When a candidate is grasping at straws...
Posted by Little Ms Purple at 3/13/2008 12:51 PM 
Categories: 2008 Election, Political strategies, All Posts
Categories: 2008 Election, Political strategies, All Posts
Much has been said in the past couple of days about Ms. Ferraro's comments about Barack Obama
and him not being in the position he's in if he wasn't black... that,
on top of the "3 a.m. call" ad by Clinton and her questioning whether
or not he has crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold, have set the
seeds for this post...
First off, I don't believe that Senator Clinton has crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold, nor has John McCain... yep, you read that right. I don't believe anyone running for President (unless, of course, they're running for a second term) has crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold until the day comes that they get their first "3 a.m. call" and react to it. Then, and only then, have they crossed that threshold and can the American public rate them on their performance. Prior to such, the candidates running for President have to cross the EXPERIENCE and JUDGMENT thresholds. Experience and judgment come in many forms and that is what the public should be looking at when deciding who to vote into the highest office of our land. I find it dissengenuous for Senator Clinton to place herself and Senator McCain over the Commander-in-Chief threshold while leaving it up to Senator Obama to explain himself over it when no one is over it until they are in it. Just because Senator Clinton says it's so doesn't make it so.
Secondly, I'd like to address the political tactics that the Clinton campaign has used against Senator Obama. From the perspective of my days as a Republican political strategist, I find them brilliant. Use your husband and surrogates who have strong ties to the African American community to subtly jab at Obama's race, then come out and apologize for those comments while effectively "winking and nodding" at racist America. I couldn't have come up with anything better when I was in the trenches and given that she is losing this race, they need to try EVERYTHING for just the potential to win. On the other hand, being disgusted with how the political game is played, I'm very sad watching these attacks unfold. It doesn't have to be like this. Ms. Ferraro's comments and her continued insistence that they aren't racist or even have a hint of racism is, for me, the straw that broke the camel's back.
With the onslaught of these tactics, Obama hasn't done what I would have advised him prior to me getting out the game... neither him nor any of his current surrogates (at least the ones who haven't been fired by the campaign for doing such) have contrasted the good economic prosperity of the 1990's that Senator Clinton continually trumpets with terms like:
Personal indiscretions, Real Estate Deals, Special Prosecutor, Perjury/Impeachment, Pardons
Even without the specifics, each of those terms would plant seeds in the voters heads about Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater, Ken Starr, what the meaning of "is" is and Mark Rich. But Obama, his campaign and their surrogates aren't playing that game and I, for one, am really surprised. Maybe it's because he's ahead but I have a feeling it has more to do with why he's actually running... to change the way the game is played. I hear it all the time from my Republican friends who worked on a number of the campaigns before McCain locked the nomination... they say; nothing will change, he'll get down in the dirt eventually, there are more skeletons in his closet than we already know about, etc. The race isn't over and they still may be right but at least the more Obama runs the campaign that he's running, the more Presidential he begins to look.
UPDATE: Joe Klein at Time weighs in.
First off, I don't believe that Senator Clinton has crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold, nor has John McCain... yep, you read that right. I don't believe anyone running for President (unless, of course, they're running for a second term) has crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold until the day comes that they get their first "3 a.m. call" and react to it. Then, and only then, have they crossed that threshold and can the American public rate them on their performance. Prior to such, the candidates running for President have to cross the EXPERIENCE and JUDGMENT thresholds. Experience and judgment come in many forms and that is what the public should be looking at when deciding who to vote into the highest office of our land. I find it dissengenuous for Senator Clinton to place herself and Senator McCain over the Commander-in-Chief threshold while leaving it up to Senator Obama to explain himself over it when no one is over it until they are in it. Just because Senator Clinton says it's so doesn't make it so.
Secondly, I'd like to address the political tactics that the Clinton campaign has used against Senator Obama. From the perspective of my days as a Republican political strategist, I find them brilliant. Use your husband and surrogates who have strong ties to the African American community to subtly jab at Obama's race, then come out and apologize for those comments while effectively "winking and nodding" at racist America. I couldn't have come up with anything better when I was in the trenches and given that she is losing this race, they need to try EVERYTHING for just the potential to win. On the other hand, being disgusted with how the political game is played, I'm very sad watching these attacks unfold. It doesn't have to be like this. Ms. Ferraro's comments and her continued insistence that they aren't racist or even have a hint of racism is, for me, the straw that broke the camel's back.
With the onslaught of these tactics, Obama hasn't done what I would have advised him prior to me getting out the game... neither him nor any of his current surrogates (at least the ones who haven't been fired by the campaign for doing such) have contrasted the good economic prosperity of the 1990's that Senator Clinton continually trumpets with terms like:
Personal indiscretions, Real Estate Deals, Special Prosecutor, Perjury/Impeachment, Pardons
Even without the specifics, each of those terms would plant seeds in the voters heads about Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater, Ken Starr, what the meaning of "is" is and Mark Rich. But Obama, his campaign and their surrogates aren't playing that game and I, for one, am really surprised. Maybe it's because he's ahead but I have a feeling it has more to do with why he's actually running... to change the way the game is played. I hear it all the time from my Republican friends who worked on a number of the campaigns before McCain locked the nomination... they say; nothing will change, he'll get down in the dirt eventually, there are more skeletons in his closet than we already know about, etc. The race isn't over and they still may be right but at least the more Obama runs the campaign that he's running, the more Presidential he begins to look.
UPDATE: Joe Klein at Time weighs in.
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