Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton today renewed an attack on chief rival Barack Obama by questioning his experience and leadership abilities.

A day after a debate in which both candidates sought to put aside an earlier spat over race and gender, Clinton, in an interview with Bloomberg Television, said she was ``taken aback'' by Obama's comments that he doesn't view the job of president as an ``operating officer.''

``It's important that we have a president who understands that you have to run the government,'' Clinton, a senator from New York, said. Americans want a president ``who is hands-on'' and does more than set goals.

Her spokesman, Phil Singer, signaled that they planned to continue raising questions about Obama's experience and style heading into the next round of caucuses and primaries by sending out an e-mail highlighting Clinton's comments and posting a clip of her statement on the YouTube Web site.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton responded by saying Clinton ``may believe this is a race for who would make the best chief of staff, but Barack Obama believes this country is looking for a president who has the leadership, vision and ability to bring people of differing views together around a common agenda.''

Referring to last night's debate in Las Vegas, he also criticized Clinton's ``classically Washington statement'' that she was glad a 2001 bankruptcy law measure she voted for didn't become law because provisions would have hurt consumers.

Both senators voted against a 2005 bankruptcy bill that did become law.

Debate Question

The latest exchange was prompted when Clinton was asked about Obama's statement last night in response to a question about his strengths and weaknesses.

``Being president is not making sure that schedules are being run properly or the paperwork is being shuffled effectively,'' Obama, 46, a first-term senator from Illinois, said at the debate. ``It involves having a vision for where the country needs to go.''

Clinton, 60, said today that vision alone was insufficient. ``You've got to take on this government; you've got to run this government. You can't leave it to others,'' she said in the Bloomberg interview from Las Vegas.

Clinton, Obama and former Senator John Edwards are competing in Nevada's nominating caucuses on Jan. 19. A Jan. 9-14 American Research Group poll gave Clinton a 35-32 percent edge over Obama, a lead that is within the survey's margin of error of 4 percentage points. Clinton and Obama each have victories in the two first Democratic nominating contests.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net; Peter Cook in Washington at pcook6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 16, 2008 16:58 EST