Hillary Clinton 'is so yesterday'
2008-01-07 07:23
Manchester, New Hampshire - Shaking off the shellshock of a stunning defeat, Hillary Clinton on Sunday tried to turn her White House rival Barack Obama's top asset - soaring, inspirational rhetoric - into a liability.
As polls suggest the charismatic Illinois senator may be moving into pole position in New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday's primary, after his famous victory in the leadoff Iowa caucuses, the former first lady fought back hard.
"There is a big difference between talking and acting, between promising and delivering," Clinton said on Sunday, before going door-to-door, chasing every last vote, trying to stave off what would be a second, painful loss.
She later told a cheering crowd at least several thousand strong, that Democrats must "nominate and elect a doer, not a talker", in one of her sharpest jabs at Obama yet, telling them to "separate rhetoric from reality".
Campaign harks back to past
Fresh Clinton attacks on Obama came amid a rising criticism and second guessing of her tactics, and suggestions her campaign harks back more to the past, and the 1990s, instead of reaching for the future.
"She's so Yesterday" the Boston Herald tabloid, which circulates widely in New Hampshire, blared on Sunday, with a mock-up of a vinyl record Beatles hit Yesterday across the front-page.
The splash tapped into anecdotal feelings that Obama's bold, vigorous, and energetic message, may be leading a generational shift away from what critics say is the poll-driven politics of Clinton and her husband Bill Clinton.
Apparently buoyed by a large crowd crammed into a school gymnasium, Clinton, on the ropes ever since slumping into third place behind Obama and John Edwards in Iowa on Thursday, went about her task with renewed passion and vigour.
'Words are not actions'
She first opened a new front on Obama during a high-stakes Democratic debate on Saturday, a day after his latest blistering, tour-de-force speech to a dinner of 3 000 party activists overshadowed her own appearance.
"Words are not actions. And as beautifully presented and passionately felt as they are, they are not action," Clinton said, and attempted to appropriate Obama's mantra of change.
The focus on Obama's rhetoric is the latest adjustment to the former first lady's strategy, as her election machine struggles to stem an apparent tidal wave of momentum sparked by his clarion call for hope and change.
Aides said her goal is to convince the people of New Hampshire, that inspiration is not enough, implying that little substance lies behind his presentation.
They are stressing what she bills as her life's work on children, healthcare, and various initiatives during her seven years in the US Senate, which they say directly improved people's lives.
- AFP