Obama responds: "you can't pick and choose". Genius.

Ben Smith over at Politico posted an email from a colleague relaying Obama's genius response to Hillary's throwing down the guantlet today.

Firing back at Hillary's criticism of his NAFTA mailers here, Obama said tonight that she can't pick and choose from her husband's administration.

"You can’t be for something or take credit for an administration and 35 years of experience and then when you run for president suggest somehow you didn’t really mean what you said back then," Obama said to applause at a rally of about 5,000. "It doesn't work that way."

He said Clinton had in fact supported the trade deal that is blamed for thousands of job losses in the industrial hub of this state and that is viewed as something akin to cancer by Ohio Democrats.

"The truth is that Sen. Clinton supported NAFTA before she ran for president. That is indisupatable. She called it 'a victory' in her book. She told people it has proved its worth. T hose are facts."

This is the perfect response and Clinton opened up a long overdue opportunity today for Obama to nail her on the 35 years experience argument. More below the fold.

The Clinton campaign needed to make a hail mary effort to strike at Obama where he appeals: his "new politics" argument. If she can whittle that appeal away, it is her only hope to close the gap. However, she opened up the leaky wound that means it is actually her blood in the water. She has been riding high on the we-fixed-the-economy-up-good argument, taking credit for good economic times associated with the Clinton years. However, now she has opened the door to dragging out what was not so great about Clinton presidential years, at least from a rust belt Ohio perspective. NAFTA. Regardless of whether she did or did not really support it behind or in front of closed doors or whatever the real story is. It is part of the "golden era" she has touted and taken credit for as part of her 35 yrs experience. She has laid claim to that time, so I say to her after todays tirade: you own it. And it looks like Obama is ready to say this too.

Obama needs to use this rebuttle at EVERY TURN over the next 10 days. "You can't pick and choose." Great response from a great campaign. Hard hitting, but factual.