Barack Obama Monday that former President Bill Clinton's recent criticism of his record and campaign were 'troubling' and he was ready to fight back.
WASHINGTON: Pushed to the backfoot by party rival Hillary Clinton, Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has hit out at her husband Bill, saying the former president's advocacy of his wife was "pretty troubling" as he was making "factually inaccurate" statements.
"You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling," Obama said ahead of the critical South Carolina primaries this Saturday which could prove to be a do-or-die battle for the Illinois Senator.
Former President Bill Clinton has been campaigning feverishly for his wife and is generally seen as having had a major impact in her crucial comeback in New Hampshire.
The growing acrimony between the rival campaigns was reflected when Obama, in the interview with ABC news after his Nevada loss, said that he was ready to confront Bill Clinton who was making "statements that are not supported by facts".
But Clinton's campaign manager Howard Wolfson said Obama was smarting from Saturday's loss to the New York senator.
"We understand Sen. Obama is frustrated by his loss in Nevada, but facts are facts. Sen. Obama's allies in Nevada engaged in strong-arm tactics and intimidation against our supporters and his record against the war has been inconsistent.
"President Clinton is a huge asset to our campaign and will continue talking to the American people to press the case for Sen. Clinton," Wolfson said.
In the interview, Obama said "He (Bill) continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts -- whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas. This has become a habit, and one of the things that we're going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate."
Obama, who is attempting to script history by becoming the first black president of the United States, was perhaps referring to Clinton's comments on Obama's claim that he had a consistent policy on Iraq war from the start.
"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen," Clinton had said at Dartmouth College in a reference to Obama's opposition to the Iraq war from the very beginning.
"I understand him wanting to promote his wife's candidacy. She's got a record that she can run on. But I think it's important that we try to maintain some -- you know, level of honesty and candor during the course of the campaign. If we don't, then we feed the cynicism that has led so many Americans to be turned off from politics," Obama shot back.
"My concern is not to try to go tit for tat on these isues.... I understand that there are going to be sharp elbows in a primary and certainly there's going to be some rough 'n tumble in a general election," Obama maintained.
After the blow in Iowa, Clinton bounced back with successive wins in New Hamshire, Michigan and Nevada. But the central party will not recognise the Michigan primary because of a dispute over timing of the vote with the state party.
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