Clinton Fumbles Trying To Separate Herself

The latest Clinton offensive against Barack Obama is based on Bill Clinton's misquote of Obama, which implies that the Illinois senator did not know how he would have voted in 2002 on the Iraq war. In actual fact, though — when the full text of the quote is considered — Obama indicated otherwise.

That Clinton is pushing this line and Mark Penn is echoing it on his instructions shows that the Hillary campaign has no issues — nothing at all to differentiate her race from Obama's. All she has is her gender and her bio. But you can't run a campaign on just that. You need to explain substantive differences.

Obama has the war — that he wants to pull out and always opposed it, while Hillary wants to stay after she takes office and voted it in the first place. Edwards has the war and his health insurance plan.

Hillary needs to open up substantive differences between herself and Obama, and the Illinois senator has to stop her from doing so in order to take the lead.

With Rasmussen showing the gap between them closing to 5 points, the day is approaching when Obama takes the lead. That is, unless Hillary can find a real live issue.

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