The Daily Background

I’ve never seen Hillary this mad at anybody, ever. Not president Bush, not Republicans, not anyone. She just comes off as pissed at Obama.

A bit of background. This was at a press conference today in which Clinton criticized Obama for sending out two direct mail pieces in Ohio (which she is waving around), one which criticizes her previous support of NAFTA, and the other which criticizes the use of mandates in her health care plan.

The first mailer quotes a 2006 Newsday article which said she felt NAFTA would be a boon to the US economy (the word “boon” was Newsday’s not hers, although the Obama campaign put the word in quotes, which made it look like she had said it, not Newsday). In response today, Clinton said “I have been critical of NAFTA for years… I have said repeatedly that it did not realize its potential or its promises and we had to change it.”

In a response to her response, the Obama campaign has put up a list of reports and quotes on Hillary’s support of NAFTA going from 1996 when she said “I think NAFTA is proving its worth” up to the Newsday article (and they point out that Clinton didn’t repudiate her hometown paper for publishing a false categorization of her stance at the time).

The second mailer criticizes Clinton’s health care plan by saying that it would force people to buy health insurance even if they couldn’t afford it. Clinton fired back, saying that her plan includes financial assistance for people who couldn’t afford it. This doesn’t change the fact that although she has refused to say how she would enforce her plan’s mandate, but has said she would consider garnishing people’s wages. Obama has responded to her response by saying “There’s nothing in there that’s factually inaccurate.”

The Hotline reports further on Obama’s response to Clinton’s criticism of his mailers:

Noting that the mailers — one on NAFTA and the other on health care — had been out for weeks, Obama suggested during a press availability in Columbus that Clinton’s fiery remarks smacked of political gamesmanship.

“I am puzzled by the sudden change in tone unless these were just brought to her attention it makes me think that there’s something tactical about her getting so exercised this morning,” he told reporters.

He added: “And unlike some of the attacks that have been leveled about me that have been debunked by news organizations, these are accurate. Sen. Clinton as part of the Clinton administration supported NAFTTA [sic]. In her book she called it one of the administration’s successes. And we point that out in a state that has been devastated by trade and has been deeply concerned about the position of candidates on trade.”

When questioned why the NAFTA mailer inaccurately indicates that Clinton said the agreement was a “boon” to the economy, a comment that was later corrected by a local paper, Obama said: “Well that’s fair enough. It is true that the mailer went out before the newspaper made the correction, right? That’s my understanding, and I will need to check with staff on that. The characterization that she supports NAFTA I think is indisputable.”

There’s more from Obama’s campaign in a press release here.

Update: A tiny bit more:

“Sen. Clinton also said today, ‘Since when do Democrats attack one another on universal health care?’” he quoted her as asking.

“Well, since she started saying that I’m against universal health care, that’s when it started,” he answered. “Something that she repeats every single day.”

And seeking to portray Clinton as being the negative one in the race, Obama took special note to remind the crowd one of the Democrats’ favorite bogeymen.

“She actually compared our campaign to Karl Rove’s,” Obama said to boos. “That’s one I had not heard before.”

Update 2:

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