Barack, having won the little Wyoming caucus that could, nails the response to Hillary's chutzpah: the correct response, is ridicule.
"I don't understand," Obama said, playing the moment as the crowd cheered, "if I'm not ready, how is it you think I would be such a great vice president?"
Obama pointed to a CBS News interview in May 1992, when candidate Bill Clinton said his most important criterion in choosing a vice president was "someone who would be a good president if, God forbid, something happened to me a week after I took office."
"You all know the okey-dokey, when someone's trying to bamboozle you, when they're trying to hoodwink you?" Obama said to the crowd at the Mississippi University for Women. "You can't say that, 'He's not ready on day one unless he's willing to be your vice president, then he's ready on day one.'"
He went on, to growing crescendos of cheers, "I want everybody to be absolutely clear. I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States of America! I'm running to be commander in chief."
Less than two hours earlier, Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson found himself in the position of saying that Obama has not proven his ability to be president, but could be on the Democratic ticket if http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifClinton overtakes him and wins the nomination in Denver in August.
"Senator Obama has not passed the commander in chief test," Wolfson said before adding that an invitation to become vice president "is not something that she would rule out at this point."
Asked what Obama could do to prove his worth by August, Wolfson avoided the question. ... ridicule works on remarks like these, too...
On to Mississippi!Labels: 2008 election, Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, presidential candidates |
