Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says the "politics of hope" he’s been talking about don’t mean that things come easy — or that there won’t be a fight. For the past few months, every time Obama has launched criticism at rival Hillary Clinton, Clinton’s campaign has accused Obama of abandoning the politics of hope.
During an interview this morning with Radio Iowa, Obama dismissed the Clinton critics. "The politics of hope has never meant that we ignore difficult problems and it certainly doesn’t mean hoping that your opponents aren’t going to point out contradictions or difficulties in your record," Obama said.
Obama told a crowd this morning in Bettendorf that it’s time to stand up and "fight" on a number of issues, like the economy. "Voters don’t want manipulation or lies or distractions from the issues. I do think that the voters want to get clarity about what the various candidates stand for, want specific answers to some of the tough questions that we’re facing," Obama said during his interview with Radio Iowa.
Former President Bill Clinton recently warned critics of his wife from entering "Cutesy Land" and questioning her patriotism in that same way a group of so-called "Swift Boat Veterans" questioned John Kerry in 2004. Obama called Bill Clinton’s statement "pretty surprising" as Obama said the question over whether illegal immigrants should be given drivers licenses was handled in a "civil" way during last week’s debate among the candidates. "She then got tangled up in her own answer.
Now, the notion that somehow that was the equivalent of ‘Swift-Boating’ is a little far-fetched and I think that the Clinton campaign itself would probably acknowledge that," Obama said.
Obama was very late in arriving for a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids last night. The pilot of his campaign plane mistakenly flew directly to Des Moines and had to turn around and reroute to Cedar Rapids.