Senator Charles Grassley says Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama lacks "political class." Grassley’s comment comes in response to Obama’s speech in Waterloo on Sunday. The Illinois Senator urged Iowans to pressure Grassley to vote for a bill that would set a timeline for withdrawing troops from Iraq. (Grassley is shown at right in a file photo)
"It’s not senatorial and if you can’t be senatorial, how can you be presidential?" Grassley asks. "Generally, when you’re in another state, you don’t take pokes at a fellow senator." Obama told the Sunday crowd in Waterloo that Grassley "might be helpful" in the push to get President Bush to reverse Iraq war policy.
Grassley says that remark lacks "political class." "I would find that very difficult to go into Illinois and tell his constituents to get on him about something," Grassley says. "And I obviously don’t say that about Senator Harkin as well." Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor says Senator Obama believes the only way to override the president’s path on Iraq is for "ordinary Americans across the country contact their senators and congressmen to make clear that they want to start bringing our troops home."