Former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum, a conservative, when pressed to pick between two possible liberal candidates for president in 2008, selected Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama.
Santorum, appearing on MSNBC’s "Imus in the Morning” program, said he is reluctant to have either one of them in office, but suggested Clinton’s experience eclipses any luster Obama may bring to the White House.
"I just don’t think Barack Obama is ready for prime time,” Santorum said. "You can’t put a man like that in a situation where the country is in the state that it’s in right now. Believe me, Hillary and I don’t agree on anything, but as far as ideology Clinton and Obama are identical, but she has more experience.”
Santorum emphasized that he would not want to see either candidate win the election, but given the choice, he thinks experience does matter.
"[Hillary] has been first lady of the United States and senator for several years,” Santorum said. "She’s been around and understands the workings of government a lot better than Barack Obama does . . . I think she’s a little bit more tested than he is.”
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Santorum, since losing his Senate re-election bid in Pennsylvania to Bob Casey in November, has hit the speaking circuit and has joined the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, a think tank "dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy.”