Obama campaigns in Ohio’s capital

Obama quoted JFK in
making his point about
negotiating with enemies.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pumped up a youthful crowd Friday, briefly highlighting an argument with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton over whether the United States should engage in diplomacy with its enemies.

He otherwise maintained a cautious stance toward the New York senator at a time when polls show Clinton far ahead of him in many states. Obama spent much of his time railing against the Bush administration.

He told the crowd, many of whom looked too young to vote, that his “politics of hope” would repair an era damaged by President Bush.

“Let’s face it, people are tired of George W.,” he said to loud applause.

Focusing more on what the Iraq war and the current administration’s attitude toward the Constitution has done to the country, Obama only mentioned Clinton once, in describing her criticism of him for saying he would negotiate with the country’s enemies.

“I got an argument with Senator Clinton about this,” Obama said. “She said, ’Oh no, no, no, that’s irresponsible. The president can’t talk to our enemies. You might lose a propaganda battle.”’

“John F. Kennedy said we should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate,” Obama said. “Strong countries and strong presidents talk to our adversaries and tell them where we stand.”

Clinton said this summer that she would not meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea in the first year of her presidency before knowing what their intentions were.

She called Obama naive for his eagerness to negotiate with the nation’s enemies. However, Clinton has also criticized the Bush administration for not engaging in enough diplomacy with Iran.

In his speech, Obama also painted indirect contrasts between the candidates, trying to turn criticism that he doesn’t have enough Washington experience into a positive.

“I hear some of the other candidates say, ’Well, elect me because I know how to play the game better.’ The problem is not that we need someone who knows how to play the game better. We need someone who’s going to bring an end to the game playing. Because the time is too serious and the stakes are too high,” Obama said.

Obama then launched into how his experience as a community organizer and in the Illinois state senator and his current job as a U.S. senator has prepared him for the nation’s top job.

He also said the health care system is broken, and the nation doesn’t have a forward-looking policy that will provide energy security, because insurance companies and oil companies have dominated policy-making to the detriment of everyone else.

“It is troubling that Senator Obama would revert to criticisms of this administration but I guess he needs to say whatever he can to distract voters from his campaign plans of raising taxes and weakening our national security,” said Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Obama has previously said he would change tax policy so that wealthy investors and corporations pay more, while the middle class pays less.

The small-dollar gathering and fundraiser at the Columbus Convention Center was Obama’s first stop in the state since July 18, when he spoke at a rally in Cincinnati.

Recent polls in Ohio show Obama trailing Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, by 30 percentage points. Just two Democrats have been elected president without winning Ohio since 1900, and the GOP has never won the White House without Ohio.

Columbus’ first black mayor, Michael Coleman, announced his endorsement of Obama at the event.

“He has the optimism and the ability to get things done,” Coleman said.

Two other Democratic mayors of large cities, Richard M. Daley of Chicago and Adrian M. Fenty of Washington, D.C., also have endorsed Obama.

Obama has spent much of his time in the crucial state of Iowa, where polling in the first-in-the-nation caucus likely to be held in early January shows a close race between Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Obama also faces a significant deficit to Clinton in New Hampshire — another early voting states. Ohio has its primary in March.