The Lionness in Winter
Embattled Clinton is throwing the “kitchen sink” at Obama with a five-point attack. Never mind NYT’s mixing of domestic and martial metaphors, it’s an awkward choice of words for a campaign staffer engaged in 1960s feminism’s last stand. NYT:
After struggling for months to dent Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy, the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now unleashing what one Clinton aide called a “kitchen sink” fusillade against Mr. Obama, pursuing five lines of attack since Saturday in hopes of stopping his political momentum.
The effort underscores not only Mrs. Clinton’s recognition that the next round of primaries — in Ohio and Texas on March 4 — are must-win contests for her. It also reflects her advisers’ belief that they can persuade many undecided voters to embrace her at the last minute by finally drawing sharply worded, attention-grabbing contrasts with Mr. Obama.
After denouncing Mr. Obama over the weekend for an anti-Clinton flier about the Nafta trade treaty, and then sarcastically portraying his message of hope Sunday as naïve, Mrs. Clinton delivered a blistering speech on Monday that compared Mr. Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience to that of the candidate George W. Bush.
“We’ve seen the tragic result of having a president who had neither the experience nor the wisdom to manage our foreign policy and safeguard our national security,” Mrs. Clinton said in a speech on foreign policy at George Washington University. “We can’t let that happen again.”
With a crucial debate on Tuesday night in Ohio, both Mrs. Clinton’s advisers and independent political analysts said that, by going negative against Mr. Obama at a time when polls in Texas and Ohio show a tightening race, Mrs. Clinton risked alienating voters. Mrs. Clinton has always been more popular with voters when she appeared sympathetic and a fighter; her hard-edged instinct for negative politics has usually turned off the public.
“There’s a general rule in politics: A legitimate distinction which could be effective when drawn early in the campaign often backfires and could seem desperate when it happens in the final hours of a campaign,” said Steve McMahon, a Democratic strategist working for neither candidate.
Politico with fingerpointing frustration in the Clinton camp. Sydney Morning Herald blog, Clinton, the Final Days? All that Obamadoration has got to hurt.
Here’s CBS with Obama’s great leap forward. But it’s not all smiles in the Obama camp. Mansion “mistake” gives Obie “piles” of pressure. I have to think some clever Brit subeditor did that on purpose. Times of London.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:40 am Comments (4) on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
4 Responses to “The Lionness in Winter”
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February 26th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Awww, poor Hil. Here she was, counting on the typical modern Dem lack of discernment when it comes to presidential candidates, and along comes another even emptier suit, with arguably less experience, who even outranks her on the identity politics scale! It’s just not fair, is it?
February 26th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
While I think Obama is the harder candidate to beat in the general election, I eagerly anticipate the impending meltdown of BIllary. Take your pleasures when you can, and all that.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
There is little to differentiate between Clinton and Obama. Their stated polity is one of rank collectivism, with a vision of total power over the population. The details don’t matter. What matters is the consistency of their argument within the given philosophical tenets. Here Clinton has diluted her message by trying to bring some (however little) reality into the discussion. Obama’s message is pure by comparison; reality be damned. When you add a palpable disaffection with the Clintons and their methods and you have a failed campaign.
I think that in the end this will be good for the Republicans. Once the campaign gets underway for real, and the spotlight shines brightly on Obama, his lack of substance will only become more apparent. Of course, the collectivist left, having left their individuality somewhere in the sandbox, seems particularly in danger of succumbing to a cult of personality. No one will turn their minds, since it is their minds that have been disengaged in favor of their feelings. My thoughts turn to film of Hitler’s unthinking, emotionally ecstatic audiences.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I’m with you, salty. Obamania creeps me out big time.