[Dems2008] As Obama builds lead, Bush and McCain attack

As Senator Barack Obama continues building his status as leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, he has come under fire from prominent Republicans - not just the presumptive nominee, Senator John McCain, but increasingly from President George W. Bush himself.

Bush had up to now largely fended off reporters' repeated attempts to get him to comment on the race to succeed him - usually doing so with good humor. He often declines the invitation to be the "pundit-in-chief."

But Thursday he addressed several issues central to the campaign - presidential dealings with foreign dictators, the importance of free trade and the vitality of the economy - and did so in terms often harshly critical of Obama's positions.

Obama, campaigning in Texas, quickly responded. He skewered Bush's careful optimism on the economy, saying Americans' economic woes could be traced squarely to "a failure of leadership in Washington," starting with the president and buttressed by McCain.

Bush's critical comments came a day after McCain had mocked Obama's grasp of realities in Iraq. Together, the attacks from the party's most prominent leaders looked like an attempt to shape the political debate before Obama has even secured his party's nomination, and they portended more prominent political sorties by the president who, though a lame duck, retains the power of the "bully pulpit."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/28/america/campaign.php

 

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