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Berry, McDaniel blast Obama for GOP remark Saturday, Jan 19, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - On the eve of the opening of Barack Obama's presidential campaign office in Little Rock and the Nevada caucuses, Arkansas supporters of rival Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton rebuked the Illinois senator for saying the Republican party was formerly "the party of ideas."' In a telephone conference with reporters, U.S. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark., who has endorsed the former Arkansas first lady, and Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, her Arkansas campaign chairman, criticized Obama for a comment he made in a Jan. 14 interview with the editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal. A spokesman for the Obama campaign said the Democratic candidate's words are being distorted by the Clinton campaign. The Gazette-Journal has endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination. "I think it's fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10-15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom," Obama said in the interview. The remark suggests Obama may not have the experience the nation needs in a president, Berry said Friday. "I think that's what this points out, is the tremendous difference that that experience makes." McDaniel said it "just absolutely floors me" that anyone running for president of the United States thinks the Republican Party has been the party of ideas. "If you prefaced it by saying that they've been the party of bad ideas, I would agree with it. But to the extent that that wasn't what he was saying, I take distinct issue with it," the attorney general said. McDaniel said he did not accept the interpretation that Obama meant the GOP's ideas of the last several years were more radical, not better, than those of Democrats. Clinton also took issue with Obama's remarks, ABC News reported, saying at a campaign stop in Las Vegas, "That's not the way I remember the last 10-15 years. I don't think it's a better idea to privatize social security. I don't think it's a better idea to try to eliminate the minimum wage. "I don't think it's a better idea undercut health benefits and to give drug companies the right to make billions by providing prescription drugs to Medicare recipients. I don't think it's a better idea to shut down the government to drive us into debt," Clinton said. Ben LaBolt, spokesman for the Obama campaign, said Obama's words had been "distorted by parsing." He said Obama prefaced the remark by saying the Republican approach has "played itself out" and went on to say the GOP's ideas now are "all tax cuts" and "you've heard it all before." "It's hard to take Hillary Clinton's latest attack seriously when she's the one who supported George Bush's war in Iraq, the most damaging Republican idea of our generation," LaBolt said in an e-mail. "While others were triangulating and poll-testing their positions, Sen. Obama has been fighting for progressive ideals for over two decades." Nevada will hold its Republican and Democratic presidential caucuses today. Arkansas' primary will be Feb. 5. With the opening today of Obama's campaign office in downtown Little Rock, he and Clinton will be the only Democratic presidential candidates with offices in Arkansas. The national headquarters of former Gov. Mike Huckabee's Republican presidential campaign is in Little Rock. |
