Clinton and Obama Spar Over Campaign Slogans

Hillary Clinton tried to raise doubts about the authenticity of Barack Obama's claims to represent a new breed of politics in the Democratic debate on Saturday night in an attempt to slow down his momentum before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.

In a methodical attack, Clinton tried to get voters to take a second and more critical look at Obama in the wake of his astonishing first place finish in Iowa. Clinton came third.

She raised doubts about his ability to follow up his words with action. She accused him of shifting his stand on health care reform, and of inconsistencies in his voting record in the Senate.

Clinton also took aim at the inspiring speeches that are at the core of Obama's appeal. "Words are not actions. And as beautifully presented and passionately felt as they are, they are not action," she said. "What we've got to do is translate talk into action and feeling into reality. I have a long record of doing that."

But Clinton did not deliver the knock-out blow that her campaign needed to arrest definitively the "Obama-mania" that followed his victory in the Iowa caucuses. Obama also came up with a good answer for Clinton's warning not to be carried away by stirring rhetoric.
"I think it's easy to be cynical and just say, 'You know what? It can't be done, because Washington is designed to resist change'," he said. "The truth is, actually, words do inspire, words do help people get involved, words do help members of Congress get into power."
Obama himself avoided any major blunders - though he had moment of churlishness that could play well for Clinton in the future. He also had an unexpected ally in John Edwards, who delivered the most devastating line of the night, lumping Clinton together with the Washington lobbyists, and big business interests that he has accused of blocking real change.

The sneak attack from Edwards came soon after Clinton fired her first salvo against Obama, accusing him of repeatedly shifting positions on health care.

Edwards suggested Clinton was being unfair. Then he added in Obama's defense: "Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces of status quo attack. That's exactly what happens."

The exchange was so heated that the fourth Democrat in the field, Governor Bill Richardson, said: "I've been in hostage negotiations that are a lot more civil than this."

Campaign strategists for Edwards admitted after the debate that he believed he would stand a better chance if Clinton is knocked out of the race in New Hampshire. Edwards edged Clinton into second place in Iowa by less than a percentage point.

Clinton, meanwhile, has embarked on a new line of attack. Campaign strategists said she would focus on querying Obama's record and his capacity to bring change in the two days remaining before the primary.

Although voters in Iowa rejected the message of experience that defined her candidacy, Clinton has not entirely abandoned that strategy. Instead, she appeared to be trying to get voters in New Hampshire to ask themselves what they really knew about Obama.
She also addressed the issue of her lack of likeability head-on in a moment that did not show up Obama very well. It came when Clinton was confronted with the idea that voters simply like Obama better than her. "Well that hurts my feelings," Clinton said to some laughter. "But I will try to go on."

She agreed that Obama was very likeable. In return, he said only: "You're likeable enough."

Clinton went on to remind Americans that they had voted for George Bush because he seemed likeable. "In 2000 we, unfortunately, ended up with a president who people said they wanted to have a beer with; who said he wanted to be a uniter, not a divider; who said that he had his intuition and he was going to, you know, really come into the White House and transform the country," she said.