Top Republicans label Obama inexperienced, but Dems aren't buying

Wednesday morning in Denver dawned bright and hot and highly political, which should be no surprise given that downtown has been overrun by Democratic National Convention delegates, protesters, merchants and fascinated onlookers. And one of the visitors to Colorado’s capital city yesterday morning was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who took time out of his schedule to help his old pal John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate.

The McCain campaign has adopted the tack of painting Democratic candidate Barack Obama as “dangerously inexperienced,” as Giuliani put it, and he delivered that attack artfully Wednesday morning during a downtown Denver press conference.

Speaking alongside former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Rosario Marin (both Republicans), Giuliani charged that, “Senator Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience is a serious concern.”

He referred to a new McCain attack ad dubbed “Tiny,” which refers to a statement by Obama to the effect that Iran is a “tiny” country that “doesn’t pose a serious threat.”

“Iran presents a very significant threat to us. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism,” Giuliani said, and added that Obama’s comments indicate that he is “naïve with regard to foreign policy.”

The Obama campaign, however, accused Giuliani and McCain of “distorting Barack Obama’s words,” and pointed out that the full quote read, “Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us, and yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying ‘We’re going to wipe you off the planet.’”

Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean added on Wednesday evening, “The Republicans have nothing to sell… The Republicans have nothing more than four more years of George Bush, and I don’t see how they’re going to sell that to the American people.”

The McCain camp also has put together an ad utilizing quotes from Obama’s newly announced running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., from early in the presidential race when Biden painted Obama as too inexperienced to be president. And both of the Clintons made similar arguments during the heated Democratic primary, which the McCain camp has also begun circulating as ammunition against Obama.

Commented Steele, “Barack Obama is going to have to step up with something more than a fancy tongue, smart snappy words, a nice suit and come to the table with some substance.”

But the Democrats, riding high on the crescendoing wave of excitement generated by their national convention, laughed off the inexperience accusation. And on Wednesday, the question of whether both Bill and Hillary Clinton would be firmly in Obama’s camp was answered with a resounding affirmative.

Hillary Clinton started the ball rolling with her speech Tuesday night, in which she reminded her supporters that the presidential race is about issues, not candidates. Then she picked the ball up and smashed it across the Pepsi Center on Wednesday when she made a surprise appearance during the roll call vote for the presidential nominations.

Even before Clinton made her appearance, however, it was clear that her message from the previous night already had had an effect. States that she had won during the primary season went easily for Obama. New Jersey, where Mrs. Clinton beat Obama by 10 points on “Tsunami Tuesday” in February, even voted unanimously to give its 127 delegate votes to Obama.

The roll call vote got as far as New Mexico, but the high-delegate states of California and Illinois passed their alphabetical turn to vote, which kept the nomination open. But when the roll call reached New Mexico, just one state before Clinton’s home state of New York, the delegation yielded its time to Illinois, and Illinois immediately yielded to New York. And then the New York senator strode onto the floor of the convention.

“In the spirit of unity, with a goal of victory, with faith in our party and our country, let’s declare together in one voice, right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president,” she said, just before requesting a vote for Obama’s nomination by acclamation.

The roof of the Pepsi Center fairly shook from the thunderous applause, and the motion carried overwhelmingly.

“That was a tremendous approach,” said Congressman Ed Perlmutter, of Colorado’s 7th Congressional District. He then began dancing in the aisles with an Obama campaign sign in each hand after the nomination was closed. “It’s just a class act on her part, for her to say let’s be done with this thing.”

Former state Sen. Stan Matsunaka, a Colorado delegate from Fort Collins, said that the deference of California and Illinois, in particular, had sent a tremendous message, because had the states cast their votes in the roll call, their huge delegate numbers probably would have sealed the deal before New York was reached.

“It says a lot to the party,” said Matsunaka, who had originally supported Clinton. “There’s going to be a lot of healing going on. There are a lot of folks who have been very angry, and they’re going to have to decide which direction they want this country to go.”

Matsunaka added that Clinton’s speech Tuesday night and the motion for acclamation must have been “the most difficult speeches she’s ever made,” but added, “there’s nothing she could have done better.”

The Clintons weren’t finished, however. When former President Bill Clinton strode onto the convention stage at 7 p.m., he finished the job his wife had started.

“Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama,” Clinton began. “That makes two of us.”

The delegates were on their feet immediately, applauding wildly.

The former president also firmly answered the Republican challenge to Obama’s experience, stating unequivocally, “My fellow Democrats, I say to you, Barack Obama is ready to lead… Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.”

Then he went even further, drawing a distinct parallel between his first presidential campaign and Obama’s.

Delegate Jessica Clark, a real estate executive from Parker, said President Clinton “bent over backwards” to unify the party with his speech.

“He didn’t even have to. He chose to,” said the 29-year-old delegate, with obvious adoration in her voice. “(Mrs. Clinton) closed it and he slaughtered it.”

President Clinton also recalled that the Republican line of attack against him in 1992 was that “I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander in chief. Sound familiar?”

Laughter rang out through the hall, and then the former president predicted that the same tactics that failed against him will fail against Obama.

Experience also doesn’t always equal wisdom, argued delegate Dorian Delong, a 37-year-old high school teacher from Arvada.

“Some of my most favorite presidents were called inexperienced, including Lincoln, Kennedy and Clinton,” Delong said. “And Lincoln was a Republican.”

Bob Kihm, an Obama delegate from Centennial, quipped, “John McCain’s experience has resulted in wasting billions in a savings and loan scandal to trillions in a misguided war in Iraq. If he’s elected president, Americans are going to learn what comes after trillions—I believe it’s called ‘McZillions.’”

No matter what the Clintons do or say, however, there always will be diehard Hillary lovers who simply won’t give up. A small contingent of such loyalists gathered on the corner of Market Street and Speer Boulevard Wednesday afternoon, all waving leftover “Hillary for President” signs and chanting, “Who won the popular vote? Hill-a-ry! Hill-a-ry!”

“We hope she’ll keep campaigning. November is hers,” said Los Angeles executive assistant Monica Bojas, 36. “She should stay in there.”

Bojas and others at the rally said they will write “Hillary Clinton” in on their ballots in November if they have to, and that they don’t believe the former candidate necessarily was sincere about her call for party unity on Tuesday.

“It’s a political move on her part,” Bojas said, and added that she “seriously doubts” it was sincere.
“If I was in her shoes, I’d vote for me,” Bojas said.

Linda Vessell, a retired certified public accountant from Atlanta, said she thought the roll call vote itself was a sham.

“The vote’s been manipulated to make it look like it’s all for Obama,” she charged. “Quite a few superdelegates were bought and paid for.”