yet she attacked Barack Obama for not being ready. They're both not ready to have that phone call." She went on to echo the Obama campaign's contention that he would exercise better judgement in a crisis than Clinton, who voted in favor of the resolution that authorized the war in Iraq. The New York Times reported that Clinton's campaign was distributing an edited clip of the exchange. And Clinton advisers noted Rice's comments in a memo sent to reporters Thursday afternoon. "With one of his top foreign policy advisers acknowledging yesterday that he is not ready to take the 3am call ... Senator Obamas time would be better spent making the case for why he can do the most important job in the world just three years out of the state senate," read the campaign release. With John McCain securing the Republican presidential nomination, national security and terror fears are likely going to remain on voters' minds through November. Both Democrats are trying to convince their party's voters that they would be better suited to challenge the Vietnam War veteran on these issues. Rice has previously argued that Obama would have more foreign policy experience when he is sworn in than did President Bush or former Presidents Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Cater. Hillary Clinton's phone call ad was seen by some as inadvertently aiding McCain by questioning Obama's experience. Some say Rice's comments similarly aided the GOP nominee. "Did John McCain say that?" Commentary magazine's Jennifer Rubin asked about Rice's comment. "Nope. Susan Rice, a top Barack Obama advisor. That fundamentally is the problem with the Clinton attack and Obamas counterattack." Foreign Policy dubbed Rice the "Worst foreign-policy spokesperson ever." On a conference call earlier Thursday, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson accused Obama's campaign of relying on negative attacks -- mostly accusing Clinton of having something to hide by not releasing her tax returns -- in the wake of questions over his security credentials. It created an odd dynamic after a week of calls leading up to Tuesday's primary during which Clinton advisers launched similar attacks at Obama, raising questions about his relationship with Tony Rezko. "When Sen. Obama was confronted with questions over whether he was ready to be commander in chief or steward of the economy, he chose not to address those questions and instead to attack Sen. Clinton," Wolfson said. "And I do not think that imitating Ken Star is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president, but perhaps that theory will be tested." Obama's top spokesman, Bill Burton, fired back in an e-mail to reporters: "It is absurd that after weeks of badgering the media to vet Senator Obama, the Clinton campaign believes that they should be held to an entirely different standard. We dont believe that expecting candidates for the presidency to disclose their tax returns somehow constitutes Ken Starr-tactics, but the kind of transparency and accountability that Americans are looking for and thats been missing in Washington for far too long. And if Senator Clinton doesnt think that the Republicans will ask these very same questions, then shes not as ready to go toe-to-toe with John McCain as she claims," he said. Obama's camp later pointed to this reminder that Clinton's campaign, and Wolfson in particular, seemed to be making precisely the opposite argument about releasing its tax returns as it did in 2000, when Clinton's campaign for Senate in New York made her opponent's failure to release his returns an issue. Wolfson said 20 years of Clinton's tax returns had been released, and he promised that the former First Lady's post-2001 returns would be made public "on or about April 15." He promised their release would come before Pennsylvania's primary a week later. This video is from MSNBC's Tucker, broadcast March 5, 2008.





