Democrat Hillary Clinton has invited Barack Obama to be her running mate. However, she does not think her rival is adequately qualified to be the commander in chief of the US army! Clinton's statements have attracted condemnation from Obama's supporters and liberals.
Over the week, Hillary Clinton has suggested that she is open to a joint Clinton-Obama ticket. Speaking in Mississippi, her husband Bill Clinton said that such an alliance would be advantageous. Stating that a joint ticket would create an "instoppable force", the former president said, ""I know that she has always been open to it, because she believes that you can unite the energy and the new people he's brought in and the people in these vast swathes of small-town and rural America that she's carried overwhelmingly." Having both things together, he indicated, would be hard to beat.
However Hillary Clinton asserted that Obama was just not fit to become the commander in chief of the U.S. army in case of his emerging the presidential winner. As if to add insult to injury, Clinton claimed that both, she herself, as well as Republican nominee, John McCain, were qualified to hold the post.
Following a meeting, she held with retired military officers in Washington, Clinton said, "Look I have said Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, I will bring a lifetime of experience, and Senator Obama will bring a speech he made in 2002." A New York Times columnist responded by suggesting that Clinton had said that Obama was not qualified to become president.
"I think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold," Hillary Clinton said. "I believe that I've done that. Certainly, Senator McCain has done that and you'll have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy."
Obama, meanwhile, laid to rest any doubts about whether he was open to the Clintons' gracious offer. "You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate—you know, I'm running for president," he clarified during an interview he gave CBS. "We have won twice as many states as Senator Clinton, and have a higher popular vote, and I think we can maintain our delegate count," he added.