Clinton Camp Jumps On Lack Of Obama Hearings

The Clinton campaign released a statement today questioning why Obama has not held any oversight hearings on the national security subcommittee he chairs. Clinton raised the point in last night's debate, pointing out that the subcommittee has oversight on NATO, a key part of the war in Afghanistan. From the release:

"Barack Obama has presented himself as a unique political figure who says what he means and does what he says. Last night, we saw a glimpse of the real Barack Obama – the Barack Obama who became chair of a national security subcommittee, put it on his resume, but did not hold a single oversight hearing because he was too busy running for President; the Barack Obama who spends his time talking about change you can believe in instead of change you actually can count on. … Hillary Clinton doesn't just WANT the job of President. She wants TO DO the job or President. How can we tell what Barack Obama would be like as president if he did not carry out his responsibility here?"

In the debate, Obama responded to Clinton's charge by saying, " I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign, at the beginning of 2007. So, it is true that we haven't had oversight hearings on Afghanistan. I have been very clear in talking to the American people about what I would do with respect to Afghanistan. I think we have to have more troops there to bolster the NATO effort. I think we have to show that we are not maintaining permanent bases in Iraq because Secretary Gates, our current defense secretary, indicated that we are getting resistance from our allies to put more troops into Afghanistan because they continue to believe that we made a blunder in Iraq."