The Daily Background

In the aftermath of the Lieberman-Kyl bill, Barack Obama has been rigorously criticizing Hillary Clinton for voting for a bill that was characterized as “Dick Cheney’s fondest pipe dream.” Obama’s criticism is now getting under Clinton’s skin:

The campaign sent out an e-mail tonight, using some of the strongest language it has used in public against Mr. Obama, who has been raising a ruckus over her vote to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

“Stagnant in the polls and struggling to revive his once-buoyant campaign, Senator Obama has abandoned the politics of hope and embarked on a journey in search of a campaign issue to use against Senator Clinton,” the e-mail said.

“Nevermind that he made the very argument he is now criticizing back in November 2006,” it adds. “Nevermind that he he co-sponsored a bill designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a global terrorist group back in April.”

It’s a strong attack, and probably the strongest Clinton has leveled against Obama thus far. But is it backed up by the facts?

Although Clinton is now trying to suggest the two bills were similar, her attack is misleading at best. The truth of the matter is that the bill Clinton refers to was vastly different from Lieberman-Kyl bill that she recently joined Republicans in voting for.

The earlier bill, S. 970, “exclusively focused on diplomacy and sanctions and specifically said no military action should be taken on Iran without the prior approval of the Congress– Very very different approaches from the resolution offered by Senators Kyl and Lieberman,” according to Chris Dodd, one of the bill’s 68 bipartisan cosponsors (among the others were Obama and Clinton). Dodd was asked about the difference between the Lieberman-Kyl bill Clinton voted for and S. 970 earlier this year on Meet The Press today, and explained the differences:

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