Obama would snub VP offer from Hillary if asked Jason Rhyne

Published: Monday October 29, 2007



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Print This Email This Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) said Monday he wouldnt accept a vice presidential slot should his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, defeat him in securing the Democratic partys nomination for president. Im not running for vice president, he said. I dont have intentions of being on the ticket as vice president. The candidate made his remarks during the webcast of a presidential dialogue co-sponsored by MTV and the website MySpace, which allowed Obama to field instant messages from viewers watching online. One question was about his willingness to run with Clinton. After initially saying it was too early to make those kinds of determinations, the senator was pressed by the events co-moderator, Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post, who specifically asked if he would serve as the vice presidential half of a Clinton-Obama ticket. No, he said. Im not running for vice president, Im running for president of the United States. The online discussion came as Obama seeks to turn up the pressure on Clinton, who continues to hold commanding leads in national polls. In recent comments to the New York Times, the candidate said he would be taking a harder line against his opponent, and admitted that his lack of assertiveness played a part in Clintons polling success. In an interview on Friday that was initiated by his campaign to signal the change of course, Mr. Obama said now is the time for him to distinguish himself from Mrs. Clinton, reported the Times. While he said that he was not out to kneecap the front-runner, because I dont think thats what the country is looking for, he said she was deliberately obscuring her positions for political gain and was less likely than he was to win back the White House for Democrats. Obama was also sharply critical of Sen. Clinton in an article published today in the Des Moines Register, in which he derided her for voting to approve a recent Senate resolution on Iran  a measure Obama says mirrors Clintons vote to authorize military action in Iraq. "I think it's important that we not provide any additional support for blank checks to a president and vice president that have shown no restraint whatsoever when it comes to our foreign policy," Obama told the paper. "I think Senator Clinton has tried to straddle the line at times." A tape of the Obama event, which was broadcast from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will air tonight on the MTV network.

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