Bush attacks Obama

For a while, the GOP leadership appreciated Obama for the headache he was giving Hillary Clinton. But since Iowa, they've begun to consider him a likely nominee, and his wins last night produced the clearest outline yet of a GOP strategy against him: He's not ready, they say, to be commander in chief.

If that sounds a bit familiar, it's because it's what public polling, and presumably Mark Penn's polling, also says is his biggest vulnerability, and it's been Hillary's consistent line of attack. But the fact that it hasn't sunk him in the primary doesn't mean it won't work in the general against a candidate whose experience, unlike Hillary's, is hard to contest.

Last night, GOP chairman Mike Duncan put out some statements on Obama'ss wins, including this line on the Louisiana primary: "If he wins the nomination, Barack Obama’s liberal positions and thin record of experience will prevent him from being our nation’s Commander in Chief. Recent elections have proven that voters in Louisiana want strong Republican leadership – not liberal inexperience – and it will be proven once again this November."

And this morning on Fox, President Bush himself echoed the attack, adding the (also familiar) hint that we don't know enough about Obama.

"I certainly don't know what he believes in. The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad," Bush said.

Of course, attacks from the other party can elevate a candidate in a primary, and Obama eagerly engaged, sending Bush's words to reporters with a rejoinder.

"Of course President Bush would attack the one candidate in this race who opposed his disastrous war in Iraq from the start. But Barack Obama doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.