Obama's New Kind of Politics Closely Resembles the Old (It's the hypocrisy, stupid!)

[draft_mario_cuomo]

==By JEFF ZELENY
Published: June 16, 2007

WASHINGTON, June 15 — Senator Barack Obama often offers a crisp sales pitch to voters, imploring them to be part of something new, different and hopeful. “If you want a new kind of politics,” he says, “it’s time to turn the page.”==

==The latest episode unfolded Thursday. As Mr. Obama spent a rare day in the Capitol, researchers at his headquarters in Chicago distributed a document that directly — and sharply — took aim at Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.==

==For the Clinton campaign, drawing attention to a document attacking its own candidate had the effect of demonstrating that Mr. Obama, like other candidates, is not above a bit of political street fighting and, by implication, should not be allowed to cast himself as a champion of a purer version of public service. But in this case, the disclosure also threatened to create a substantive problem for Mr. Obama by leading an Indian-American group to accuse Mr. Obama of engaging in racial stereotyping.==

==Mr. Obama declined an interview request.==

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/16/us/politics/16obama.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin