Hillary, Obama – Knock It Off

Today’s editorial in the New York Times has some prudent advice that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should heed if the Democrats are to have any hope in defeating John McCain:

“…there is still a chance to take this campaign and elevate it, finally, to a serious debate about major issues. That is what American voters deserve. And that is what Democrats must do if they hope to break the Republican grip on the White House.

After eight damaging and divisive years there is certainly a lot that needs to be debated starting with President Bush’s disastrous war, his tax cuts for the rich, regulatory incompetence and neglect, and unrelenting assaults on civil rights, civil liberties and the balance of powers in government.

In other words, something quite different than the schoolyard shoving contest we’ve witnessed over the last few weeks between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and their increasingly out-of-control “surrogates”. Mrs. Clinton’s camp continues to be responsible for most of the nastiness we’ve seen this primary season and there were signs they were drawing the wrong lesson from Tuesday’s vote: that “red phone” ads and hard-ball tactics will win the day. Mr. Obama’s team, meanwhile, increasingly acts as though this exercise in democracy should be a coronation, that his opponent should bow out of the room.

For Democrats, changing this dynamic is all the more urgent because Senator John McCain has now won the Republican nomination and visited the White House today to collect the rather dubious blessing of Mr. Bush’s endorsement. Mr. McCain is now free to stand on the sidelines and enjoy the food fight, knowing that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be weakened, and honing his attack for the fall.”

 

Hillary’s Poison Pill

Hillary Clinton is flush with political savvy. She’s no fool. That’s why she had to know the potential damage she was causing the Democratic Party with her powerful, desperate and pathetic television ad dramatically depicting a ringing telephone in the middle of the night with a vulnerable sleeping baby backdrop. The message was “don’t trust Obama to have the faintest clue what to do when the phone rings in the middle of the night to inform him of a grave national emergency that places that little baby’s life in jeopardy.”

Hillary knew that it would get results, for her, but she also had to know that, if it didn’t work for her, it would get even better results for the Republican nominee, John McCain, should Obama win the Democratic Party’s nomination.

If Hillary is warning Americans not to trust Obama in a crisis, imagine what McCain can – and will – do with that. If McCain has any sense of fair play he ought to ask Hillary to send him the bill she got for that ad.

Poison pills are subterfuge generally seen in corporate resolutions and shareholder agreements designed to thwart hostile takeovers or keep angry creditors at bay. Clinton didn’t have to weaken her party’s future that way. But she did. Why she may yet become the Republican poster girl of 2008.

 

Hillary Storms Back

First it was her impressive appearance on Saturday Night Live. Tonight, on the eve of tomorrow’s crucial primaries, she’ll appear on The Daily Show.

Hillary Clinton, dubbed by The Daily Show as, “the first viable Presidential candidate with a working uterus,” sure isn’t giving up without a fight.

It’s a bit late in the game but Hillary has shown that, when put in the spotlight, she can come across as utterly charming, funny and witty. Unfortunately it’s a side of her not usually seen in her Ice Queen campaigning. I think her handlers have really let her down.

You would think the Clintons would know better. Remember how Bill defeated Bob Dole? It wasn’t until he was defeated that Dole revealed his really human, endearing side.

 

Clinton Asking Texans to Atone for Bush

Banking heavily on Tuesday’s primary/caucuses in Texas, Hillary Clinton told Texans she’s their chance to make up for giving America George w. Bush. That sounds pretty far out there, especially given that the people of Texas didn’t decide either election and that Bush wasn’t even born there. But, oh well, maybe it struck a chord.

In any event, Clinton appears to have pulled even to Obama in Texas in the latest polls. It’s believed she still holds a small lead in Ohio. Whether she’ll be positioned to get the big wins she needs, however, is far from certain.

Still, blaming Texans for Bush is a funny touch.

 

Oh, Hillary!

Peter Brookes, The Times of London

It could all be over next Tuesday. Slate.com reports that a number of surveys show Obama tied or slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton in Texas a state she needs to win decisively to remain in contention for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Some polls show Clinton still leading in Ohio but just barely.

 

Piling On Poor Hillary

What’s with the New York Times in this election cycle? First the paper endorses John McCain for the Republican presidential candidacy then it “breaks” a pretty lame story about a possible affair involving McCain and a lobbyist eight years ago.

Now it’s published an Obama story that smacks of boosterism.

I’m no fan of Hillary Clinton but surely fairness ought to have kept today’s story on hold until after the Texas and Ohio primaries.

It’s a story that ties Barack Obama to Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King – convenient and timely. The story essentially askes whether Obama is risking a bullet in his run for the presidency.

It’s not that Barack Obama isn’t at real risk of an assassination attempt. I have no doubt that he is and, should he become president, will remain in jeopardy. There are still plenty of racists and ultra right-wingers who would love to see him gone.

What bothers me is that, with everyone furiously piling on Hillary at the moment when she’s facing a mortal threat to her campaign, are stories like this one really necessary right now?

By the way, if you don’t recognize the picture, there’s a grassy knoll in the upper left quarter. Obama’s motorcade passed through there last week en route to a rally in Dallas. He said he didn’t even notice where he was at the time, worrying instead about a head cold and a runny nose.

 

Is Hillary Now Reduced to Sarcasm?

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Like the Bismark at the end, circling haplessly, its rudder jammed, and firing its cannon desperately in all directions, Hillary Clinton seems reduced to mocking her rival, Barack Obama, with a desperate barrage of sarcasm while she circles, waiting for the end.

I’m not counting Hillary out but that’s not the impression she herself is giving. The public has already shown they have no appetite for this approach and it does have a sad emptiness to it, as though Ms. Clinton has run out of anything else with which to lure support to her faltering campaign.

Mockery exudes desperation and fear, not the hallmark qualities of a come-from-behind presidential aspirant. Besides, it’s far too easy for Obama to swat away like nothing more than a pesky fly. He gets to focus on his message, she’s forced to focus on him. That’s a losing hand at any table.

 

Will the White House be Decided by Stay At Home Voters?

Both the Demutantes and the Repuglicans are facing internal turmoil in their presidential nomination campaigns.

The “movement conservatives” of the Rove/Cheney camp detest their frontrunner, John McCain, while on the Democratic side, relations between the Clinton and Obama camps are positively toxic.

Of the two sides, the Republican dissent appears the least debilitating. McCain may never be right wing enough for his party’s base but he can ease their discontent by chosing the right running mate and relying on the endorsements of key Republicans – like the nod he just got from George w. Bush. Also he’s got eight months to win over the dissenters.

The Dems seem to be in worse shape. A lot of Hillary supporters say they’ll stay home on election day rather than vote for Obama and that seems to be echoed in reverse by many in the Obama camp. Despite their fleeting moments of civility, it appears these candidates are in store for a lot more bloodletting that could continue right up to the convention. That, right now, may be the Republican’s best hope for retaining the White House.

The Dems’ best hope might be for a Clinton-Obama ticket, something to reconcile both warring camps. Clinton for president, Obama in the wings to succeed her. Unfortunately the Clintons have shown themselves less than helpful to their vice-president in the past. Hillary stepped all over Gore while Bill was president and Bill was probably Gore’s greatest drawback in the Gore-Bush runoff.

Could Obama trust Hillary if he joined her ticket? Probably not. However the idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket isn’t realistic. Hillary would never take second place. She’s already been a vice president.

But Hillary may not be able to win without Obama and he may not be able to win without her supporters. Unless someone can find a way to defuse the bitterness and anger between the two candidates’ supporters, they might just hand John McCain the presidency.

 

Levelling the Democratic Playing Field

In the blue corner, the Clintons. In the red corner, the Kennedys.

Let’s face it, if Bill Clinton had been run over by a bus a year ago, Hillary Clinton would not be where she is today in the Democratic Party’s presidential race. She’s always had a powerhouse in her corner, the Big Draw, Bill. Oh sure, sometimes he’s put his foot in his mouth but that’s not always been accidental. Backfires happen, even when they’re scripted. Nonetheless it’s been a campaign waged by the Two-headed Clinton.

That makes it even more surprising that the challenger, underdog Barack Obama, has done as well as he has so far with his win in Iowa and his conquest of South Carolina. He’s had to run uphill while his opponent, the heir presumptive, has enjoyed the high ground advantage.

That playing field is going to be a little more even today thanks to the levelling effect of America’s greatest Democratic family, the Kennedys. Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late JFK, wrote an astonishingly emotive endorsement of Obama in the New York Times on the weekend in which she described the man as cut from the same cloth as her father. Today, the brother of that same president, Senator Ted Kennedy, will also lend his name to the Obama campaign.

I’ve always felt it was somewhat unseemly that the Democratic field should have to run against the Billary tag team. Maybe, just maybe, Caroline and Ted, the Kennedys, can unhorse part of the Clinton behemoth.

Without the intervention of the old man, GHWBush, and the Lee Atwater dirty tricks played by Shrub’s Quasimodo, Rove, America might well have wound up in 2000 with Al Gore or John McCain as chief executive instead of having to splash around in the shallow end of the Bush gene pool for eight years. Imagine.

 

The Skeletons In Billary’s Closet

In today’s New York Times, Frank Rich explains why Hillary Clinton may be the Republicans best hope of keeping the White House.

“Asked by Tim Russert whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn’t up to her. “What’s your recommendation?” Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, I don’t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I’m sure he’d be happy to consider that.”
Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.

“Just before the holidays, investigative reporters at both The Washington Post and The New York times tried to find out why, with no help from the Clintons. The Post uncovered a plethora of foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia. The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration.”

Great, just what America needs, another White House beholden to the House of Saud.

“The Republicans are not going to have any compunctions about asking anybody anything,” Mrs. Clinton lectured Mr. Obama. Maybe so, but Republicans are smart enough not to start asking until after she has secured the nomination.

“Not all Republicans are smart enough, however, to recognize the value of John McCain should Mrs. Clinton emerge as the nominee. He’s a bazooka aimed at most every rationale she’s offered for her candidacy.

“In a McCain vs. Billary race, the Democrats will sacrifice the most highly desired commodity by the entire electorate, change; the party will be mired in déjà 1990s all over again. Mrs. Clinton’s spiel about being “tested” by her “35 years of experience” won’t fly either. The moment she attempts it, Mr. McCain will run an ad about how he was being tested when those 35 years began, in 1973. It was that spring when he emerged from five-plus years of incarceration at the Hanoi Hilton while Billary was still bivouacked at Yale Law School. And can Mrs. Clinton presume to sell herself as best equipped to be commander in chief “on Day One” when opposing an actual commander and war hero? I don’t think so.

“Foreign policy issue No. 1, withdrawal from Iraq, should be a slam-dunk for any Democrat. But Mrs. Clinton’s case is undermined by her record. She voted for the war, just as Mr. McCain did, in 2002 and was still defending it in February 2005, when she announced from the Green Zone that much of Iraq was “functioning quite well. ” Only in November 2005 did she express the serious misgivings long pervasive in her own party. When Mr. McCain accuses her of now advocating “surrender” out of political expediency, her flip-flopping will back him up.

“Rush Limbaugh and Tom Delay hate Mr. McCain as much as they hate the Clintons. And they hate him for the same reasons Mr. McCain wins over independents and occasional Democrats: his sporadic (and often mild) departures from conservative orthodoxy on immigration and campaign finance reform, torture, tax cuts, climate change and the godliness of Pat Robertson. Since Mr. McCain doesn’t kick reporters like dogs, as the Clintons do, he will no doubt continue to enjoy an advantage, however unfair, with the press pack on the Straight Talk Express.

“If Mr. Obama doesn’t fight, no one else will. Few national Democratic leaders have the courage to stand up to the Clintons. Even in defeat, Mr. Obama may at least help wake up a party slipping into denial. “

Democrats also need to get some updated polls. With fully half of potential voters saying they would never vote for Hillary, no matter what, her husband and her popularity within the party are irrelevant. If she’s that divisive to the electorate, she’s toxic to the Democrats.