    
Chrishayden
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Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3405
Registered: 03-2004
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Votes: 0 | | Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 - 02:44 pm: | |
She must destroy Obama
Hillary Works To Reclaim Political Initiative
Obama Announcement Puts Burden On Unofficial Front-Runner
Some Call Obama 'The Anti-Hillary'
See Also -- Newsmakers Remembered
(CBS) NEW YORK Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is throwing his hat into the ring for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He's the sixth Democrat to officially enter the race. Now, the focus is on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who remains officially un-declared -- but not necessarily for long.
Obama's announcement is seen as a direct challenge to Clinton. So much so that her staff is scrambling to reclaim the political initiative.
Fresh back from a trip to the Middle East, Clinton appeared on the major talk shows Wednesday morning, amid speculation that she would push forward the date of her announcement for president.
On one early morning broadcast, Clinton called the road to the Democratic nomination "the beginning of a long process" She dodged questions about her own plans to enter the race for the nomination.
She was more outspoken about the war in Iraq, however.
"The Bush administration has frankly failed to put any leverage on this government," Clinton said on CBS' "The Early Show." She did not say whether she would vote to block funding for Bush's troop increase.
New Kind Of Candidate?
If, as Marshall McLuhan once said, "The medium is the message," then Obama's announcement on the Web rather than on TV hints of a new kind of candidate.
In his announcement, Obama spoke of "a different kind of politics."
But his candidacy is also setting up an old-fashioned political dogfight against the up-to-now perceived frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Clinton.
In fact, some are calling Obama the anti-Hillary.
It's a race full of symbolism.
The man who could be the first black president is facing off against the woman who could be the first female president.
It is a potential contest of one who opposed the Iraq war from the beginning versus one who voted for it.
But it's already more than a two-person race.
Former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards made his own waves this weekend when he came into Clinton's New York territory with a speech at Riverside Church.
Waiting in the wings is former Vice President Al Gore, who actually won the popular vote for president in 2000.
Clinton is expected to highlight her long political experience versus Obama's mere two years in the Senate.
Clinton has called Obama "terrific" and an "exciting personality," but has also gently jabbed at his lack of experience. Clinton has said that voters would decide if Obama is experienced enough to be president.
For his part, Obama will be invoking Abraham Lincoln from his home state of Illinois. Lincoln had served only two years in the House before he was elected president in 1860.
BY JOHN METAXAS, CBS 2 NEWS
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Americans Southern states? Them good ole boyz hate Hillary with a passion? |