Fresh from a good campaign finance week reporting 30.5 million dollars, Barack Obama is willing and ready  to  take on the two-for-one candidacy of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Obama said in a clear reference to the negatives associated with the Clinton years,  "I admire Bill Clinton. I think he did a lot of fine things as president and he's a terrific political strategist".  Obama told the The Associated Press. "What we're more interested in is in looking forward, not looking backward. I think the American people feel the same way. They are looking for a way to break out of the harsh partisanship and the old arguments and solve problems."

The statement was made as the Clintons barnstormed through Iowa

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However, after Obama slammed the Clinton’s past, he said  "My campaign is not premised on running against the past -- my campaign is based on what we can accomplish in the future," Obama said. "I do think that we have not had in a long time a sense of common purpose where we've got a working majority to work on the big issues -- on health care, we haven't been able to get a system that works for everybody because it is continually blocked both in Congress and by special interests and lobbying."

Which statement conflicts only confuses the voters and makes one wonder if Obama has the experience and the temperament to lead this nation in a straight line.

If it were up to an old pol, Richard Gephardt, who is from neighboring Missouri and who has done well in Iowa in the past where Hillary Clinton trails John Edwards, it is Hillary all of the way.  Gephardt was the 1988 caucus in Iowa and the Clintons can use all of the help they can get especially given the latest volley of subtle attacks by Obama and the green garden of money he has planted and found this past reporting quarter.