Ready for his close up?

29 October 2007 |permalink | email article

The third quarter in the race for the Democratic nomination has begun and the pressure on Hillary Clinton’s chief rival, Barack Obama, to re-energize his charismatic but often too lofty campaign has come full circle.

Donors, supporters and aides have long prodded Obama, whose idealist campaign is somewhat reminiscent of former Illinois governor Democrat Adlai Stevenson’s philosophical but failed bid to defeat war hero Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, to become more aggressive.

Finally, he seems to have grasped that focused insurgent intensity is required to challenge Clinton, the entrenched Democratic establishment’s choice.

With the first votes for president being cast in Iowa in just over two months Obama promised The New York Times in an interview that he would alter course and more directly confront Clinton on critical issues.

A major test of his viability and how far he is willing to draw distinctions on issues between himself and Clinton, and other major rivals for the nomination will unfold Tuesday night in a nationally televised Democratic debate in Philadelphia.

In the Times interview, Obama offered some hints about what will be clearly perceived as a fresh start to his campaign in the hope of closing the gap from far behind in the back stretch.

Responding to a question about whether Clinton has always been truthful about what she would do as president, he replied, “No.”

He suggested that she had not been entirely forthcoming on issues like Social Security, Iraq and Iran.

Clinton was accused of “straddling between the Giuliani, Romney side of the foreign policy equation and the Barack Obama side of the equation.”

Whether Obama will reprise the comment that she was trying to “sound and vote” like a Republican on national security issues and her approach was “bad for the country and ultimately bad for Democrats” will be closely watched by potential First Laddie Bill Clinton.

903