By Politics
Saturday, May 26, 2007

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) answered a question at a town hall in Mason City, Iowa, about how to improve America's relations around the world by praising activists working on issues such as poverty. She singled out one.

"My husband is probably the most popular person in the world right now because of all the work he's doing," Clinton said.

The former president, however, should not be looking to do formal globe-trotting in a new Clinton administration. Asked if she would consider tapping her husband as secretary of state, Clinton cited a law passed after Robert F. Kennedy served in the Justice Department that prevents the president's close relatives from serving in Cabinet posts. She added, "I think he can be an ambassador around the world dealing with problems."

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

For Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama (Ill.), their votes against the war spending bill were far from the last word on the issue.

The crowd of Republican presidential candidates dined out all day on the Democratic front-runners' "no" votes, decrying them as naive and reckless, an affront to U.S. troops.

"I was very disappointed to see Senator Obama and Senator Clinton embrace the policy of surrender," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who called their opposition "the equivalent of waving a white flag to al-Qaeda."

McCain missed 46 straight Senate votes -- six weeks' worth -- before showing up Thursday to support the $120 billion war funding package.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.), another Democratic presidential contender, also opposed the funding bill. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), also in the Democratic field, supported it.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, offered this statement: "At a time when the men and women of our military fighting terrorism around the globe needed them most, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama cast a vote that singularly defines their lack of leadership and serves as a glaring example of an unrealistic and inexperienced worldview."

Romney's campaign later e-mailed around a list of news reports in which the statement had appeared.

Obama wouldn't let the matter rest. "Governor Romney and Senator McCain clearly believe the course we are on in Iraq is working, but I do not," he responded.

His statement continued: "If there ever was a reflection of that, it's the fact that Senator McCain required a flack jacket, ten armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago."

McCain and Obama have a history of prickly relations. In February 2006, McCain wrote Obama a withering letter, oozing with sarcasm, that accused him of "self-interested partisan posturing" on the issue of Senate ethics reform.

Shortly after Obama's blast yesterday, McCain upped the ante. "While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance."

The McCain kicker: "By the way, Senator Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket."

Campaigning in Iowa, Clinton defended her vote opposing the bill, arguing President Bush's policy isn't working. "I think it's important for someone like me who has been a strong supporter of the military and has worked hard to get our troops everything they need to start saying the best thing we can do is to get them out of the middle of this sectarian civil war in Iraq," she said.

-- Shailagh Murray