In the headline of a January 16 article on the previous night's Democratic presidential debate, The Washington Times falsely asserted: “Hillary likens Obama to 'pathetic' Bush.” In the article, Christina Bellantoni wrote, “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night compared her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, to President Bush on executive abilities -- just minutes after calling the current president 'pathetic.' The brief exchange began after Mr. Obama of Illinois said in response to a debate question about his greatest weakness that he has trouble keeping track of paperwork.” But Clinton's “how pathetic” comment was not part of a “brief exchange” that “began after Mr. Obama of Illinois said in response to a debate question about his greatest weakness that he has trouble keeping track of paperwork.” In fact, Clinton used the word “pathetic” -- in reference to Bush “begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil” -- more than six minutes before mentioning Bush's abilities as a chief executive in reference to comments Obama had made to a question about his strengths and weaknesses.

During the January 15 debate, Clinton characterized Bush's conduct as “pathetic” in response to the following question from NBC's Meet the Press host Tim Russert: “Senator Clinton, your husband said that Senator Obama very well could be the nominee -- he could win. With that in mind, when you say that Senator Obama is raising false hopes, and you refuse to say whether he's ready to be president, what are the consequences of those comments in the fall against the Republicans?” Clinton said:

CLINTON: Well, Tim, we're in a hard-fought primary season. I think each of us recognize that. You know, we're the survivors of what has been a yearlong campaign. But I certainly have the highest regard for both Senator Obama and Senator [John] Edwards. I've worked with them. I have, you know, supported them in their previous runs for office. There's no doubt that when we have a nominee, we're going to have a totally unified Democratic Party.

The issue for the voters here in Nevada, South Carolina, and then all of the states to come is who is ready on day one to walk into that Oval Office, knowing the problems that are going to be there waiting for our next president: a war to end in Iraq, a war to resolve in Afghanistan, an economy that I believe is slipping toward a recession, with the results already being felt here in Nevada with the highest home foreclosure rate in the entire country, 47 million Americans uninsured, an energy policy that is totally wrong for America, for our future.

President Bush is over in the Gulf now begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil. How pathetic. We should have an energy policy right now putting people to work in green-collar jobs as a way to stave off the recession, moving us toward energy independence. All of that and more is waiting for our next president.

You know, obviously each of us believes that we are the person who should walk into that Oval Office on January 20th, 2009. I'm presenting my experience, my qualifications, my ideas, my vision for America.

And it's rooted in the voices that I hear, that I've heard for 35 years, of people who want a better life for themselves and their children. And I'm going to keep putting forward what I have done and what I will do. And this is what this election, I think, is really about.

After asking Clinton a follow-up question, Russert moved on to ask Obama about an interview he gave to the Reno Gazette-Journal. Following Obama's answer, Russert said: “You said each of you have strengths and weaknesses. I want to ask each of you quickly, your greatest strength, your greatest weakness.” Obama responded:

OBAMA: My greatest strength, I think, is the ability to bring people together from different perspectives to get them to recognize what they have in common and to move people in a different direction. And as I indicated before, my greatest weakness, I think, is when it comes to -- I'll give you a very good example. I ask my staff never to hand me paper until two seconds before I need it because I will lose it. You know, the

---

you know --

[laughter]

-- and my desk and my office doesn't look good. I've got to have somebody around me who is keeping track of that stuff.

And that's not trivial; I need to have good people in place who can make sure that systems run. That's what I've always done, and that's why we run not only a good campaign, but a good U.S. Senate office.

It was after Obama and Edwards answered the question -- and 6 minutes and 15 seconds after using the word “pathetic” in reference to Bush -- that Clinton answered and said:

CLINTON: That's what I've done for 35 years. It is really my life's work. It is something that comes out of my own experience, both in my family and in my church that, you know, I've been blessed. And I think to whom much is given, much is expected.

So I have tried to create opportunities, both on an individual basis, intervening to help people who have nowhere else to turn, to be their champion, and then to make those changes. And I think I can deliver change. I think I understand how to make it possible for more people to live up to their God-given potential.

I get impatient. I get, you know, really frustrated when people don't seem to understand that we can do so much more to help each other. Sometimes I come across that way. I admit that. I get very concerned about, you know, pushing further and faster than perhaps people are ready to go.

But I think that, you know, there is a difference here. I do think that being president is the chief executive officer. I respect what Barack said about setting the vision, setting the tone, bringing people together. But I think you have to be able to manage and run the bureaucracy. You've got to pick good people, certainly, but you have to hold them accountable every single day.

We've seen the results of a president who, frankly, failed at that. You know, he went in to office saying he was going to have the kind of Harvard Business School CEO model where he'd set the tone, he'd set the goals and then everybody else would have to implement it.

From the January 16 Washington Times article:

Hillary likens Obama to 'pathetic' Bush

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night compared her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, to President Bush on executive abilities -- just minutes after calling the current president “pathetic.”

The brief exchange began after Mr. Obama of Illinois said in response to a debate question about his greatest weakness that he has trouble keeping track of paperwork.

“Being president is not making sure that schedules are being run properly or the paperwork is being shuffled effectively,” he said. “It involves having the capacity to bring together the best people and being able to spark the kind of debate about how we're going to solve [problems] ... That's the kind of leadership that I believe I can provide.”

Mrs. Clinton of New York shot back that setting vision and bringing people together is important, but “you have to be able to manage and run the bureaucracy.”

“We've seen the results of a president who frankly failed at that,” she said. “He went in to office saying he was going to have the kind of Harvard Business School CEO model, where he'd set the tone, he'd set the goals, and then everybody else would have to implement it. And we saw the failures.”

Mr. Obama responded, “There's no doubt that you've got to be a good manager, and that's not what I was arguing.”

He also quipped that Mr. Bush is always on time and “efficient,” but that “what he could not do is to listen to perspectives that didn't agree with his ideological predispositions.”

It was not the first time that Mrs. Clinton has tried to suggest similarities between Mr. Obama and the president.

In New Hampshire, she was asked about her “likability” factor and cautioned voters that in 2000, they had chosen a president “who people said they wanted to have a beer with; who said he wanted to be a uniter, not a divider; who said that he had his intuition and he was going to -- transform the country.”

Also last night, she mocked Mr. Bush's request to officials in Saudi Arabia that they pump more oil to help lower its price.

“President Bush is over in Gulf now begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil,” she said. “How pathetic.”

Mrs. Clinton also characterized Mr. Obama's vote for a 2005 energy bill as supporting something “championed by Dick Cheney” after he defended the vote as supporting an investment in green energy.

From the January 15 Democratic debate:

RUSSERT: Senator Clinton, your husband said that Senator Obama very well could be the nominee -- he could win. With that in mind, when you say that Senator Obama is raising false hopes, and you refuse to say whether he's ready to be president, what are the consequences of those comments in the fall against the Republicans?

CLINTON: Well, Tim, we're in a hard-fought primary season. I think each of us recognize that. You know, we're the survivors of what has been a yearlong campaign. But I certainly have the highest regard for both Senator Obama and Senator Edwards. I've worked with them. I have, you know, supported them in their previous runs for office. There's no doubt that when we have a nominee, we're going to have a totally unified Democratic Party.

The issue for the voters here in Nevada, South Carolina, and then all of the states to come is who is ready on day one to walk into that Oval Office, knowing the problems that are going to be there waiting for our next president: a war to end in Iraq, a war to resolve in Afghanistan, an economy that I believe is slipping toward a recession, with the results already being felt here in Nevada with the highest home foreclosure rate in the entire country, 47 million Americans uninsured, an energy policy that is totally wrong for America, for our future.

President Bush is over in the Gulf now begging the Saudis and others to drop the price of oil. How pathetic. We should have an energy policy right now putting people to work in green-collar jobs as a way to stave off the recession, moving us toward energy independence. All of that and more is waiting for our next president.

You know, obviously each of us believes that we are the person who should walk into that Oval Office on January 20th, 2009. I'm presenting my experience, my qualifications, my ideas, my vision for America.

And it's rooted in the voices that I hear, that I've heard for 35 years, of people who want a better life for themselves and their children. And I'm going to keep putting forward what I have done and what I will do. And this is what this election, I think, is really about.

RUSSERT: You may think you are the best prepared, but would you acknowledge that Senator Obama and Senator Edwards are both prepared to be president?

CLINTON: Well, I think that that's up to the voters to decide. I think that's something that voters have to make a decision about on all of us. They have to look at each and every one of us and imagine us in the Oval Office, imagine us as commander in chief, imagine us making tough decisions about everything we know we're going to have to deal with, and then all of the unpredictable events that come through the door of the White House and land on the desk of the president.

RUSSERT: Senator Obama, you gave an interview to the Reno Gazette-Journal and you said, “We all have strengths and weaknesses.” You said one of your weaknesses is, quote, “I'm not an operating officer.” Do the American people want someone in the Oval Office who is an operating officer?

OBAMA: Well, I think what I was describing was how I view the presidency. Now, being president is not making sure that schedules are being run properly or the paperwork is being shuffled effectively. It involves having a vision for where the country needs to go.

It involves having the capacity to bring together the best people and being able to spark the kind of debate about how we're going to solve health care; how we're going to solve energy; how we are going to deliver good jobs at good wages; how we're going to keep people in their homes here in Nevada; and then being able to mobilize and inspire the American people to get behind that agenda for change.

That's the kind of leadership that I've shown in the past. That's the kind of leadership that I intend to show as president of the United States. So, what's needed is sound judgment, a vision for the future, the capacity to tap into the hopes and dreams of the American people and mobilize them to push aside those special interests and lobbyists and forces that are standing in the way of real change, and making sure that you have a government that reflects the decency and the generosity of the American people. That's the kind of leadership that I believe I can provide.

RUSSERT: You said each of you have strengths and weaknesses. I want to ask each of you quickly, your greatest strength, your greatest weakness.

OBAMA: My greatest strength, I think, is the ability to bring people together from different perspectives to get them to recognize what they have in common and to move people in a different direction. And as I indicated before, my greatest weakness, I think, is when it comes to -- I'll give you a very good example. I ask my staff never to hand me paper until two seconds before I need it because I will lose it. You know, the

---

you know --

[laughter]

-- and my desk and my office doesn't look good. I've got to have somebody around me who is keeping track of that stuff.

And that's not trivial; I need to have good people in place who can make sure that systems run. That's what I've always done, and that's why we run not only a good campaign, but a good U.S. Senate office.

RUSSERT: Senator Edwards, greatest strength, greatest weakness?

EDWARDS: I think my greatest strength is that for 54 years, I've been fighting with every fiber of my being. In the beginning, the fight was for me. Growing up in mill towns and mill villages, I had to literally fight to survive.

But then I spent 20 years in courtrooms fighting for children and families against really powerful well-financed interests. I learned from that experience, by the way, that if you're tough enough and you're strong enough and you got the guts and you're smart enough, you can win. That's a fight that can be won.

It can be won in Washington, too, by the way. And I've continued that entire fight my entire time in public life. So I've got what it takes inside to fight on behalf of the American people and on behalf of the middle class.

I think weakness, I sometimes have a very powerful emotional response to pain that I see around me, when I see a man like Donnie Ingram, who I met a few months ago in South Carolina, who worked for 33 years in the mill, reminded me very much of the kind of people that I grew up with, who's about to lose his job, has no idea where he's going to go, what he's going to do.

I mean, his dignity and self-respect is at issue. And I feel that in a really personal way and in a very emotional way. And I think sometimes that can undermine what you need to do.

RUSSERT: Senator Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, I am passionately committed to this country and what it stands for. I'm a product of the changes that have already occurred, and I want to be an instrument for making those changes alive and real in the lives of Americans, particularly children.

That's what I've done for 35 years. It is really my life's work. It is something that comes out of my own experience, both in my family and in my church that, you know, I've been blessed. And I think to whom much is given, much is expected.

So I have tried to create opportunities, both on an individual basis, intervening to help people who have nowhere else to turn, to be their champion, and then to make those changes. And I think I can deliver change. I think I understand how to make it possible for more people to live up to their God-given potential.

I get impatient. I get, you know, really frustrated when people don't seem to understand that we can do so much more to help each other. Sometimes I come across that way. I admit that. I get very concerned about, you know, pushing further and faster than perhaps people are ready to go.

But I think that, you know, there is a difference here. I do think that being president is the chief executive officer. I respect what Barack said about setting the vision, setting the tone, bringing people together. But I think you have to be able to manage and run the bureaucracy. You've got to pick good people, certainly, but you have to hold them accountable every single day.

We've seen the results of a president who, frankly, failed at that. You know, he went in to office saying he was going to have the kind of Harvard Business School CEO model where he'd set the tone, he'd set the goals and then everybody else would have to implement it.