Obama battles back on experience question while wooing undecideds

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) proactively confronted several questions about his candidacy for president on Sunday, defending his experience and demeanor with four days to go before the Iowa caucuses.

{mosads}The comments came just hours after Obama was grilled about his experience on NBC’s Meet the Press. Obama admitted on that show that such attacks "may have some effect."

He spoke at length about the issue at a rally in a middle school auditorium here, saying that his different experiences as a community organizer make him the most qualified Democrat to be president even though he has only three years expericence in Washington.

"[Critics say], ‘He hasn’t been in Washington that long, we haven’t seasoned him enough … we need to boil all the hope out of him until he sounds like us,’ " Obama said, referring specifically to former President Bill Clinton’s suggestion that voting for Obama is a "roll of the dice."

"Let me tell you something: the real gamble, Iowa, is having the same old folks doing the same old things over and over again and expecting a different result," added Obama, who is in a tight tace in Iowa with Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).

Many of the hundreds in the rural audience identified themselves as undecided voters when prompted. There were also many who weren’t sure they would caucus or haven’t in the past.

Obama’s message catered to these voters, as questions linger about how reliable his supporters will be in Thursday’s caucuses.

Obama also brought up charges that he is too nice and lacks the ability to effectively use anger. Edwards has campaigned extensively on a passionate anti-corporate message and has talked about the need to get tough on health insurance and drug companies and not negotiate with them.

Obama, who previously has said he would sit down with antagonistic foreign leaders without preconditions, said Sunday that everyone would have a seat at the table when formulating health care policy. He pledged to broadcast health care negotiations with insurance and drug companies, which Obama insisted wouldn’t have undue influence.

"This notion of anger, that somehow change is going to come because we’re hollering at folks, that we’re going to turn up the heat on Republicans – there’s no shortage of anger in Washington," Obama said. "We don’t need more heat; we need more light."

The event also drove home the fact that Obama opposed the war in Iraq from the start. Edwards and Clinton both voted to authorize the use of force in that country.

Sen. Kent Conrad, a red state Democrat from North Dakota, said at the rally that Obama’s opposition to the war was the first thing that drew him to the Illinois senator’s candidacy.

Obama is the first presidential primary candidate Conrad has endorsed during his two decades in the Senate.

"I believe that Barack’s candidacy is so compelling that it requires the rest of us to stand up and be counted," said Conrad, who was one of 23 senators to vote against the war. He added: "Some will say he doesn’t have enough experience; but he had enough experience to get that decision right."