David Corn Accuses Clinton Of Smearing Obama on Iraq

Hillary Clinton has frequently used the Rove technique of attacking the opposition on their strongest points. This includes attacking Obama on Iraq even though on the fundamental question of supporting the war Clinton was wrong and Obama was right. David Corn writes that Clinton once again smeared Obama on Iraq.

After a review of Clinton’s distortions, Corn concludes:

This is not the first time Clinton has mischaracterized Obama’s position on Iraq. In New Hampshire, Clinton claimed that Obama had broken a significant promise: that when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 he vowed “never” to vote for Iraq war funding but then did so once he was in the Senate. This was part of her effort to persuade Granite State voters that Obama was an all-show/no-work hypocrite. There was one problem with her use of this example. It was not true. Though Obama did oppose an $87 billion funding bill for Iraq and other matters in 2003, he didn’t say he would “never” vote for Iraq war money. When he later voted for funding bills, he was not, as Clinton insisted, breaking a promise.

Clinton and her gang are certainly entitled to raise questions about Obama’s experience and his record–including on the war. Though Obama did speak out against the war before entering the Senate, he was not a leading voice of antiwar opposition in his first years as a senator. (Neither was she during those that period.) But Clinton and her aides have been peddling false information about Obama to undercut one of his primary arguments: she voted for the war; I was against it. Engaging in such disingenuous attacks may help Clinton beat back Obama, but it is hardly the way for her to counter Obama’s claim that she represents poltics-as-usual. It only proves his point.

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