Obama Backers Attack Clinton for Exaggerating Dangers of Bosnia Trip
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton had the Democratic presidential campaign trail to herself, but the camp of vacationing rival Barack Obama challenged the former first lady on her claim to have landed in Bosnia 12 years ago under sniper fire.
Clinton characterized the episode as a “misstatement” and a “minor blip.” Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a written statement Monday that her story “joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making.”
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson countered that the Obama campaign was only raising the issue because “they have nothing positive to say about their candidate.”
Obama’s campaign machinery refused to allow the former first lady’s Bosnia story pass without getting in a dig.
During a speech about Iraq last Monday, she said of the March 1996 Bosnia trip: “I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”
According to an AP story at the time, Clinton was placed under no extraordinary risks on that trip. One of her companions, the comedian Sinbad, told The Washington Post he had no recollection either of the threat or reality of gunfire.
The Obama campaign statement carried Internet links to a CBS news video taken from the Bosnia trip and posted on YouTube. It showed Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, walking across the tarmac from a large cargo plane, smiling and waving, and stopping to shake hands with Bosnia’s acting president and greet an 8-year-old girl.
When asked Monday about the New York senator’s recounting of those events, Wolfson recalled Clinton’s book, “Living History,” in which she described a shortened welcoming ceremony at Tuzla Air Base, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers and to learn how hard they had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find,” she wrote.
Wolfson said: “That is what she wrote in her book. That is what she has said many, many times and on one occasion she misspoke.”
Asked about the issue during a meeting with the Philadelphia Daily News’ editorial board on Monday, Clinton said she “misspoke.”
“I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things — millions of words a day — so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement,” she said.
Clinton often cites the goodwill trip she took with her daughter and several celebrities as a part of her foreign policy experience, which she claims gives her an advantage over Obama.
Vietor questioned whether Clinton misspoke, saying her comments came in what appeared to be prepared remarks for the Iraq speech. His statement for the Obama campaign included a link to the speech on Clinton’s campaign Web site with her account of running to the cars. Clinton’s campaign said what is on the Web site is not the prepared text, but a transcript of her remarks, including comments before the speech in which she talked about the trip to Bosnia.
While Obama took time off in St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Clinton spoke to invited guests at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and called on the Bush administration to name an emergency working group on home mortgage foreclosures to find new ways to solve the U.S. housing crisis.
The campaign of Obama, who leads Clinton in pledged delegates, state primary contests won and popular vote, announced a six-day “Road to Change” bus tour across Pennsylvania, which holds the next presidential primary contest on April 22. The tour was to begin on Friday. Polls show Clinton with a substantial lead there.
The intense interest in the race has been reflected in a surge in Democratic Party enrollment past the 4 million mark setting a state record for either party, according to state election officials. Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns had been pushing to sign up new Democratic voters by Monday, the last day Pennsylvanians had to register to vote in the primary.
While Democratic enrollment was up by more than 4 percent, Republican enrollment declined by about 1 percent to 3.2 million statewide.
“exaggerates” my butt….she’s a “liar”!
I was in Bosnia during Hillary’s visit in 1996, and provided security for her while she spoke at Eagle Base in Tuzla. There certainly was NO sniper fire, and Chelsea was even permitted to go tour other parts of the base while Hillary spoke to the troops. Cheryl Crow and comedian Sinbad were there with her. I was back-stage with her Secret Service Agents, providing security as an Army MP.
Ironically, they were so much more worried about our own soldiers shooting her that they made all soldiers attending the event remove the bolt from their rifles before entering the building. They even tried to make us MP’s providing security inside the building render our firearms incapable of firing until she had left; and we were suppose to be protecting her!
I was within 6 feet of her, back-stage, as she turned from speaking with an Army officer, who she had been smiling at while she talked to him, and watched her roll her eyes with disdain. Her face, in that brief moment, showed her true feelings toward the military, and military personnel. By the way, I’d like to remind everyone about that whole Bosnia mission. Bill Clinton said he was sending us for ONE year, and I was there for one year; HOWEVER, the U.S. MILITARY was in Bosnia for 10 YEARS, NOT 1 YEAR! So 5 years in Iraq after an actual war isn’t that bad when you consider how much money President Clinton spent to keep U.S. troops in the Balkans for 10 years, just to baby-sit.
the clintons are known liers.the best choice left is obama.who i belive can change the direction of america.we need somebody new
no she won’t but if she is elected, she and her husband will sell the most powerful position in the world off to the highest bidder and smile to our faces and tell us how they are great Americans.
Give me a break. You know what, as a black woman I have heard all kinds of racial statements throughout my life. I did not equate the people who were spewing the racial statements to me as to all white people were racists. This is been going on throughout our country for years. Did you speak out against racism against any other race that wasn’t white?
You people seem to forget, Obama is also white and grew up white, not black. You probably wasn’t going to vote for him before Rev. Wright anyway. Give it a rest………
Since when is “mis-speaking” different from lying? Did Senator Clinton forget that she wasn’t under fire when she exited the plane?
Sounds like a repeat of the type of responses the American people received when we confronted President and Mrs. Clinton about inconsistencies in their stories during President Clinton’s time in office.
Whatever happened to integrity? To meaning what we say and saying what we mean?
I have more respect for people who are willing to own up to their mistakes/lies/fabrications than I do for people who continually try to talk their way out of it.
Face it, Hillary is a liar…..As far as Obama’s pastor issue, he is not a racist….you people need to get real and call it what it is. Hillary stood before cameras and made up a story with a smile on her face. Obama may have his pastor issues, but I don’t think we need Hillary standing before the US as President making up lies and smiling to the camera as thought what she says is true.
What else are we to expect from Mrs. “President Prevaricator”?
I think everyone needs to get used to saying President McCain.
One thing about Hillary she did not sit in a church an listen to hatred being spoken about America an the people in it.She will swear on the Bible an Honor our Flag.
Yeah, Obama mispoke when he claimed to not be a racist and has his pastor speak for him. 20 years of judgement proved he’s ready to run this country lol.