It seems like Sen. Hillary Clinton has become a footnote between Sen. Barack Obama's victory speeches as he steamrolls through yet another string of victories in the Democratic primary.
The Clinton camp was expecting these losses in February, and they come as no surprise to anyone. However, Clinton needs to stay relevant in the campaign. She cannot afford to continue being mentioned as the runner-up who is pinning her hopes on Texas and Ohio. The Clinton campaign has to break Obama's momentum in order to remain competitive till the looming showdown over super delegates and resolution of Michigan and Florida delegates emerges.
One can safely assume Clinton and her surrogates are working under the radar to court the uncommitted super delegates and preparing for the fight over Florida and Michigan. Although these are necessary steps, Clinton has to get in the spotlight and separate herself from Obama and give voters a clear choice.
This phony live and let live campaign style that Obama and Clinton have employed is killing Clinton. Currently the policy differences betweeen the two are microscopic, and the race has been reduced to a popularity contest. Likeability is not a battle Hillary Clinton is going to win anytime soon. The Clinton camp is pushing for a debate in Texas before the primary there, and if she gets a chance to debate Obama she has to take Obama head-on. The love affair of the last debate gets her nowhere.
It is hard to attack the darling of the media whose platform is an abstract, non-specific theme that cannot be proven either way. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said so much in an interview where he said "what Sen. Obama offers cannot be put on a resume." Obama uses his experience as a community organizer in Chicago (another disprovable concept in terms of his effectiveness as the organizer) as a qualification to be President. In any other election cycle this would be a laughable proposition, but he is able to pull it off. His other and only real experience includes essentially discussing potholes in the Illinois legislature for seven years during which he did not stand out in any way.
Article comments
1 - dee
A few comments... So the Clinton campaign expected to lose the last 8 contests, it will be 10 contests after Hawaii and Wisconsin? This was expected as you claim? Give me a break... If she did expect it it was an extrememly dumb move, a move that a unexperienced person would make... She was expecting to keep it close in Maine and in Virgina also, and that didn't happen... I hope she is still expecting to win the nomination... FL and MI.. what can I say, both Clinton and Obama signed and said they would not campaign in both of the states, there is no way the results from these states should be included under any circumstances.. don't break the rules and then don't try to cry foul only when you realize what you expected to happen was not happening... Obama wasn't even on the ballot in MI how could anyone possibly make a case for counting the results there? A serious case, not a case similar to the ones we have seen coming from the Bush white house... You said Iraq is stable, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH... are you f*cking serious? I could go on and on with that one but don't have enough time... finally Clinton experience... Just beacause you claim to have experience doesn't mean that you do, she loves to use that word, but honestly tell me what she has done? what has she accomplished? why doesn't she ever cite anything as experience? Tell Bill Clinton to release her records as first lady, if she, and as you do, want to use that time as a claim for her experience, then we all deserve to see the proof that would be in those records.. otherwise it is empty rhetoric... Billary is no more qualifed than Obama, Obama represents the future, Clinton is the past, reverting to a past political arena that has not accomplished anything worthwile for the American people, we cannot afford to go back and revent to the "old" style of politics, that is why we should vote for Obama, he represents the future, Clinton is stale... Give me judgment over experience in this current state of politics... Clinton judged wrong on the war and simply cannot admit it, its very sad, why can't she just say she was wrong?
2 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Dee,
I don't want anybody to think that I have a high opinion of Hillary Clinton. She attempted a health care initiative for her husband as first lady (which failed miserably), ruled like a vicious bitch over the white house staff, keeping the funeral rate of Bill's friends high. And from time to time, she spread her legs for her sexually frustrated husband. That is her experience. Oh, I forgot, she embraced Suha Arafat while her hubby did the ol' soft shoe with Suha's husband, the pederast murderer.
Mazel tov! This is what she offers your country and by extension, the world. I'd prefer a community organizer over that myself.
But you need to consider what Barack Obama does when the spotlight is not on him. His behavior in meddling in Kenyan politics is indicative of what you can expect from the real live "President Dave Palmer" running for office. Judge that behavior as you will, but judge carefully, for that is what Barack Obama brings to the table as president. All this "change" talk is just that - talk.
Put unkindly, you Americans have no good choices for a presidential candidate - no good choices at all.
Not even Ron Paul. When you strip off the isolationist and constitutionalist cloak, you have a bigot and a neo-Nazi sympathizer lurking underneath.
3 - Roger Choate
Let us briefly consider this man's "lack of experience":
He served in the Illinois legislature for awhile and then briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives -- neither powerful nor influential. Later, he ran for the Senate and lost.
And then, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.
4 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Roger,
It's nice to raise Abe Lincoln as a model for the candidate from Illinois. But, as much as it tugs at the heartstrings, it is irrelevant to the issues here.
The issue I raised with Barack Obama is not his lack of experience, but rather what he has already done in the area of foreign affairs, where the president has far more flexibility than in internal affairs.
5 - Krutic
As to Dee's point about Iraq, tell me how many times is Iraq mentioned in the headlines recently? Today's New York Times has this headline: "Ending Impasse, Iraq Parliament Backs Measures". I don't know but that sounds like stablity and progress.
Moreoever as much as you'd hate to see it, I assure you the Florida and Michigan issue will go to the highest levels of the Democratic Party if not the Supreme Court(unless Clinton looses in TX,OH and PA).
I also fail to grasp the invocation of Lincoln here by Choate. So we should let any state senator with an empty resume become President in case he turns out to be Abraham Lincoln? I guess that's the 'Hope'.
6 - bliffle
Krutic says:
"Rep. Patrick Kennedy said so much in an interview where he said "what Sen. Obama offers cannot be put on a resume."
May be true. But then we've just endured 7 years of a business failure (Spectrum Oil, where he lost about $500k of his dads money), who became a tax scammer and Influence Peddler(Texas Rangers, where he parlayed a $460k loan into 2% ownership and then used family connections to parlay that into 8% by securing Tax Increment Financing paid for by a Sales Tax Increment paid by the residents of Arlington County for the Rangers which netted him about $20million), then a lackluster governership that was just propped up with the mentoring of a former democrat governor, and then president with a weird Supreme Court intervention that stunk of partisanship from coast-to-coast and around the world. Finally, in office he's blown the budget, started an endless unnecessary war, and perhaps brought on the next great world depression.
Obama has a colorless resume, Bush has a stinking negative record, and Clinton just exaggerates her slim 6 year senatorial elected position into "35 years" of experience, which is fake on the face of it.
Suppose you were the manager at, oh say, an Auto Parts Store. Which would you hire as Stock Boy? If any?
Ruvy may be right: we're screwed.
Did I forget the old sleaze who explodes at helpless underlings and folds when confronted by a liar?
7 - dee
Ruvy - Here's why I like Obama... He is very smart, Harvard Educated, good judgment, he foresaw the mistake Iraq was going to be and currently is, he inspires me, in the political atmosphere that we have in America, it is such a rarity to get a politician who is able to do this nowadays, I feel like he better reflects the melting pot that America is because he is mixed race, white mom and black dad, I'm sick of all white guys, I've read both his books, they are very well written and offer insight to what he has done up to this point and what his beliefs are, he doesn't attack and demean people, a refreshing change from what we currently have in Washington and finally because he is young and has not been in Washington for that long. Everyone in Washinging is corrupt, to me someone who has not been there very long is less corrupt, thus more appealing to me, and the younger mindset he has, the country is changing and older candidates don't seem to realize it or want to embrace it... Now saying this, I know he is not perfect, but he has a lot more positives than any of the other candidates... I think he is a good candidate, the real problem to me is that we badly need a new party and not that we have no good candidates... both parties do not represent the people anymore, they are both bought off... Ruvy give me some feedback on what you think...
Krutic, just because Iraq is not in the headlines anymore doesn't mean that its stable, its far from stable... there were bombings this week and last week... you claimed Iraq is stable, I disagree strongly... and don't forget how we have gotten to this point, that is the real tragedy... FL and MI aren't going to the supreme court, your smoking some serious shit if you truely think that is going to happen... The Lincoln thing is pretty clear to me, lack of experience is open to interpretation, however, it does not trump sound and good judgment, which Obama has clearly shown in my opinion...
8 - Krutic
Dee - I can have an healthy argument with someone who is objective about an issue but it is hard with you since it seems you're almost in love with Obama as the person and couldn't care less about what he has to offer. You sound to me like a cult member defending your leader. You dismiss white men (and women I assume) as leaders just because?
To me, Obama is a very nicely wrapped box but no one has any idea what is in it.
And as for Iraq, since you disagree about how we got into the war you plan to dismiss any progress as 'well we shouldn't be here in the first place' logic?
Obama gave a speech about Iraq when he wasn't in the Senate. Its easy to say things when your actions have no impact on anything. Tell me why we haven't seen an Obama bill to cut off funding or at least withdraw troops like he promises to do once he becomes President? His bill would probably be defeated but at least he would have made a point. That is much more substantive than a speech at an anti war rally. Agreed he made good points in that eloquent speech but in the end it has no meaning since he did not back it up when he actually had (still has) the power as a senator to do something about the war.
Two articles that might interest you:
1)Today's NY times about the reconciliation bill that passed in Iraq
2) The Economist's cover story about Obama pointing out that "A man who has never run any public body of any note is a risk, even if his campaign has been a model of discipline....
Budgets do not magically cut themselves, even if both parties are in awe of the president; the Middle East will not heal, just because a president's second name is Hussein."
9 - dee
You can think of me however you want, it has no effect on how I will speak or act... call me names it doesn't phase me... Obama offers a lot in my mind, I explained that in my previous post, maybe it is not what you look for in a leader, but hey that's your choice... I have no idea where you get the I dismiss white men and woman crap, I am a white man, am I dismissing myself? The bills to cut off funding have not been introduced because the d*ck in office will veto all of them, ask any person in Congress, they will back that up, you must have known that no? All I'm saying is just because the papers don't report as much on Iraq it doesn't mean that its stable as you claim... I read the Ny times article today, and I have read both of My man Obama's books that tell me more about him and what he can get done then the opinion in the Economist... I don't need someone telling me how to think in a newspaper or magazine, I read or hear what they have to say themselves and then make up my mind... I don't think he is a risk, he's done alot in his life, and hey I say give him a chance because we will never know if we don't give him that chance... I love the fact that you bring up the middle name, if that's how we are going to start judging people, you're in for a big surprise because if that's the best you can offer it ain't gonna work... who gives a sh*t what a person's middle name is
10 - Krutic
Amigo maybe you don't understand the point of quotation marks. It means I quoted the Economist article. Those weren't my words! Go read the article before you make a fool of yourself.
"I feel like he better reflects the melting pot that America is because he is mixed race, white mom and black dad, I'm sick of all white guys, I've read both his books"
I'm not sure how else to interpret that.
11 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Krutic,
I have a colorless résumé Most of us do. I'm too old to be a stockboy for an auto parts shop, let alone what I used to be 6½ years and a heart attack ago, a manager at a fast food restaurant.
At least I haven't been a tax scammer who runs huge businesses into the ground. Plus I don't come from a family with treason and millions of buckets of blood on its hands. That makes me better than Bush. But, for Dee, my parents' genetics disqualify me for office.
I'm white.
Dee.
The problem with Obama is not what he does that you have seen, though for my tastes, his choice of advisors stinks. The problem with Obama is his meddling in Kenya. He does have experience in foreign affairs, which is where presidents tend to have more leeway to act. And his meddling in Kenya shows what kind of leader he would be when NOT facing a speechwriter and a photo op.
That is what he brings to the table, Dee. And it is scary. He backed a man who is a Christian by birth, but who supports the introduction of Sharia law in a country that has more Christians than Moslems. Is this what you want for your country - a man willing to enslave you to Sharia law on the sly? That is his real experience, the reason he doesn't ever mention Kenya in all those speeches about hope and change.
Now let's address some of your points.
Most intelligent folks foresaw that hanging around in Iraq for too long would not be a good idea (I don't count the policy wonks who feed off foundation money in the Beltway in my definition of intelligent). Anyone who remembered Israel's experience in Lebanon in the 1980's could have told you that.
Hitler's book Mein Kampf, is well written and he very was smart, charismatic and attractive to lots of women. He was, in his own culture, an excellent orator. In addition, he offered hope in a land where all the politicians appeared either washed up or bought off. I do not think that Barack Obama would be the kind of disaster for Americans that Hitler was for Germans, but you have to be very careful when judging a man because he seems to inspire you. Obama does not appear to have been bought off. But anyone who is member of the Council of Foreign Relations has been bought off. They are not a mere group of public minded citizens, they are a group of people who job it is to represent the interests of the oil and banking establishment in the making of American foreign policy - the same way that Henry Kissinger represented (and still represents) the interests of the Rockefeller family. The oil and banking establishment is the same fine bunch of upstanding citizens and corporate moguls who brought your nation to the creek of manure it wallows in now.
So, for all the change Obama promises, the new boss would be the same as the old boss.
It's not Obama's fault that he is of mixed race (in the hands of a less intelligent person, this could have been a distinct disadvantage in public life) - but it was not his doing either. So, while for you he represents the melting pot of America, for me, he has merely taken a lemon and made lemonade. In other words, he should not be credited with choices that his parents made in contributing to his genetic makeup.
In short, the most positive thing on Obama's résumé is that he was a community organizer. While most policy wonks sniff at that, it shows that he can give a damn for people other than himself. This makes him a damned sight better than the bitch who used to spread her legs for Bill Clinton with the benefit of matrimony - Hillary Clinton.
But he is still not a good choice for president.
Finally, it will take a man with more than just guts and imagination to pull you all out of the swamp of manure that Bush and the corporate moguls who control him leave you in. It will take a miracle.
And I fear that your quota of miracles is already used up.
12 - Lee Richards
Ruvy, you may be right.
But, I once had an atheist college professor who said that the number of times that just the right leader had come along in American history at a critical time almost made him think that God WAS watching over the U.S.
We will see if it might happen again.
13 - Dr Dreadful
Or was it simply that the people were savvy enough to identify and elect just the right candidate at those particular times?
14 - Krutic
So far in this article I've seen Obama compared to JFK, Abraham Lincoln and if I understand #14 then Obama is also God sent. This is scary stuff to me. People putting so much faith in a nobody (in terms of achievements and political record) are in for the biggest disappointment of their lives.
Obama followers are turining into a cult.
15 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Or was it simply that the people were savvy enough to identify and elect just the right candidate at those particular times?
You have to have the right candidate available, DD. That is the problem. None of these fools running can do what is needed.
16 - HRC4UHC4ALLL
1 min ago
Obama and his team are the Say or Do Campaign. They are fooling a lot of people who really deserve Universal Health Care even though they do not know it.
I was invited to train for Olympics back in the day. I joined the Armed Forces had four bone surgeries. That was a long time ago now but I can tell you that nothing demolishes the American Dream like losing your left arm. Universal Health Care is a right Every American should not be without.
17 - jbvoter
I am mixed race too. I am not 100% European descent and I do not have blood from Africa. What I learned about being a Native American is that people tend to cross boundaries of family and culturs and have sex. Then, they have babies... just like cats and dogs kind of. So, it is not about race that I worry about Obama. It is about him using the vulnerable emotions of angry and depressed Americans to serve his own purpose, give them empty promises which are not really his intention.
For instance, in one debate, he said he would have come up with Universal Health Care but... blah, blah, blah. He meant, I am not going to give Hillary the credit where credit is due. I am going to rebel against mommy and act like my ideas are really from my own brain--very teen age mentality.
Yet, people who have not thought those kinds of issues through logically to dissect his statements are really only concerned about sticking with him as a life raft. They cannot see that going for the Gold is the way to win the Trophies-Change--Economic, Ecologic, Health Care, etc. So, they set their eyes on the Bronze.
Yeah, we can get a Bronze medal after McCain takes the Gold and Hillary gets the Silver for going all the way. I mean, why start with a loser when you can go all the way with a winner?
18 - Propagandist
On a conference call with reporters, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said it was clear Obama had “lifted rhetoric” from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Portions of Patrick’s speeches during his gubernatorial run resemble some of Obama’s addresses this year.
“If you’re going to be talking about the value of words, the words ought to be your own,” said Wolfson.
So apparently the only thing Obama has to offer - words - even those aren't his own!
19 - bliffle
"#14 " February 15, 2008 @ 19:34PM " Krutic
...People putting so much faith in a nobody (in terms of achievements and political record) are in for the biggest disappointment of their lives."
Yeah, just look what happened when we elected GWB!
20 - REMF
"So apparently the only thing Obama has to offer - words - even those aren't his own!"
Yeah, Bill Clinton always used his own words. At least he didn't steal "I've never had sexual relations with that woman!!...um, Monica Lewinsky!!"
21 - Krutic
It is good to see Clinton finally using some common sense and attacking Obama! She might just salvage her candidacy if she focuses on Obama's weaknesses and hammers 'em down.
The debate in OH will be a test for her. He has to go after him. She has nothing to loose now.
22 - Michael J. West
t is good to see Clinton finally using some common sense and attacking Obama
FINALLY? What the hell do you think she's been doing since, oh, the summer of 2007?
23 - Krutic
She has never stuck with the attacking him for fear of being labelled racist by the pro Obama media.
She went after him once or twice in the debates. The rest of the debates seemed like they would kiss and hug any moment. That does not help her at all.
Now she seems to be sustaining those attacks although I'd go after Obama with the things I outlined in this article. She is going after him over trivial things like flyers and plagiarism.
I would watch the debate tomorrow..if she attacks him on real issues and seperates herself from him she has a chance..otherwise she is done.
24 - Krutic
Great to see Clinton finally following common sense and attacking Obama in the ways that she should have from the start (and the ways that even I in my humble opinion could figure out in this article).
It showed results this time so look for it to continue!
25 - Krutic
Found this article by Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post yesterday.
Interesting how what I said exactly a month ago is in his article yesterday! Of course in no way am I implying he ripped it off me (he is one of my favorite commentators) but it is worth mentioning!
He says:
"The race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is surely not about policy. The differences between the two are microscopic....
..With no substantive differences left, the Obama-Clinton campaign was reduced to personality and identity. Not advantageous ground for Hillary. In a personality contest with the charismatic young phenom, she loses in a landslide."
While I said above:
"This phony live and let live campaign style that Obama and Clinton have employed is killing Clinton. Currently the policy differences betweeen the two are microscopic, and the race has been reduced to a popularity contest. Likeability is not a battle Hillary Clinton is going to win anytime soon."
Maybe I do know what I'm talking about after all!