Clinton camp: Obama abandoning politics of hope

The campaign of Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) released a memo Friday which accuses her closest rival, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), of “[abandoning] the politics of hope in favor of attack politics.”

{mosads}Pointing to Clinton’s lead in national polls and surveys of voters in early-primary states, in addition to her win in the third-quarter money race, the memo asserts that the other campaigns will now resort to negative tactics.

“Apparently Senator Obama’s fall in the polls has led him to abandon his pledge to change our politics and bring people together,” the unsigned memo said.

The campaign said it is pleased with the progress of the race, saying Clinton’s “message of experience and change is resonating with voters as the first primary contests grow closer.”

The memo focuses on a statement from Obama on Clinton’s vote on a measure that designates the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

“I don’t want to give this president any excuse, or any opening, for war,” Obama said Friday with regard to the vote, pointing out that Clinton was the only Democratic presidential candidate to support the measure. “Because as we learned with the authorization of the Iraq war — when you give this president a blank check, you can’t be surprised when he cashes it.”

The Clinton campaign quickly hit back at Obama, saying that despite his service on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Illinois senator “was silent on the measure when it was considered on the floor.”

“If Senator Obama believed the measure was as dangerous as he says, wouldn’t he have had some obligation to stand up, speak out and fight against it?” the memo asked.