Friday, 03.28.08
Obama Gets Mean
Alex Wong/Getty Images
How dare she? For weeks, the Obama campaign has accused Hillary of scorched-earth politics -- of attacking the likely nominee, and by extension her own party. But politics is not a casual sport. This is the hardest job in the world, and nothing about the preparation gauntlet is cruel or unusual.
Obama and his campaign have added as much acid to the conversation as Clinton. His key aides regularly blast her supposed penchant for secrecy, her tendency to lie -- or, as Obama himself said, "hoodwink" at every turn. They've hammered relentlessly at her exaggerations, they've catalogued comments deemed racially insensitive, and they've questioned her fitness and judgment and morality. Surrogates have called her a liar, a hysteric, a monster, and worse. Obama has said that Clinton is "willing to say anything to get elected."
Obama is aiming for her Achilles heel as aggressively as she is aiming for his. Both them are right to do so: Why should Clinton give Obama a pass if she genuinely feels he's unqualified? Why should Obama give Clinton a pass if he genuinely feels she is a scoundrel? This internal competition will produce a nominee more vulnerable to John McCain, or one who has figured out how to stand firm against Republicans. The risks for Democrats are worth it.
The latest from the trailChris Beam on why Senator Casey's endorsement matters -- and the significance of Howard Dean weighing in. He puts Clinton's chances at 12 percent. |
Who can sway Hillary?John Heilemann says that while Gore and Edwards may have the most party clout, "there's only one person Hillary will finally listen to. Her name isn't Bill." |
In denial?Peggy Noonan says Clinton "cannot admit to herself that she can lose." |
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Also, Marc, what is this bit about her being "accused" of scorched-earth politics and having a "supposed" penchant for secrecy and tendency to lie? These are facts, not questions. She lies repeatedly and easily, every day and in every speech. She plays cagey games with tax returns, never accepts blame for anything, and rarely criticizes herself in any meaningful way. She has no appreciable real dirt on Obama, and can't match him rhetorically, so she digs up cheap shots and innuendo, and calls it "vetting."
Open your eyes.
Hillary Clinton has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since the second stolen Cheney election, the target of GOP real and imagined fears. I recall when Mr. "Anonymous" thought this campaign would have to be Hillary vs Condi if the GOP were to have any chance to stop the Dem's juggernaut. So while she was out front, getting arrows in the back, other Dems were able to get their campaigns going "under the radar"--hiding behind her skirts while running the risk, of course, that Hillary, though perhaps wounded, would still be too far ahead to catch and pass. That's how BO got where he is today. As far as complaining that BO is not being attacked on matters of substance: his campaign is an ediface of insubstantiability-- he truly floats like a butterfly yet stings like a bee, to quote one of my heroes. "Words matter," but not when they are spoken in church... Ferraro is on to something. Hillary would have best served the nation, and her reputation, by pulling a Ted Kennedy-- staying in the Senate, being the lightning rod for GOP fears, and letting other Dems go for the White House. Like Kennedy, she has too much personal and familial baggage to get there. Barack is like a cheese, he needs some aging to firm up-- he'll make a great candidate in 2016, which is the election I believe he was positioning himself for in the first place. As a life long "independent-leaning Democrat" I have to say a pox on both their houses, which of course means, on ours.
Between the two demorat candidates, the both equally embelish the truth - that's what politicians do. How about Barack Hussein Obama's "my parents met on the Selma march" and he was born 4 yrs. before that march.
to grunthos - and you don't think BHO is as full of as many lies as the next politician? If you think he is truthful, you had better start listening to the content of his speeches rather than his flowery delivery of them. He is starting to sound more like a second coming of GWB. He will not help the middle class whether they are white or black. He WILL help himself and his friends. By the way most of his friends seem to hate the US.
What is worse about the trashing is the Obama campaign moaning and groaning. Obama has not had the surge. The campaign must continue. Half of the democrats don't want Obama, what is he doing with the attacks to make these Democrats get the warm and fuzzies about him? Nothing.
Obama campaign was scorched Earth when they manufactured the racism hysteria against the Clintons to garner the black vote. Great job Mr. Unity.
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The distinction between the two is very, very simple:
HRC plays personal, untruthful, gutter-level politics as a matter of course, with no grace, no respect, and no personal integrity. Most all of Obama's "acid" added to the campaign has come as a direct response to acid initiated and embraced by Clinton.
It simply isn't sensible. Sure, Hillary has a right to try any tactic she wants. She can lie at will. And lying is part of the job. But another part of the job is attacking your opponent on actual matters of substance - not bogus "experience" differences, not minute differences in health care policy, not simple racism, but things that could actually be problems with their candidacy.
It's not that she is attacking Obama, it's that she's attacking him incompetently. Attacks on Obama that have real weight (example: how are you going to fund all these wonderful proposals, Senator? You're promising tax rebates, extra regulations, new programs, soaking the rich, etc., without reducing the military budget. What about the deficit? Where is the underpinning here?) are avoided entirely, while attacks that are pointless diversions (Wright, "Hussein", health care mandates, the black vote, etc.) are pursued with vigor. She isn't doing her job. She's acting purely out of desperation, anger, self-centered entitlement, and spite.
Additionally, this has been going on for a long time. The campaign is now 15 months old! Quite frankly, she's had her shot, with a lot of advantages behind her, and she's shown nothing to indicate that she is worthy of prolonging this fight.
Stop whining, stop apologizing for her, and wake up. It was always clear that she is a poisonous snake - and in and of itself, that's not necessarily a bad thing in politics. But it is now also clear that she is an ineffective poisonous snake. Anything she does from here on in is simply going to do gratuitous damage to her party.
Posted by Grunthos | March 28, 2008 4:23 PM