Next chief stuck with Bush war, Clinton states

A White House spokesman said the former first lady's comments will hurt U.S. troops.
WASHINGTON POST
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., toughening her tone during a second day of campaigning in Iowa, accused President Bush of trying to pass the problems in Iraq on to the next president and described his actions as "the height of irresponsibility."
"The president has said this is going to be left to his successor. He has said that on more than one occasion," Clinton said during a town hall meeting here Sunday morning. "I really resent it. This was his decision to go to war."
Her comment quickly reverberated at the White House, where a spokesman issued a statement denouncing Clinton for a "partisan attack that sends the wrong message to our troops, our enemies and the Iraqi people."
Clinton, still relatively new to the presidential race, got a glimpse of how direct and inquisitive Iowa voters can be as she faced questions about her failed health-care plan in the 1990s and her ability to confront foreign threats. But she appeared prepared for the interrogation, and showed a flash of humor as well.
Asked by a voter what qualified her to handle leaders from countries such as Iran and North Korea, Clinton began her reply, then stopped and, for effect, repeated the question.
Touch of humor
"What in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men?" she said wryly, prompting peals of laughter from the audience. She had begun with a reference to Osama bin Laden, but the crowd's reaction suggested they thought her experience with "bad men" involved someone other than the terrorist leader.
In a news conference later that day, Clinton tried to avoid explaining which "bad men" she had been referring to, initially insisting that she had simply repeated the audience member's question.
Minutes later, though, she acknowledged she had been showing her playful side. "I thought I was funny," she said, chiding reporters who pressed her on the remark. "You know, you guys keep telling me to lighten up. I get a little funny, and now I'm being psychoanalyzed."
Clinton has sought to strike a balance during her first days as a presidential candidate between proving her toughness and revealing her personality after years of being closely guarded in public. She dropped nuggets from her personal biography -- comparing her high school in Illinois to ones she visited in Iowa and casually referring to her husband as "this guy from Arkansas"