“Tight Embrace”
Awkward turn of phrase for anything involving a Clinton, but what Hillary’s got on Bill’s record, according to the Washington Post. “Vulcan death grip” might work better:
CONCORD, N.H., Dec. 21 — After months of discussion within her campaign over how heavily she should draw on her husband’s legacy, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is closing out her Iowa and New Hampshire campaigns in a tight embrace of Bill Clinton’s record, helping fuel a debate about the 1990s with Sen. Barack Obama that she thinks she can win.
As part of the Clinton strategy, the former president is playing an increasingly prominent public role as an advocate for his wife. He appears to have overcome concerns within the campaign over how closely she should associate her candidacy with his time in office and over whether his appearances could draw attention away from her.
Both Clintons are making the case that theirs was a co-presidency — an echo of Bill Clinton’s controversial statement during the 1992 campaign that voters would get “two for the price of one” if they elected him. At times, the former president has seemed to cast the current race as a referendum on his administration.
…
She has tried to co-opt the message of change from Obama, declaring that she has been “working for change” her entire life. Over the past week, she injected the phrase “new beginning” into her stump speech.
But the unchanging core of Clinton’s message is her experience, and in recent days she has presented the election as a binary choice: between a competent, experienced Clinton and novices such as Obama. “That’s the kind of logic that got us George Bush in the first place,” she said this week in Iowa.
Actually, it’s the kind of logic that got us Bill Clinton in the first place.
And the main basis for her assertion is the time she spent as first lady. Bill Clinton is hitting the theme hard as the voting in Iowa and New Hampshire draws closer, pointing back to the 1990s, citing his record as his wife’s, referring to the work “we” did in office and, for the most part, brushing past or ignoring the tumult of those years.
Uh oh, now Bill’s talking about the work he did in the office. Talk about the tumult of those years. Where the heck are the hecklers, anyway? I mean quality hecklers.
Gateway remembers the record, so you don’t have to.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:54 am on Saturday, December 22, 2007
3 Responses to ““Tight Embrace””
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December 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I’ve read about 40% of “Her Way” ( Gerth and Van Natta, NYTimes). The experience is there but not necessarily that desired for the job of President; her competence has yet to be revealed. In addition, the authors hint that she may lack the emotional stability required for the job.
Cheers
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:04 am
If Hillary doesn’t get the Dhims’ nod next year, we’ll have another angry, hostile Dhim on our hands (a la Jimmah, who’s never forgiven the American people for not giving him a second term, and Al Gore, who is punishing us all with his insipid Climate Change “crisis” that only he can lead us out of).
December 26th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Substitute Teacher from Hell, boys. Mark my words.