OBAMA ATTACKS: Compares Edwards, Unfavorably to Kerry

And by the way -- it seems like a valid argument. Edwards, for all his strengths, does have a list of major issues he's changed his position on, and such is not really Obama's vulnerability.

Was Obama Comparing Edwards Unfavorably to John Kerry?

December 30, 2007 8:32 AM

The Obama campaign says no, not at all, I'm way off base, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Mass., has nothing but the deepest respect for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, the 2004 Democratic nominee.

And I'm sure behind the scenes all of the major Democrats -- Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC -- are trying to get Kerry's endorsement. He did win Iowa and New Hampshire, after all.

But listen to Obama's remarks Saturday about Edwards and see what you think.

In Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Obama talked about hypothetical match-ups between him and possible GOP nominees, and Clinton/Edwards with those nominees, arguing that these polls showed him as a stronger general election candidate.

Then he said, "we are less likely to win an election that starts off with half the country not wanting to vote for that candidate," clearly meaning Clinton.

"We are less likely also to win an election with somebody who had one set of positions four years ago and has almost entirely different positions four years later," Obama continued, speaking of Edwards. "We’ve been through that. It’s a problem and so if you are concerned with electability having somebody who has been consistent, who has opposed the war from the start so the opponent cant say he was for the war just like I was.Having someone who did not support NAFTA, did not support the China trade deal, did not support a banktruptcy bill that would make it tougher for people to make ends meet. That will give me the ability to go strong in the general election. My intention is not just to have you elect a nominee, my intention is to have you elect a president."

Later Saturday in Keokuk, Obama said of Edwards, "Part of the problem that John would have in the general election is that the issues that he’s taking out now are not the issues or the things that he said four years ago, which always causes us problems in general elections."

To me that sounds like Obama is alluding to Democrats being less likely to win with a nominee who can be tarred as flip-flopping. Looking at a roster of Democratic nominees over the last 30 years -- Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry -- I can only see one, Kerry, who was tarred as a flip-flopper.

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