by John McCormick, updated
RENO, Nev. — In one of his fiercest attacks yet on his leading challenger, Barack Obama today accused Hillary Clinton of stealing his ideas, frequently being wrong on policy decisions and lacking honesty with voters.
The Illinois Democrat also joked that he has no plans of being discounted from the Democratic nomination race. “I haven’t been thrown off the island yet,” he said.
Obama first politely complimented Clinton, before he tore into her.
“Lately, I’ve been having a series of discussions with Sen. Clinton. I was very popular when I was 20 points down. I was a good American, wonderful inspiration,” he said. “Funny how politics works.”
After calling Clinton a “fine public servant,” Obama accused her of stealing the idea of providing an immediate $250 tax cut for workers and a $250 bonus to seniors in their Social Security checks to stimulate the economy.”She released her own stimulus package and it doesn’t have … this tax relief,” he said. “And, in fact, she thought that could wait until things got worse, and we were criticized by some in their camp, saying that’s not the right way to go. We need to have this different approach. Today, five days after she released her plan, she said well, you know what, we need a tax rebate…Now, apparently, she agrees with me.”
Last week, Clinton proposed a $70 billion economic-stimulus plan. At the time, she said a $40 billion tax rebate could be added if the economy worsened further. But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Thursday, Clinton said the rebate was needed now.
Clinton’s campaign responded with a statement saying Obama is confused.
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“Senator Obama is wrong,” Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement. “He only offered a stimulus plan after Senator Clinton plan unveiled her ideas for economic stimulus which included $40 billion in conditional tax rebates. Interestingly, Senator Obama’s plan failed to include any kind of comprehensive plan to address the foreclosure crisis that is responsible for so much of the economic duress the country is facing. Clearly, the long days on the campaign trail are causing Senator Obama to mix things up.”
Obama also struck again at Clinton for her response to a question she gave about a bankruptcy bill “pushed by the banks and credit card companies” in Congress during a debate earlier this week in Las Vegas.
“She said she voted for it, but she hoped that the bill would die,” he said. “Think about that. She voted for it, even though she hoped it wouldn’t pass.”
Obama said he was not just trying to point out policy differences.
“I have to make a larger point,” he said. “It is easy to be for policies that help working families, when it’s popular on the campaign trail. But the American people don’t want a president whose plans change with the politics of the moment. Sen. Clinton has said she is ready to lead from day one. But it’s important on day one to get it right, whether you are talking about a war or economic proposals, and one of the things I have tried to do, I’ve been less worried about making political points on these things, but getting them right. That’s the kind of leadership that I intend to offer as president of the United States: somebody who will be straight with you and it get it right the first time.”
Before making the charges that Clinton had stolen portions of his plan, Obama said “each of the Democratic candidates were asked to put forward and economic stimulus package.”
But it was unclear who had asked them to do so. Asked whether Democratic congressional leaders had made such a request, Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, said he did not think so.
Axelrod said he believed Obama was referring to the America people, but he said he needed to check into exactly what the candidate meant.
Obama, meanwhile, said he is seeking to restore trust in politicians.
“Part of my job in this race is to restore people’s sense that you say what you mean and you mean what you say,” he said, almost yelling. “I’m happy to put my record against almost anybody. But what I don’t want is the experience of playing a bunch of political games, tit-for-tat, partisian nonsense that doesn’t actually solve the problems that hard-working Americans are facing. We don’t need more of that experience. We need a change in American.”
(Photo: Sen. Barack Obama at the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., Friday, Jan. 18, 2008. AP Photo. Nevada Appeal/Kevin Clifford).