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'We need to make a choice between speeches and solutions, because while words matter greatly, the greatest words in the world are not enough unless you match them with action.' Mrs Clinton said. -- PHOTO: AFP
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HIDALGO (Texas) - DEMOCRATIC candidate Hillary Clinton attacked rival Barack Obama as all talk and little substance on Wednesday, trying to slow the momentum that has given him 10 straight victories in the race for the party's US presidential nomination.
'We don't need on-the-job training for the next president of the United States,' Mrs Clinton said in courting Hispanics at a rousing rally in this south Texas town on the Mexican border.
The New York senator and former first lady sharpened her message against Senator Obama before the March 4 Democratic nominating contests in Texas and Ohio, which have become critical to her presidential aspirations following her losses on Tuesday to Senator Obama in Wisconsin and Hawaii.
But support mounted for the first-term Illinois senator, whose powerful 'yes we can' speaking style has propelled him to the front-runner's position. The 1.25 million member Teamsters union formally endorsing him on Wednesday.
His long string of victories put Mrs Clinton in the awkward position of telling supporters, in media interviews and speeches, 'Don't give up on this!' and 'This campaign goes on!' while her aides explained how she would close the gap with Senator Obama by the time of the Puerto Rico contest in June.
She and Senator Obama face off in a debate on Thursday in Austin.
Analysts believe she can only turn around her campaign by winning big victories in two weeks in Texas and Ohio. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, basically agreed.
'If she wins in Texas and Ohio I think she will be the nominee,' he said. 'If you don't deliver for her, then I don't think she can. It's all on you,' he told supporters in Beaumont, Texas.
Senator Obama has used his string of victories to broaden his voting coalition and has taken control of the race to decide the Democratic nominee for the November election. He has wins in 25 of the state-by-state contests while Mrs Clinton has 11, and he has begun to erode support among her core base of women.
At a fund-raising event in New York, Mrs Clinton belittled Senator Obama as an inexperienced choice for commander-in-chief in a dangerous world, for advocating a health care plan that is not as expansive as hers and for giving airy speeches.
'It's about picking a president who relies not just on words but on work, on hard work,' she said. 'We need to make a choice between speeches and solutions, because while words matter greatly, the greatest words in the world are not enough unless you match them with action.'
Building a national lead
Senator Obama rejected her criticisms while campaigning in Texas, telling a crowd of some 17,000 in Dallas Mrs Clinton was right that the race was about choices but wrong about everything else.
'Contrary to what she's been saying, it's not a choice between speeches and solutions,' he said.
'It's a choice between a politics that offers more of the same divisions and distractions that didn't work in South Carolina and didn't work in Wisconsin and will not work in Texas. Or a politics of common sense, of common purpose, of shared sacrifice and shared prosperity.'
Underscoring Mrs Clinton's high negative ratings in public opinion polls, he added: 'It's a choice between going into the general election with Republicans and independents already united against us or running with a campaign that has already united Americans of all parties around the agenda for change.That's the choice.'
A new Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday indicated Senator Obama has leaped past Mrs Clinton and built a big national lead.
The poll showed Senator Obama, who would be the first black president, with a 14-point edge over Mrs Clinton, 52 per cent to 38 per cent, after being in a statistical tie with the New York senator last month.
In Hidalgo, Mrs Clinton also took aim at President George W. Bush, the Texan who has 11 months left in office. 'Don't you think the entire world will let out a sigh of relief' when he leaves office? she asked. The crowd cheered.
Mrs Clinton flew to Texas for events in Hidalgo and Brownsville before Thursday's debate, one of her last chances to take on Senator Obama face-to-face.
Texas and Ohio offer a rich trove of 334 delegates to the Democratic nominating convention this summer, giving Mrs Clinton the chance to catch up with Senator Obama after falling behind in the delegate count.
Mrs Clinton also seemed to take a shot at Senator Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, after Mrs Obama raised eyebrows by saying this week in Wisconsin she felt pride in the United States for the first time in her adult life because it felt like hope was returning to the nation.
'This country has given me so many opportunities,' Mrs Clinton said. 'I am proud of the United States of America.' -- REUTERS
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