From The Road
January 17, 2008 1:30 PM

Edwards Jabs Obama and Clinton

By
Aaron Lewis
Topics
John Edwards
(CBS)
From CBS News' Aaron Lewis:

HENDERSON, NEV. -- John Edwards ripped Barack Obama for praising the way Ronald Reagan brought about change when he was President of the United States.

"When you think about what Ronald Reagan did to the American people, to the middle class to the working people," said Edwards.

"He was openly – openly – intolerant of unions and the right to organize. He openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. He openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest Americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day. The destruction of the environment, you know, eliminating regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment."

"I can promise you this: this president will never use Ronald Reagan as an example for change."

Edwards was addressing comments made by Obama during a sit-down interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal. According to Edwards spokesman Mark Kornblau, Edwards was addressing these specific remarks from the interview:

"I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what's different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

CORRECTION: This blog post originally included an inaccurate and unverified quote, provided by the Edwards campaign, in lieu of the Obama quote used above. CBS News regrets this error.

Edwards also took another shot at Obama earlier in his speech:

"There's this back and forth that's been going over the last 24 hours or so between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, with Senator Clinton saying what we need in a president is somebody who knows how to run the bureaucracy, who knows how to manage, somebody who knows how to shuffle the papers around and Senator Obama saying no, what we really need is a President of the United States who knows how to give a good speech," said Edwards. "Here's what I think, I think what we need in the next President of the United States is somebody with some guts and fight and determination.

Add a Comment See all 32 Comments
by be_free January 20, 2008 4:41 PM EST
Obama is not "comparing himself to Reagan", or making any references to Reagan''s politics at all. He''s talking about change, and that change under Reagan was possible because people were ready for it. Obama also wants change, and the anaology simply refers to that like under Reagan, now people are ready for change as well. Obama being a democrat, obviously has a different type of change in mind, a change for this time, for people in todays America. Was that really so hard to understand? I pity the small minds who always twist words refusing to listen to the content of the message. There are more ways to deliver a message than through a jingle, or sounding like a used car sales man like Edwards. Come on now.
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by be_free January 20, 2008 3:54 PM EST
Obama is not "comparing himself to Reagan", or making any references to Reagan''s politics at all. He''s talking about change, and that change under Reagan was possible because people were ready for it. Obama also wants change, and the anaology simply refers to that like under Reagan, now people are ready for change as well. Obama being a democrat, obviously has a different type of change in mind, a change for this time, for people in todays America. Was that really so hard to understand? I pity the small minds who always twist words refusing to listen to the content of the message. There are more ways to deliver a message than through a jingle, or sounding like a used car sales man like Edwards. Come on now.
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by valeroso2008 January 18, 2008 9:11 PM EST
There is one candidate in the race for the democratic nomination who is both a true progressive and truly electable. This candidate is John Edwards. A candidate''s historic stature is not a function of race or gender. It derives from the candidate''s ideals and ideas.
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by Vigdor Schreibman January 18, 2008 4:14 PM EST
Thank you CBS News and Aaron Lewis for posting this story about the kind off "hope and change" offered by Barack Obama, using Ronald Reagan as his model. Reagan gets the big prize for doublethink images, the prefed technique of pathological liars, voodoo economics, and the Iran-Contra fiasco. This is "hope" and "change" proposed by a con artist intent on tightening the stranglehold of entrenched moneyed interests over the American government.

Vigdor
GOOGLE: LOVERS OF DEMOCRACY

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by themartyred January 18, 2008 3:25 AM EST
TODAY IS THE DAY TO DONATE TO THE EDWARDS CAMPAIGN -

$7 million dollar challenge - go to johnedwardsDOTcom (remove DOT put a period, obviously) and donate - get the word out everywhere! here, on youtube, blogs, DONATE TO EDWARDS TODAY FRIDAY THE 18th!!!
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by njh1964 January 18, 2008 1:44 AM EST
Obama is really getting obnoxious. His sense of history and his own place in it seems to become more distorted by the day. Recently, he mused about how he and Michelle are not that far from "normal" (he cited a foray to Target to establish his point). How quaint.... I hope he keeps blasting the hot air. Sooner or later he''ll be comparing himself to Lincoln or Jesus. At some point, perhaps people will start to see him for who he really is---a gifted politician with a very inflated sense of himself and a record totally at odds with the hype.
Reply to this comment
by njh1964 January 18, 2008 1:43 AM EST
Obama is really getting obnoxious. His sense of history and his own place in it seems to become more distorted by the day. Recently, he mused about how he and Michelle are not that far from "normal" (he cited a foray to Target to establish his point). How quaint.... I hope he keeps blasting the hot air. Sooner or later he''ll be comparing himself to Lincoln or Jesus. At some point, perhaps people will start to see him for who he really is---a gifted politician with a very inflated sense of himself and a record totally at odds with the hype.
Reply to this comment
by njh1964 January 18, 2008 1:41 AM EST
Obama is really getting obnoxious. His sense of history and his own place in it seems to become more distorted by the day. Recently, he mused about how he and Michelle are not that far from "normal" (he cited a foray to Target to establish his point). How quaint.... I hope he keeps blasting the hot air. Sooner or later he''ll be comparing himself to Lincoln or Jesus. At some point, perhaps people will start to see him for who he really is---a gifted politician with a very inflated sense of himself and a record totally at odds with the hype.
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by andersenme January 18, 2008 1:11 AM EST
Immediately after Reagan died--on June 28, 1994--CNN reported that:

"Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, issued a statement that praised the former president for his optimistic outlook."

The CNN report continued:

"''Hillary and I will always remember President Ronald Reagan for the way he personified the indomitable optimism of the American people, and for keeping America at the forefront of the fight for freedom for people everywhere,'' their statement said."

More interestingly--and in retrospect understandably, given their common penchant for lying--President Bill Clinton eulogized Richard Nixon at his funeral like this: "May the day of judging President Nixon on anything less than his entire life and career come to a close."

Now the Clinton camp followers hypocritically make Obama''s statement of fact--that Reagan ushered in a sea-change in U.S. politics, whether you agreed with his direction or not--into some claim that Obama is less than genuine in his politics.

Talking point No. 1: That Reagan busted unions, therefore Obama must been less than committed to the labor movement. Good spin, perhaps, but factually and morally wrong.

Meanwhile, people forget that Bill Clinton pardoned the union-busting international financier Mark Rich.

Martin Edwin Andersen
Churchton, Maryland
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by ny_dem January 17, 2008 8:57 PM EST
What Obama was saying is that Regan was a leader that understood what the country wanted at the time. Obama was also making the point that Regan was a good communicator who connected with the public in a way that many others did and do not. He was not discussing Regan''s politics or his beliefs. It was a subtle reference that Obama believes he too can be a leader of change that is significant and will have an impact past his presidency. Edwards and HRC are not good communicators. Edwards is passionate and I like that about him. HRC is simply an administrator of the system. She is clearly not a people person.
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