‘What She Can’t Do Is Have It Both Ways’

There is a sense of urgency at Sen. Barack Obama's headquarters in a steel-and-glass office tower in downtown Chicago. The Iowa caucuses, a must win, are eight weeks away. The atmosphere is collegiate and familial—but all business. And it had better be. Way down in the national polls, Obama does not have much time to change the dynamics of the race. Last week, his wife, Michelle, spent a long day in a conference room, calling Iowans one at a time for long chats. She talked about faith issues with a woman in Blackhawk County for 17 minutes, and smiled at what she concluded was a sale made. In an office around the corner, the senator sat with NEWSWEEK's Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe, amping up his new willingness to criticize Democratic front runner Sen. Hillary Clinton. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Hillary's team says she was ganged up on by men in last week's debate. Does she get or deserve special treatment because she is a woman?
OBAMA: I don't think that Senator Clinton would ever suggest that she should be treated differently because she's a woman. And I actually thought that everybody was very courteous in their disagreements with her. We had a debate in Iowa which George Stephanopoulos presided over, and for the first 10, 15 minutes people were questioning my qualifications for the presidency. I don't remember anybody worrying too much about that … We're not running for student council president, we're running for leader of the free world.

How would you describe her response on the question of her First Lady papers?
Her response was certainly inadequate. When she suggested somehow she didn't have control over whether or not these papers were being released—what we're talking about here is her husband's presidential library. And when she is making a suggestion that part of the experience that she brings to this office is her experience as First Lady, people have a right to ask some tough questions. She can release these papers.

So is she being honest?
I think she was being disingenuous.

What's the difference between disingenuous and dishonest?
You'll have to ask her.

Is she entitled to any credit for her years as First Lady as she argues her case to be president?
On those areas where there is a record of her having done work, she certainly deserves credit for it. What she can't do is have it both ways. She can't embrace every success of Bill Clinton's presidency and distance herself from every failure of Bill Clinton's presidency.