In a move that suggests the Hillary camp thinks Obama committed a misstep that gives them an opening, Hillary went out of her way in an interview today to criticize Obama's recent claim that voters aren't looking for a "chief operating officer" in a president.Hillary's criticism of Obama -- which furthers the running argument between the two candidates over the relative values of inspirational rhetoric and hands-on legislative work -- came in an interview she just conducted moments ago with Bloomberg News.
Her comments were a response to Obama's claim yesterday that he's "not an operating officer," and that the job of president isn't to "run some bureaucracy," but rather to "set a vision." Here's what Hillary said today (video supplied by her campaign):
Key Hillary quotes:
I was somewhat taken aback about what he said, that was reported yesterday. I think it’s important that we have a president who understands that you have to run the government.We all need to be inspirational and set goals, and I’ve been doing that throughout this campaign. We need to set big goals for our standing in the world, for our economy, to deal with energy and health care and so much else that is really on the minds of the people...
They want a president who they believe gets up every single day and works for them, that requires a president who is hands-on. Who after you set the goals and give the speeches, you go back to the White House and you start holding people accountable and you want to know what they’ve done today to help the American people.
You’ve got to take on this government, you’ve got to to run this government, you can’t leave it to others.
It remains to be seen whether this effort to paint Obama as merely a would-be Inspirer in Chief will prove a winning argument, but either way, expect to hear more of this.
Barack Obama
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