As Crucial Tests Loom, Clinton Hits Harder
She Says Obama Isn't Ready to Be President
By Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 21, 2008; Page A01
NEW YORK, Feb. 20 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a tough new offensive against Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday, asserting flatly that her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination is not prepared to serve as commander in chief. "It is time to get real -- to get real about how we actually win this election, and get real about the challenges facing America," the senator from New York told a cheering crowd at Hunter College in Manhattan.
Resounding Obama victories on Tuesday in Wisconsin and Hawaii pushed the senator from Illinois further ahead in the delegate count and have turned the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4 into do-or-die battles for Clinton. After 10 straight defeats, she now trails Obama in overall delegates 1,351 to 1,262, according to an Associated Press tally, and faces a dwindling number of opportunities to slow her rival's pursuit of the 2,025 delegates needed to claim the party's nomination. The first chance will come Thursday night in Austin, where the two will debate.
Clinton's 17-percentage-point loss in Wisconsin was especially crushing, a sign that her criticisms of Obama -- which were most intense during the Badger State showdown -- did little to sway voters to her camp.
But instead of shifting course, Clinton redoubled her attempt to undermine his change-oriented message. "One of us is ready to be commander in chief," she told the crowd in New York. "Let's get real. Let's get real about this election, let's get real about our future, let's get real about what it is we can do together." Obama has had a "good couple of weeks," she allowed, but said his victories had come in states that he was expected to win. Clinton predicted that when voters in Ohio and Texas have the opportunity to take his measure, his run of success will end....
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, senior Clinton advisers vowed to press Obama on his readiness for the White House, arguing that the only reason that message has not been successful so far is that Obama was able to outspend Clinton in the recent string of contests. Now, chief strategist Mark Penn said, Clinton will draw distinctions with Obama more sharply....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/20/ST2008022002981.html