Change vs. experience for Democrats
Obama's main asset is that he is more likable. Hillary's main asset is that she has much of the old Clinton team ready to retake their executive branch offices. It is not so much her experience, which is not much more than Obama's, but the experience of the Clinton team she is selling. She is mainly running for a Clinton third term. Obama should counter this with the fact that many on her team will be willing to take jobs in his administration too. However, the choice for Democrats is still not very appealing. Both have been wrong on Iraq all year. Both want to impose control freak solutions rather than market solutions to problems and both want to raise your taxes.THE BATTLE between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards has long been cast as experience versus change - and now change is on the move.
Her lengthier service in the US Senate, combined with her days as first lady, has given Clinton the aura of a candidate ready on day one to be president, while Obama and Edwards are seen as less experienced figures whose real appeal is the more dramatic change they represent. And as for the truly experienced Democrats, Bill Richards, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd? With the media focused on a three-horse race, they simply haven't garnered the attention they merit.
For most of the year, the clear advantage was Clinton's. But now, with campaign crunch time upon us, the dynamic is starting to shift - and it obviously has the Clinton campaign rattled.
The growing desire for change is most evident in lead-off Iowa, where a couple of new polls show that Obama has caught Clinton and may even have inched a little ahead, with Edwards a very close third.
You can certainly see why Obama is generating renewed excitement. When he's good, he's very, very good - and on Sunday night in Boston, the Illinois senator had a large crowd enraptured as he made his case.
Clearly worried, Clinton is now questioning Obama's political courage and commitment - and even suggesting that there may be issues with his character.
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The real issue, he says, is this: "Who has the leadership to be able to bring all of the parties together to actually solve this problem and mobilize the American people so that we can actually get it done? And that's the quality that I bring to bear in this race that I don't think the other candidates have."
So where's the evidence of that ability? Obama cites his work with Republican Senator Richard Lugar passing legislation to help find and destroy conventional weapons caches; his efforts on behalf of the ethics reform bill that passed earlier this year; a law he cosponsored to post all government spending on a searchable database; and legislation to limit the use of no-bid contracts in national disaster relief efforts.
That list, however, is a fairly light anchor for the weightiest of offices, and it highlights again the hurdle his campaign must overcome: a biography short on national experience and big national accomplishments.
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