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January 5, 2008

Change, Change, Change

The two leading candidates are going after each other and, right now, John Edwards is letting them.

They are arguing about their health care proposals. Hillary Clinton said Obama has changed positions on health care over time, from a single-player health care system, to universal health care, to a program that doesn't cover everybody.

She later pointed to an Associated Press story. In that story, Obama said John Edwards was unelectable because he changed positions too many times on issues. Clinton was trying to say that Obama did the very thing he criticized Edwards for.

Now it was time for Edwards to strike. He chided Clinton for attacking Obama. He and Obama, he said, want change and Clinton is part of the old system that has resisted change for so long. "We have a fundamental difference about the way you bring about change. But both of us are powerful voices for change," he said.

"Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces of status quo attack. That's exactly what happens. It's fine to have a disagreement about health care. To say that Senator Obama is having a debate with himself from some Associated Press story, I think is just not -- that's not the kind of discussion we should be having," he said.

In a reference to her third place finish in Iowa, Edwards said, "I didn't hear these kinds of attacks from Senator Clinton when she was ahead."

Clinton, who appeared slightly suprised by the remarks, replied with a phrase she has been repeating in speeches all over New Hampshire. "The best way to measure change is to look at the changes we've already made," she said, referring to her record as a senator and during her husband's two terms.

-Andrew Restuccia

Posted by The Sun Newsroom at January 5, 2008 9:26 PM

Comments

Posted by: Bill Deignan at February 2, 2008 6:58 PM