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WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton's campaign included an image of Osama bin Laden in a hard-hitting television spot on Monday ahead of the Pennsylvania primary, prompting Barack Obama's team to decry the "politics of fear."
The Obama campaign hastily responded with its own advertisement as the rival Democrats closed out bad-tempered exchanges heading into Tuesday's Pennsylvania face-off, which pundits say Clinton needs to win big.
Her ad shows a rapid-fire montage of events including Pearl Harbour and the fall of the Berlin Wall, interspersed with clips of Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama and Hurricane Katrina victims.
The stern male narrator quotes wartime president Harry Truman's famous political maxim, which Clinton has repeatedly invoked on the campaign trail: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
"You need to be ready for anything - especially now, with two wars, oil prices skyrocketing and an economy in crisis," the narrator says. "Who do you think has what it takes?"
The 30-second broadcast does not mention Obama by name, and the Clinton campaign denied it was hurling a negative attack on the Illinois senator after a debate last week in which he complained about a barrage of hostile questions.
"It is entirely a positive ad," Clinton's new chief strategist Geoff Garin told reporters.
"It states why Hillary Clinton is the right choice to be president of the United States now. We're at a moment where we need a president who's got the strength and knowledge to take on very tough challenges," he said.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Clinton had voted for President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, which diverted attention from Afghanistan "and allowed Osama bin Laden to escape and regenerate his terrorist network."
"It's ironic that she would borrow the president's tactics in her own campaign and invoke Osama to score political points," Burton said.
"We already have a president who plays the politics of fear, and we don't need another."
Obama's rapid-response ad highlighted the Illinois senator's opposition to the Iraq war, and asked "Who has what it takes to really bring change?"
"And who in times of challenge will unite us - not use fear and calculation to divide us?"
The Obama camp also distributed a leaflet from Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992, which said "Vote your hopes, not your fears."
Clinton's Pennsylvania ad followed her "3:00 am" spot, aired before the March 4 votes in Ohio and Texas, when she played the national security card to strong effect against her rival Democrat. - AFP/de
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