Sen. Clinton insists her position on war same as Obama's
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responded to anti-war salvos from Barack Obama in an interview on NBC's Today Show insisting she shares the same position on extricating US troops from Iraq as the rest of her Senate colleagues who are running for president.
Saying Democrats are "united" in calling for a change in course in Iraq, Clinton brushed off comments by Obama that his opposition to the war in 2002 sets him apart from the former First Lady, who voted to authorize President Bush to use force in Iraq. The important thing now, Clinton said, is to get US troops home, which she promised to do as president if Congress is unable to effect change before then.
"I've put forth a number of approaches, I've voted for different ways of trying to persuade the president to do that," Clinton said. "And I don't think there's any doubt that all of us who have the responsibility today have the same opinion, which is that we've got to try to persuade the president to change direction."
Clinton and Obama both supported a proposal introduced in the Senate last week that would have required a troop withdrawal to being within three months. That measure failed, and Congressional leaders are currently negotiating with the White House in crafting a $90 billion supplemental funding measure to keep the war going through September.
The following video is from NBC's Today Show.
Full transcript follows:
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MR. LAUER: On Close-up this morning: Decision 2008. New York Senator Hillary Clinton is the front-runner right now on the Democratic side, but Senator Barack Obama is nipping at her heels and turning up the heat a bit over Iraq. Today Senator Clinton is at the North Beach Elementary School in Miami, Florida to unveil a new initiative.
Senator, good to see you. Good morning.
SEN. CLINTON: Thank you so much, Matt.
MR. LAUER: Let me see if I can paraphrase the initiative. Then you can correct me. Basically, you're going to call for universal pre-K. You're going to say that states need to spend a lot more money to expose students, particularly low-income children, to high-quality pre-K, because studies show that that greatly enhances their education experience down the road. Is that accurate?
SEN. CLINTON: Well, that's right, Matt. I want every 4-year- old, regardless of parental income, to have access to high-quality pre-K, because it not only enhances their academic preparation. They stay in school longer. They have fewer behavior problems.
And, you know, Matt, there's a lot of evidence that this saves money over the long run. And economists and others have validated what experts in early childhood education have told us for a long time.
MR. LAUER: But isn't there another study or a group of studies that says, hey, if you spend this money on high-quality pre-K but you don't then invest more money on high-quality education down the road -- fourth grade, fifth grade, eighth grade -- that some of the results of that pre-K are lost?
SEN. CLINTON: No, because if you don't invest early, you don't get the results that you need in those later grades. You know, there's a lot of corrections officials who use reading scores from third and fourth grade to make predictions about how many prison beds they're going to need. We know that the dropout rate goes up. If kids get to third grade and they don't feel comfortable in school and they can't read well and then they just feel like they're failures, they're going to be lost to the system.
The evidence has been consistent that the early investment pays off. And, of course, you know, parents like my husband and I, we certainly exposed our daughter to high-quality preschool, and most parents with the means try to do that. So what I'm arguing is that we need to try to expend the money in the early years and extend this kind of activity to kids who might otherwise enter school behind and never catch up.
MR. LAUER: How are you going to --
SEN. CLINTON: You know, here at North Beach, they have that program.
MR. LAUER: How are you going to pay for that?
SEN. CLINTON: I'm sorry.
MR. LAUER: You're calling for up to $5 billion in the first year, maybe up to $10 billion in years after that. So you know what people are going to say. "This means higher taxes." Is that true?
SEN. CLINTON: Well, I think we have to rearrange our priorities. I have a long list of expenditures by this administration that I would certainly not continue; a lot of corporate tax breaks, a lot of loopholes that need to be closed. And also we're spending more than half a trillion dollars without paying for the war in Iraq.
MR. LAUER: Right.
SEN. CLINTON: We have to redo our budget priorities. You know, six years ago we had a balanced budget and a surplus, and that surplus would have been very handy to modernize and protect Social Security and Medicare and also to start making investments that will keep our country strong and make our economy better for everyone.
MR. LAUER: Let me go to Iraq, since you bring it up. Senator Barack Obama is taking issue slightly with something your husband's been out there saying, that basically you and Senator Obama have the same position when it comes to Iraq. And Senator Obama has said, "I suppose that's true if you leave out the fact that she authorized and supported the war there and I said it was a bad idea. That's a fairly major difference."
He went on to say on an MSNBC show last week this. Let me let you listen.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): (From videotape.) I think that it's fair to say that we had a fundamentally different opinion on the wisdom of this war. And I don't think we can revise history when it comes to that.
MR. LAUER: What do you think about that? Was there a fundamental difference -- is Senator Obama correct -- a fundamental difference in 2002 between you and him?
SEN. CLINTON: Well, you know, Matt, I think the important point is for the Democrats to be united in trying to either persuade or require this president to change direction now. That's what all of us in the Senate are trying to do. Those of us who have the responsibility to try to make these decisions today are really focused on trying to pass legislation to require the president to start bringing our troops home. I've been saying that for a number of years.
I've put forth a number of approaches. I've voted for different ways of trying to persuade the president to do that. And I don't think there's any doubt that all of us who have the responsibility today have the same opinion, which is that we've got to try to persuade this president to change direction.
MR. LAUER: But let me just --
SEN. CLINTON: I've said that, you know, if the president doesn't extricate us from Iraq, when I am president, I will.
MR. LAUER: I'll get to that bill you talked about in just a second. But your husband did say this, and I'm quoting here. "This dichotomy that's been set up to allow him" -- and he's referring to Senator Obama -- "to become the raging hero of the antiwar crowd on the Internet is just factually inaccurate," end quote. But is it really inaccurate?
SEN. CLINTON: Well, you'll have to ask him exactly what he meant, but I think he was referring to the voting records that most Democrats have. We have all voted the same way when we've had the responsibility to vote, and that has been to try to begin to reverse course in Iraq.
I think most people are really intent upon us moving out of Iraq as soon as we reasonably can. And that's what I've been focused on for a number of years, and that's what I'm going to continue to vote on and talk about and try to urge that we get together and do.
MR. LAUER: Since I'm running out of time, let me jump down to the final issue I want to talk about. Over the weekend, former President Jimmy Carter really criticized the current administration, calling it "the worst in history." The White House responded by calling his comments "reckless" and saying he was "increasingly irrelevant."
Do you think in some ways, Senator Clinton, that former President Carter crossed some kind of invisible line in the former presidents club here with those comments?
SEN. CLINTON: Well, you're going to have a chance to talk to President Carter, I understand. I've had a lot of criticism of the Bush administration as well and have used some, you know, very strong --
MR. LAUER: But you're not a former president.
SEN. CLINTON: -- descriptions. Well, not yet.
MR. LAUER: (Laughs.)
SEN. CLINTON: But I am going to continue to criticize the president. I think it's the duty of every American to speak out when you feel strongly that your president is headed in the wrong direction.
MR. LAUER: So no harm, no foul.
SEN. CLINTON: I've never known -- well, look, I think we need a debate in this country. That's what's going on. You know, many of us are extremely frustrated at the president's stubbornness, at the Iraqi government's unwillingness to take tough decisions. They're putting our young men and women in harm's way every single day for a failed policy.
MR. LAUER: Right.
SEN. CLINTON: And I think we need to have a very vigorous debate. So I welcome everyone to that.
MR. LAUER: Senator Hillary Clinton, coming to us from Miami this morning. Senator, nice to spend time with you. Thanks very much.
SEN. CLINTON: Thanks a lot, Matt. Good to talk to you.
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