Obama: "I've been in elected office longer..."; criticizes closed nature of Hillary's task force [View All]

For Obama, It's Now or Never
Share September 05, 2007 4:24 PM

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Obama also sought to answer charges from his Democratic rivals that he is too inexperienced to be president, by pointing to his experience in the Illinois state legislature.

"I've been in elected office longer than John Edwards or Hillary Clinton," said Obama. "I've passed more bills I'm sure than either of them --certainly in the state legislative level."

Obama served eight years in the Illinois state Senate before his 2004 election to the United States Senate. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is in her second term as a United States senator, following eight years she spent in the White House married to former President Bill Clinton. When Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., left the Senate following his 2004 vice presidential run, he had only served one six-year term.

Obama also took aim at Clinton's work on health care, arguing that the "closed" nature of the task force she led undermined the chances for reform.

"What the president can do," said Obama, "is shine the spotlight on the process and mobilize the American people to keep the pressure on. And that's something that didn't happen. And in some ways, in '93 that didn't happen because it was a closed process. And not everybody understood what was taking place, so when the insurance companies and the drug companies starting airing those Harry and Louise ads, you know, nobody really knew what was what. And that's why the American people have to be involved."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/09/obama-on-dem-ri.html