It's down to the wire in Pennsylvania. With voters heading for the polls today, the last ditch efforts to win the hearts and minds of voters for today's election was carried out yesterday. Or was that the end of it? Both candidates made appearances on ABC's Good Morning America this morning
Obama stated during his interview that he's had to say some "sharp things about Clinton" because of the attack campaign he said she has been running against him, stating, "You've always got to measure if somebody throws an elbow at you and after three or four times of getting elbows in the ribs, you know, at what point do you sort of say okay, you know, we -- we, we've gotta put a stop to that?" A far cry from what he said on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night when he said Clinton was doing him "a favor" by putting him "through the paces," comparing the campaign to spring training." Obama played basketball in school, a sport he still participates in today.
Clinton, however, also appearing on Good Morning America, was asked how she intends to handle Iran and the growing concern over the Iranian pursuit of a nuclear program and their threatening stance against Israel, stating that were Iran to attack Israel: "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran...In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."
An interesting stance for Clinton, who last October wouldn't answer the question asked by moderator Brian Williams in an MSNBC debate as to what her "red line" would be "concerning when to, if to attack Iran."
Clinton at the time wouldn't answer the question, even when pressed by Williams, who had to come back at her after she gave a lengthy non-responsive answer.
"Respectfully, Senator," Williams said, "same question though: Do you have a threshold…?
Clinton would only say, "I want to start diplomacy….I am not going to speculate about when or if they get nuclear weapons."
Her current remarks are quite a contrast from that cautiousness.
Political posturing in an attempt to win votes and the nomination of the party, or a true statement on her planned policies for Iran? That's ultimately up for the voters to decide. However, given the team Clinton history of saying whatever seems to be expedient for the moment, one has to speculate that this sort of posturing is done with the same careful, calculated motivation of addressing an issue based upon public opinion polls.
Once and Always, an American Fighting Man
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