Sarcasm reigns as Hillary Clinton attacks Barack Obama's campaign

Sen. Hillary Clinton schmoozes with media and answers questions during flight to Rhode Island Sunday for campaign speech.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Hillary Clinton's assault on Barack Obama shifted from outrage to heavy sarcasm Sunday, with the former First Lady mocking her rival as much as chewing him out for his tactics.

Framing Obama as both a deceiver and a dream weaver, Clinton said "none of the problems we face will be easily solved."

Then oozing derision, Clinton cracked, "Now, I could stand up here and say, 'Let's just get everybody together. Let's get unified. The sky will open. The light will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.'"

Her remarks drew chuckles from a supportive audience gathered at Rhode Island College.

"Maybe I've just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be," she said. "You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear."

Clinton's mockery of Obama came a day after she railed, "Shame on you, Barack Obama," decrying what she termed deceptive mailings in Ohio about her stances on universal health care and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Later, in Boston, Clinton signaled she would continue her more aggressive approach against Obama. "I just have this sense that finally my opponent is getting maybe a little bit of scrutiny," she said.

The New York senator has a narrow lead over Obama in the Buckeye State and is trying to regain ground after 11 consecutive primary defeats.

Campaigning in Cleveland, Obama pushed back on the NAFTA issue, using quotes from Clinton's book to demonstrate her past support for the pact. NAFTA has been blamed for an exodus of jobs in pivotal states like Ohio, where Democrats vote March 4.

"Ten years after NAFTA passed, Sen. Clinton said it was good for America. ... Well, I don't think NAFTA has been good for America - and I never have," Obama said during a campaign stop at a wallboard factory. "The fact is, she was saying great things about NAFTA until she started running for President."

Clinton has said on the campaign trail that the trade agreement - which was passed during her husband's administration - is problematic.

Obama said Sunday that while he has issues with NAFTA, an attempt to repeal it "would probably result in more job losses than job gains in the United States."

A Clinton spokesman retorted that Obama has spoken positively of NAFTA in the past: "Sen. Obama's insistence on repeating attacks that have been demonstrated to be false by independent entities proves once and for all that his speeches about the new politics are just words."