Opinion: Clinton, Obama camps spar over numbers

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From the my-foreign-policy-staff’s-bigger-than-yours file:

The horrid Midwestern weather played havoc with much of Barack Obama’s campaign schedule today, but when he finally got to Washington, Iowa, his jabs at his main rival in the Democratic presidential race warmed the atmosphere a bit inside the local junior high school gymnasium.

He happily amplified on a topic that last week prompted perhaps his best debate moment. He had been asked during the forum about the hefty number of ex-Bill Clinton aides advising him on foreign policy, and Hillary Clinton laughingly chimed in that she was anxious to hear his answer. Obama, with perfect timing and tenor, quipped: “Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.”

As his rally today, in response to an audience question, he told his crowd that “you could argue that there are more foreign policy experts from the Clinton administration supporting me than Sen. Clinton.”

And that, he continued, “raises a very good question. Why is the national security advisor of Bill Clinton (Anthony Lake), the secretary of the Navy of Bill Clinton (Richard Danzig), the assistant secretary of state for Bill Clinton (Susan Rice) -- why are all these people endorsing me?”

It’s not, he said, “just because I give a good speech.” He added: “They apparently believe that my vision of foreign policy is better suited to the 21st century and is not caught up in the politics of fear that we’ve been seeing out of George Bush over the last seven years.”

A campaign staffer said nearly 50 foreign policy advisors who once were part of the Clinton administration have decamped for Obama.

The Clinton campaign responded quickly that Obama could argue his assertion all he wants, but he is wrong. Indeed, it e-mailed a list of 83 ‘foreign policy experts’ who advised the first Clinton White House and who support the restoration effort.

Said spokesman Phil Singer: ‘Sen. Obama is attacking Sen. Clinton by making demonstrably false claims about his foreign policy credentials that only raise more questions about his own lack of experience.’

-- Maria La Ganga