Nadler: Obama is a Novice

At an appearance last night by Senator (and prospective presidential candidate) Joe Biden at a meeting of the Israel Policy Forum at the Times Square Marriot last night, I caught up with Congressman Jerry Nadler to talk about the storyline of the day. He told me that Hillary Clinton had called him earlier yesterday to tell him that she was leaning towards running for president, and that he said he would support her. His choice, he explained, was a pragmatic one. "I don't see a lot of other good possibilities in our party," said Nadler, standing just a few feet from Biden and a few blocks from Obama. "Someone like Barack Obama, who is suddenly a real candidate, always worries me, because he is a novice candidate. He hasn't done it before. Novice candidates, not always, but 95 percent of the time make a mistake. I made some terrible mistakes in office, when I was district leader, no one remembers what they are. I wasn't in front of all the news cameras." --Jason Horowitz