Obama Camp May Turn To Negative Clinton History

The Washington Post reports this morning via an anonymous Democratic strategist that the Obama camp may seek to remind voters of the less impressive days of the Clinton administration:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's victory yesterday in Pennsylvania has only accentuated the quandary that Obama faces: Stay negative and he risks undermining the premise of his candidacy. Stay aloof and he underscores Clinton's argument that he will not be able to beat a "Republican attack machine" sure to greet him this summer....

With Obama clearly favored in North Carolina, even he has called Indiana the "tiebreaker," a state that adjoins Illinois but where Clinton voters hold sway in the working-class towns in the south. In the two weeks leading up to the Indiana primary, a Democratic strategist familiar with the Obama campaign said aides are likely to turn to the controversies of Bill Clinton's White House years -- Hillary Clinton's trading cattle futures, Whitewater and possibly impeachment.

Continue reading about Obama's Indiana primary strategy.

UPDATE: Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe has denied the report:

"We're not gonna do that," Plouffe said. "We have not talked about those issues in the campaign, and won't."

Comments

[vincealy]

09:50 AM on 04/25/2008

Sen. Obama does not need to go negative. People do need to be reminded of the ethically deprived Clintons. Perjury and the general sleaze factor and lies that just seem to collect whereever a Clinton is.Classics 'I never had sex with that women' ... We had to duck and run to the cars in Bosnia...and the serial lies so important to the Clinton effort.

[gregjones]

09:27 AM on 04/25/2008

From Blacks4Barack...CALL DNC TODAY !!! Stress THE FACT !! Clinton Has Lost ENTIRE BLACK VOTE !

While the media is dissecting the demographics, for some reason they keep leaving one verrrrry important statistic out of their breakdown. The Major Fact Is.....BILLARY HAS ALIENATED AND LOST THE ENTIRE BLACK VOTE ! Where's THAT fact ? And they have the gall to think that they can claim her to be more electable to superdelegates.......with close to zero black support !!! Hillary Clinton is the first democratic presidential nominee in modern day history to lose the entire black vote ! That, too, is a fact !

It is time for EVERYONE to contact the DNC and every superdelegate and remind them that due to her own actions HILLARY HAS LOST THE ENTIRE BLACK VOTE ! SPEAK OUT !!!!

Call The DNC TODAY at 202-863-8000 or contact them at Democrats.org.

This is in no way meant to be racial. We are all in this together....blacks, whites, young, old, rich and poor......working together for a better America. But the fact that Hillary Clinton (wife of 'The First Black President', who started this campaign with 82% of the black support) has lost the support of an entire race of people....is not only pitiful.....but should be made....a very well known FACT !

Visit: Blacks4Barack.org
(A Multi-Racial Organization...Dedicated To Truth !)

SHARE THIS EVERYWHERE !

[lvdragonlady]

12:27 PM on 04/24/2008

Good for him if he does. She has plenty of them and many voters are not aware of all of them, I know I wasn't until just a few days ago.
Her and Bill have to be in court either today or tomorrow in L.A. I won't how she will cover this up???
You reap what you sow and what goes around comes around and karma is a bytch....

[savertime]

11:19 AM on 04/24/2008

Obama should not, nor does he need to use Clinton scandals of the past (history). There are enough current Clinton scandals that the MSM refuses to discuss or even touch on. Curious. There are so many recent issues (within the past seven or eight years) that have me baffled. All the flip flopping, all the backing away from Bill's legislation, offshore deals and accounts, Bill's business "partners,"
$110 Million dollars in seven years, India, health insurance plan, and the list goes on. The media will not touch any of it.

What really has me seeing red, is the amount of media coverage given to HRCs private concerns and opposition to NAFTA. The media steered clear of her private concerns and opposition as they related to her considerable efforts to use NAFTA to push American tech jobs to India corporations as a U.S. Senator; or the amount of fundraising by India Corporations for Hillary's campaigns and Bill's foundations. It all reeks of quid pro quo to me, but apparently does not concern the media.






































sand

[thrutheseasons]

11:12 AM on 04/24/2008

I think that Obama needs to call another forum explaining how it was to grow up as a mixed child half white, half black, or as I say half Euro, half Afro American. As a child of this combination who grew up in the seventies, I would have to say the experience was quite unique and I find that people don't often have the capacity to understand what it was like unless it has been explained to them. I think it would help him to explain how he views the world. Many people are having a hard time understanding that Rev. Wright does not hate this country, that he does love this country; that is why he was angry at its hypocrisy of having historical scandals that don't mesh with what we were taught was America. One of the biggest problems is that Americans are not aware of many of these scandals, for example, the destruction of the democratically elected, secular governments of Iran and Guatemala. Would there be an Ayatollah or the civil war in Guatemala that just recently ended if we had not do this. He should explain the black psychology that, because of our past history, tends to identify with the weak and the exploited.

[NoSillyName]

09:51 AM on 04/24/2008

Poor Obama, trying to take the high road. There is so much about Clinton he could bring up. Why, just the Paul v. Clinton trial that's getting underway should throw her out of the game.

[letsdealwithrealissues]

07:52 PM on 04/24/2008

Better yet why is the MSM not talking about this subject....conference hearing begins tomorrow ....will there be any cameras around when Hillary is walking in and out of court in CA on April 25th?

California Superior Court Judge Aurelio N. Munoz is expected to set the trial date at April 25 hearing.

[ishok]

09:48 AM on 04/24/2008

If Obama Goes negative he should go all in. I'm talking about :
1. A 21 yo INTERN! (She was 5 years younger than Chelsea is now).
2. Clearly a Dysfunctional marriage. Numerous mistresses (many more since the White House years).
3. Lies about her role in support of NAFTA, CAFTA. (She threw parties and denied it).
4. Vince Foster...?!
5. Whitewater?
6. They were basically run out of town before!
7. Bosnia lies. (She lied about coming under fire).
8. Hsu!
9. Appealing to the subliminal instincts of racists.
10. She FAILED at delivering Healthcare...(now she has all the answers).
11. She had no role in the Irish Peace Agreement...(she lies and said that she did).
12. She's an Enabler for Bill and his habits.
13. TAXES and Financial Records!
14. Where did the 109M come from? (Saudis, Colombians, Koreans, felons)

[BJMS]

11:09 AM on 04/24/2008

Google "Huma Abedin"...

Bye-bye working-class white vote!!!

[caj]

09:31 AM on 04/24/2008

Am I missing something here? Bill Clinton is Papa Bush's adopted son.

Bill says (and I paraphrase) If Hillary is the nominee against McCain, it will be the friendliest campaign in history.

And, am I the only one that heard Hillary in NH (I think) say that she will have her health care package in place by the end of her "SECOND TERM"?

[AZDemocrat500]

09:24 AM on 04/24/2008

I am a Hillary supporter and attacking Obama will not get us Democrats anywhere as I see with most of these postings. We need each other to get a Democrat in the White House. Therefore, I would say to all of the Obama supporters, including the OBama Post, be careful because all these attacks might bite you in the behind and McCain will be in the White House. Also, I saw a poll that 92 percent of all internet users are between the ages of 18 and 29. So please do not read your postings and get full of yourself thinking your candidate has overwhelming support. Go Hillary!!!!!

[Pepper14]

09:45 AM on 04/24/2008

Who appointed you to tell people what to say. This is a free country and people can post what they like be it good or bad. I see why you support Hillary you have the same mentality that she has do as I say because I know what is best.

[thrutheseasons]

10:56 AM on 04/24/2008

If you want us to support a democrat, then tell the candidate that has no chance of winning from continuing her losing campaign for the good of the country. I forgot; she needs to get into the presidency before the Paul vs. Clinton trial ends up putting her lying butt in jail.

[JPFL]

08:51 AM on 04/24/2008

I don't think The Obama campaign should get into that level of smear. He got where he is by taking the high road and running on a new kind of politics. Hillary, on the other hand, represents all that is foul with our current method of running for office. A lot of people say she took pages out of Rove's playbook, but I think Rove actually learned the game from the Clinton's back in the early 90's.

Having said that, I don't think Obama can win by playing Hillary's game. He needs to make his own rules and go to a place where Hillary is uncomfortable, like promoting integrity, and good moral character. You know, the natural abilities that make a leader.

This doesn't mean that the Obama campaign should be stupid and that Hillary's (and Bill's) past should be ignored. There is a system in place to safely illuminated the trash heap she drags with her, and that is the 527's. I'm frankly surprised that MoveOn and others haven't hit her hard with her past. After all, it isn't like there's a lack of material.

A rather humorous look at some of the Clinton Years highlights can be found at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/23/144457/203/560/501832

What's really scary is that a lot of people thought this piece actually represented a real Clinton supporter.

[KarenJW]

08:50 AM on 04/24/2008

Nothing but RACISM.

[incontempt]

08:41 AM on 04/24/2008

The republicans will dredge it up,why not, that is hillary's excuse.

[ElliotNC]

08:21 AM on 04/24/2008

The Obama MO has been to blame Clinton for the negative campaign the Obama team has created. (e.g. spinning inoffensive comments as racist). Most obvious, the incendiary and immediate reactions by three senior members of Obama's campaign after the Drudge Report claimed a well circulated (previously published) photo of Obama in a turban was sent to him by a Clinton staffer. Politically dirty tricks, yet they have gotten away with launching the throwing mud at themselves and coming out the sweeter for it by claiming to be the victims.

Of course you will not see the Obama campaign in the upcoming attacks. It was one of the moments where he got nailed in the Pennsylvania debate, claiming that he hadn't made comments negative comments about Clinton that his campaign had blast faxed.

It's almost sociopathic. One day, it will be studied in political science courses across America and an innovative strategy.

[thrutheseasons]

09:03 AM on 04/24/2008

Are you insane? You are the king of misinformation or you have a deep psychological bias.

[ElliotNC]

10:11 AM on 04/24/2008

Which flavor of KoolAid is your favorite?

[23000Days]

10:13 AM on 04/24/2008

Amen!

[caj]

08:06 AM on 04/24/2008

To the average (non-political) citizen, "Clinton" is a common Democratic household name. As "Kodak" was to cameras years ago. I can understand these folks going into a voting booth and checking the "Clinton" name. What interests me is that many avid Clinton people say they will vote for McCain if she isn't the nominee, despite the fact that her ideas and Obama's are closely aligned. And, that it should be apparent that McCain will give us four more years of Bush. Anyone have an idea why that is so? Why would so many people vote against their own self-interest?

[caj]

07:41 AM on 04/24/2008

For Obama to go after Clinton may be a mistake. The mental picture it could conjure up, from some primal part of an uninformed brain, may be of a black man beating up on a white woman. This suggestion was put forth by a black man on PBS yesterday. It did make sense.

[KarenJW]

08:53 AM on 04/24/2008

Spot on!

[caj]

09:02 AM on 04/24/2008

Or, as my sainted mama used to say, "They wll cut off their nose to spite their face.