The Biggest Victim
On TPM, Greg Sargent says that Obama is "Winning Spin War Over Who's Victim."
I think this is right. Lately Obama is almost a poster child for the wronged. What is the biggest sin of the terrible Clinton attack machine? The suggestion that Obama said he likes Reagan? That Obama's anti-war record is exaggerated? Voting "present" in the Illinois State Senate? Ouch. Wow, this is "so unfair!." The Wal-Mart Rezko exchange, that began with Wal-Mart?
I'm sure I''m missing something here. But none of this strikes me as remotely rough stuff, compared to, for example, the relentless attacks on both Hillary as a candidate, and the savage portrayal of the last Democratic administration, not to mention that relatively mild but absurd suggestion that Hillary doesn't respect the achievements of Martin Luther King. Tonight on MSNBC Chris Mathews is claiming that "the Clintons" are terrible for reminding South Carolina voters that Obama is black. Huh?
But why would one want so desperately to be portrayed as a victim? Is that what the voters are looking for? I guess that's one theory of what the Democratic primary voters like. Maybe it's what campaigns think impresses the reporting classes.
In some sense, this makes sense. The press covered the Hillary-as-victim story for awhile, and she seemed to benefit. And as she began to respond to the incoming attacks, the Obama-as-victim story was the next wave. But at some point, if the Obama candidacy fails, it won't be the first time a politician was not elected president. Ditto for Clinton candidacy.
I have as much liberal white male guilt as the next guy, but at some point, I'd like to see a little less whining.
Follow James Love on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jamie_love
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This is the HuffPo, right? Gasp. I am so sure this blog will rile up those shaky Obama babies who according to their precious will take their ball and go home if they don't win. Nevermind, they keep changing the rules and still stink at the game. They really hate their candidate being exposed as just another ordinary politician, just newer and shinier. T
The Clintons work hard and they don't WHINE! Now, I think about everyone else is whining, especially Obama. "No one clued me in!", Obama complained after the debate where he named his weakness. That is the point to find out if he knows what it takes to lead now, cuz we are being asked to decide now. There is no room for error. We are propelling to the world stage the best possible person for the job. Every single word a leader uses is important. Obama won't even admit to his mistakes in "words", he complains and shows me he doesn't get what he does wrong. He is building his character with me. I don't like the way he is responding to legitimate criticism. Whining describes it well. Thank you for your article.
The Clintons work hard and they don't WHINE! Now, I think about everyone else is whining, especially Obama. "No one clued me in!", Obama complained after the debate where he named his weakness. That is the point to find out if he knows what it takes to lead now, cuz we are being asked to decide now. There is no room for error. We are propelling to the world stage the best possible person for the job. Every single word a leader uses is important. Obama won't even admit to his mistakes in "words", he complains and shows me he doesn't get what he does wrong. He is building his character with me. I don't like the way he is responding to legitimate criticism. Whining describes it well. Thank you for your article.
Did you use the words 'journalism' and 'class' in the same sentence?
Who cares? Bill Clinton is a criminal and so is his wife.
Love's is an outlook of a consumer of entertainment. The whining he hears is none other than his own.
To believe only what you are told to believe by people who exaggerate the inconsequential to achieve viewer ratings is a sign of a lazy brain. You have a channel changer, sir. Try C-SPAN. There is a serious campaign going on and the differences between these candidates will have meaning to all our lives.
this from the nation... liberal leading journal since 1865.
http://www
bill and hillarys dangerous game
"I have as much liberal white male guilt as the next guy, but at some point, I'd like to see a little less whining"
You made your best point without realizing it. The reason Chris Matthews and others are commenting on this is because it is a deliberate effort by the Clintons. By turning Obama into the BLACK victim, they hope to alienate white voters. You are playing right into the Clintons' strategy by accusing Obama of "whining" about racism.
A man who would engage in open gay baiting as a campaign tactic with impunity is not the kind of man I wish to see in the Oval Office. I'm not a fan of religionist dogma in the political realm, and Obama has used his ties to the very worst of the 700 Club Crowd. What did he say yesterday on the Christian Broadcasting Network? Oh, yeah, that his voters are not loyal Democrats. We knew that! They would vote for Huckabee over a Democrat, for they are religious righties, after my rights, then yours.
Once a candidate has used your family as a wedge to pander to those who hate your family, you have very little interest in that candidate, and would take a lot to make me think for a second that Obama would not do and say anything to be elected. Stand with heretics and haters even. Obama is willing to use things he calls holy as political tools, as well as American families and even his own contributers.
He and Clinton are both without scruples when it comes to gaining power. The McClurkin events were a very low mark in Democratic politics, so when Obama claims the high road, to me, he is full of excrement. He is the King Panderer of this election from my point of view, the uncontested King of the Wedge.
Of course he could apologize for the scorn and ridicule at anytime. He's had since July or so thus far. But hey, he's going to easily win, and never needed the gay votes at all, his margin in CA is so huge, and in NY too! A wise move, trading millions of votes nation wide for Aunt Tilly's church group in SC! So he was right, he does not need our votes! He won NH and NV so clearly and cleanly, a few thousand more votes would have been nothig but an embarassment of riches, correct? So don't worry, slandering millions of Democratic voters might work out ok after all! Good luck!
The one thing that glared out at me from this post is that you are a Hillary supporter who will blindly go where ever they send you. Too bad. You have the right to your opinion as I do mine but when you made statements like "obama is the poster child for the wronged" it is like you have another reality than the top dems who have tried to shut Bill up. Bill has single mindly gone on attack toward obama because he has said out loud that he likes to see Hillary and Obama fight. He has been blasted by so many of the Democrat party heads and respected dems for misrepresenting and lying about obama then hilary can be demure and say "I never said that" when challenged. Barack has tried for the high road but the clinton machine, which you suport and love, has done their swiftboating of obama. The relationship of rezko has been explained and opened up and vetted over and over and yet you and others like you want to find something dark and evil as you want to find it. Not that it is there.
Back on topic...
If Hillary wants to be judged by her experience, then why won't she release her records to the public?
The most important sentence in this article is:
"I'm sure I''m missing something here."
When they started trashing Hillary as a race-baiter for praising Lyndon Johnson's role regarding the Voting Rights Act, it became clear that Obhama was no Mr. Clean and his surrogates in the media would say absolutely anything to get him nominated.
Below from Nick Katz's book Judgement Days:
"LESS than a week before his inauguration to a full term as an elected president, Lyndon Baines Johnson placed a telephone call from the Oval Office to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr...When Congress reconvened, he intended to introduce a voting rights bill, one that would bring justice to the segregated South."
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Jon Stewart has it right: The candidates and campaigns have been relatively civil but the media has blown everything up into a bare-knuckle fight.
Bill Clinton speaking for his wife diminishes her. If she's elected, will he be running the country? The more he steals the spotlight, the more it appears he is trying to regain the presidency through her. It makes her look weak, like she can't win without his help. Also, an ex-president appearing to attack a candidate in his own party is sleazy, and we don't need a reminder that Bill Clinton has his sleazy side. He should shut up, especially as the 10-year anniversary of you-know-what rolls around.
Obama is just defending himself and trying to set the record straight. He's not trying to be the victim, that's Hillary's trick.
MESSAGE FROM AN EX-CLINTONITE
The Democrats are a bunch of Co-Dependent Enablers. They have been defending the Clintons for decades now and they are unable to stop. I know because I once was one of them. I am embarassed now that I was mindlessly defending them. I would shout out to whoever would listen that it was okay to lie about a BJ because that was his personal business. I would not allow myself to think about the fact that this was a very young White House Intern and that the inappropriate actions were actually performed in the White House. Nor could I allow myself to think anything wrong with securing Monica a position with another agency (what else was he to do?). And the list goes on, and on, and still I turned a blind eye. Was I under some sort of spell? Would I ever have allowed a Republican to get away with that? NO!! I now feel cheap and used.
I also have a feeling of deja vu. It feels like it did when Dubya was able to twice win the White House. I wondered what they could possibly be thinking. How can so many people blindly vote this man? And the Clintons seem to have the same ability to be defended by the masses. The public jumps on the fact that Obama is praising Reagan, even though it's untrue, and when it's pointed out that both Bill and Hillary are on record as saying positive things about Reagan's foreign and economic policies, that doesn't phase the Dems. Why? Because they are simply looking for a reason to defend the Clintons. Bottom line is it doesn't matter what the issues are. People WANT to vote for the Clintons. People WANT to believe the best about them, and once they're in that mind set, there is no way to overcome it. Watch how many Clintonites will defend them here in these blogs.
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