Daschle Discusses Hillary's Weaknesses

The Hill excerpt:

One of Obama’s allies, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), acknowledged that Clinton has a much stronger political network than the junior senator from Illinois.

“Hillary Clinton has tremendous strength in part because of the remarkable national network that [the Clintons have] been able to create over the years,” said Daschle in an interview. “That list is as extensive as any candidate for president has had in modern times. Barack doesn’t have that. No question she’s in a much stronger position than he is at this point network-wise.”

But Daschle, a consultant at Alston & Bird, suggested that Obama may use this to his advantage by portraying Clinton as a compromised Washington insider and himself as an outsider with new ideas, not beholden to D.C.’s political and business establishment.

“The longer you’re in Washington, the less capable you are of presenting yourself to the country [in a way] that articulates the need for a change in direction,” he said. “You become part of the Washington establishment. … I found that to a certain extent I had to fight that perception in my more senior years in the Senate.”