Clinton Takes Obama to Task Over Foreign Policy Experience Claim
Hillary Clinton took no quarter Tuesday in responding to a reported claim by Barack Obama that he has more foreign policy experience than either Clinton or Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain.
According to the Huffington Post blog, Obama was addressing a crowd of fundraisers in San Francisco on Sunday when he began talking about his choice for vice president, and said he would choose someone who adds to his expertise.
“I think a lot of people assume that might be some sort of military thing to make me look more commander in chief-like. Ironically, this is an area — foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain,” Obama reportedly said.
Clinton, speaking with FOX News Tuesday morning, said she was baffled by the claim.
“I’m somewhat shocked by that since I don’t see any evidence of it,” Clinton said, chuckling. “This is, you know, kind of hard to square with his failure ever to have a single policy hearing on the only responsibility he was given, chairing the European and NATO subcommittee on the Foreign Relations Committee.
“And as he admitted in the last debate, he was too busy running for president to pay attention to what we needed to do to improve our chances in Afghanistan and get NATO more involved. So, you know, I, I ,I don’t, I don’t know, I’m speechless. I mean, you know, making an assertion like that belies the facts and the record.”
Obama is scheduled on Tuesday to chair the subcommittee’s hearing on the nomination of Kurt Volker to be the permanent U.S. representative to NATO. All three presidential candidates are in town for Senate hearings with Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. military and diplomatic leaders in Iraq.
According to the report, in his remarks Obama again mentioned his childhood years in Indonesia and family in Kenya, and blasted Clinton’s claim of visiting more than 80 countries.
“When Senator Clinton brags ‘I’ve met leaders from 80 countries,’ I know what those trips are like. I’ve been on them. You go from the airport to the embassy. There’s a group of children who do native dance. You meet with the CIA station chief and the embassy and they give you a briefing. You go take a tour of a plant that [with] the assistance of USAID has started something. And then you go.
Clinton on Tuesday scoffed at the notion that Obama is more in touch with other countries than her.
“He’s apparently talking about his own experience, which is quite limited,” Clinton said. “You know, for 15 years I’ve been spending a lot of time in other countries,” she said, naming China, Ireland and Kosovo among the places she’s traveled to “where the conversation and discussions were substantive and lengthy.”
“So I’m not quite sure exactly where Senator Obama has been. So far as I know, he’s maybe taken two trips. But that’s fine, I mean, he can say whatever he wishes about his own experience and we’ll leave it up to voters to determine who really is ready to be commander in chief and who is ready to restore America’s standing and moral authority in the world,” Clinton said.
Just like all the other LIES Obama was rattled off durting this campaign, this one tops them all though. He is arrogant, and it will turn people way from him when more about him comes out as the nomination process tightens up in the remainder of states.
Hey have you heard because of Hillary there is a new american company? They are marketing a product to replace teflon. It is call Obomified, guaranteed to repel nonsense cooked up to distract people over an extended period of time. Of course it comes with a disclaimer that the product will not work you are just trying to cover up your own nonsense by sticking it onto someone else.
Obama seems to be more experienced; its not how far, but how well.The kind of experience Hillary believes in, is simply cooked.
GET LOST HILLARY AND FOLD UP THE TENT.OBAMA HAS NEVER CLAIM TO HAVE LANDED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND HAD TO DUCK SNIPER FIRE TO GET TO HIS VEHICLE.SHAME ON YOU!
Hillary spent 15 years traveling abroad to line her own pockets. It had nothing to do with foreign polity of the United States. This woman knows no boundaries.
hillary you need clean out your own house before you even try to bring moral to other countries
Obama is correct to point out the obvious. The trips Clinton took are not foreign policy related. So, for her to claim that she has over 15 years of foreign policy experience is absurd. Bill Clinton was president not her. She was not Co-President. She visited a few countries as First Lady but so do many people in USA. Can they all claim to have foreign policy related experience? This is another example of embellishing her resume just like her Bosnia trip under sniper fire, her opposition to NAFTA. The lies keep adding up. At least Obama lived in Indonesia and has family in Kenya. So, he experienced other cultures in the true form and that will help him when dealing with other world leaders.
Obama’s never been under sniper fire in a war zone in a foreign country. Then again, as it turns out, neither has Hillary.
Obama is way out there thinking his experience in Indonesia and Kenya somehow translates to foreign policy experience we need in a president. I would love for him to try and debate that in the fall.
foreign policy experience? what on earth, can anyone please explain to me, has obama done in his first term as an illinois senator that gave him any experience in anything (besides how to vote “present”) let alone experience with foreign policy. And hillary’s constant lying proves she is at least as honest as bill was when he was president.
You can’t just campaign on “change” sooner or later obama is going to have to actually explain what it is he is wanting to “change” and how it is going to be better for the American people. I am so sick of seeing this free ride he has been given so far. Normally still wet behind the ears senators arent considered qualified to hold the most powerful position in the free world. They should show the experience and ability first, then get recommended for the job. then the American people should vote for the best person for the job based on that demonstrated ability and experience - ALL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. not just the superdelegates. everyone’s vote should be equal.