Obama Takes on the Queen of Hearts

At one heated point in Monday night's Democratic debate, a perturbed Barack Obama finally blurted out to Hillary Clinton what millions of others have been thinking these past weeks. After Clinton said that what her husband says might be different than what she says or what her campaign says, Obama disgustedly said "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Sorry it's come to this, but this Democratic primary nominating process has, indeed, become all about Bill Clinton. Thanks to Hillary Clinton.

The ex-president has been rolled out as campaign attack dog to bark, bite, snap and tear away at Obama in a way that Hillary -- as candidate -- cannot and will not.

Hillary can't have it both ways. You can't deploy the clout of your husband the ex-president in the middle of your campaign and then not take responsibility for every word he utters, every action he undertakes. Right down to his shameful direct intervention in a crucial polling place in last Saturday's Nevada caucuses.

But there's deeper point. Who exactly is Hillary Clinton anyway if not someone who has parasitically attached herself to the legacy and record of Bill Clinton? Without having been his First Lady, if not exactly his only lady, Ms. Clinton would be but a corporate lawyer turned junior senator from New York and with a less than sterling voting record -- including her authorization of the war in Iraq, approval of a war-mongering resolution on Iran and an inglorious bill to criminalize the national epidemic of flag-burning.

"Elections are about the future," Clinton said tonight, parroting the most moth-eaten of campaign clichés. But Hillary has made it strictly about the past as her only affirmative argument for the future is to resurrect the politics of the previous decade.

In Monday night's debate, all three candidates went at each other. But Obama finally opened up some cuts on the Clintons, calling out Hillary for lecturing him about supposedly being soft on Reagan. "While I was working in the streets watching those folks watch their jobs shift overseas," he said staring at Clinton and referring to those who suffered under Reagan's policies, "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Wal-Mart."

It might be too little too late on Obama's part. But it was absolutely the right thing to do. Hillary has made Bill, his record, his approach to politics, his policies, his style and her embodiment of all the above the central issue in the campaign. The only honorable position for any opponent of Clinton's is to take her -- and him -- on.

Comments

[autumnal]

"WTF is with these Clintons?"

Well I guess someone should say, "Welcome, Mr Obama, to the Democratic Party." Musing about Clintons in the Democratic Party is only a hair's breath less silly as musing about a Kennedy.

After almost 30 years of the Republican assault on and character assassination of Democratic Party figures of any national stature, the only ones left standing, the only real survivors, are Ted Kennedy and ... gasp ... the Clintons. How dare they!

What the Democratic party lacks most, needs most is not inspiration or ideas, it's SPINE.

Mr. Obama needs to grow one or get out of the race; he'll need it when he meets the Republicans instead of the softballing media.

[Seattlelite]

If anyone thinks Senator Obama should not defend himself against the “Clinton’s ATTACK” machine, just remember what happened to the last democratic candidate who ran for President (John Kerry) who thought he could rise above this sort of politics, he was “swift boated” straight back to the Senate.

[Ono4Hoopono]

"It might be too little too late on Obama's part. But it was absolutely the right thing to do...The only honorable position for any opponent of Clinton's is to take her -- and him -- on."

If it is too little too late, I think the only reason would be that people are allowing themselves to buy into the idea that firstly, there is somehow a double standard when it comes to Obama defending himself because he is attempting to run a unifying campaign, and secondly, we are allowing ourselves to be swayed by the constant stream of disinformation.

To protect ourselves, we need to do a fact-check every time we find our opinion shifting, because if there is a manipulation occurring, that is the moment when it is happening.

A salesman came to my door the other day, and I noted there was a point in his pitch when I started to fall for it. The statement was beautifully crafted to be utterly manipulative, but luckily I caught it. We need to be on guard in the same way, because they are engaged in heavy Karl Rove inspired disinformation. If we are on guard for those moments when we sway, and then do a quick google for some facts, watching out that even when we do find they are "factual" that facts can be used to support a deception, then it is not necessarily too late. We may still get a truly transformative ethical leader.

[spyder03]

The CLINTON'S are the BUSH'S of the democratic party, just as dirty at politics as the Bush's are, i understand Bill standing up for his wife, for christsakes she is not a intern. As far as her being a Goldwater Girl it is the truth ,Goldwater ,and Johnson both did not want the civil rights act to pass until Martin Luther King pushed them to pass it. So she is no saint like she claims to be,i find it a shame that bill and hill will do anything to get back in the whitehouse. I hope they don't succeed, Go Barack win for all of America.

[Abo]

It's always been about Bill, though. Even the "experience" Hillary claims as her own, is officially her husbands.
Some liberated feminist--all she is is an apendage of Bill.

[raptor]

Please hand me my Obama violin.

[Ashall]

The Clinton Machine will stop at nothing to win the nomination. You're going to see lots of negative ads, with clips of things taken out of context that look on the surface to surrport what they say but what really mean otherwise. They have the public so focused on Obama right now that they're hoping nobody does the research on them. I'm still hoping the Marc Rich pardon on Bill's last day in office will be put out in front - Rich donated $1 million to the democratic party and his wife gave $10,000 toward the Clinton defense, plus gave them $7300 worth of furniture...it was documented all over the news back then. Give ME a break...the Clintons are not only unethical but they can be bought. Wake up America! Do your research - you'll find out exactly why we don't need another 4 years of the Clinton dynasty.

[KathySammons]

If Obama can't take Hillary attacking him on his record, how is he going to stand against the republicans? They're not going to give him time to explain what he actually meant when he said something that meant something else to everyone but him.

Let me give you a look at the republican playbook if Obama wins the nomination: cocaine user, drug dealer, Muslim, racist church, Rezko slumlord (the latter of which is actually valid) They are not going to give him time to philosophize about what he really meant. They are not going to let his supporters explain and explain and explain (which is called "spinning" when Clinton does it) They are going to eat him alive.

If he can't take these tough questions and this intense scrutiny from his own party, of which I am a life-long member, then he is going to be torn apart out in the real world.

And on a personal note, I am sick and frackin' tired of his "Committed Christian" crap. That plays really well in SC, but the rest of the country sees it as republican trickery. Religion has RUINED this nation in seven short years. NO MORE.

[ajnpblc]

Hey Marc!

I was one of your "dollar-a-day" guys when you had the PM drive time slot on KPFK. That station has only a shadow of its former status since you left it for academia.

I think Obama's riposte about Hillary helping WalMart ship jobs to China while he was on the street trying to help the people who WalMart had indirectly shoved in the ranks of the unemployed was RIGHT ON.

I'm an Edwards supporter but I'll vote for Obama ahead of Clinton when it comes to that choice.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Obama did stand up for himself in the first half of the debate-- that's when things got kind of ugly with the attacks and counter-attacks.

But we should also look at the second half of the debate when the candidates were seated. Obama was conciliatory, uplifting, unifying. His kind words about Bill Clinton actually brought what looked to be tears to the eyes of Chelsea Clinton, shown by CNN cameras in the audience.

Chelsea Clinton is actually the kind of female voter who would be likely to be an Obama supporter. Certainly her mother has had to fight battles and break through barriers which someone of Chelsea's generation might not be forced to deal with on quite the same level.

Yet women of Chelsea's generation ought to be allowed to think for themselves about gender issues-- about all issues that concern them. The message coming from the Clinton campaign and her supporters is that Obama's supporters are airheads, ditzy idealists who don't know what a true fight is.

But the sad fact is feminism as we know it-- or knew it-- died in the 1990s. It was killed, in part, by the "disassociation of sensibility" resulting from the support of President Clinton by N.O.W. and other notable feminist groups and individuals, on the one hand, and on the other, Clinton's apparent dishonesty to his wife and the American people. Hillary's "stand by your man" image was viewed negatively by the, as usual, nosy American public. The rebirth of the idealism of the 1960s which was a part of Clinton's initial campaign was replaced by a new cynicism.

Generation X, and Y, want a new idealism, and Hillary-- though a trail blazer for women-- is too complicated, has too many negatives mixed in with the positives, to be that uplifting, unifying voice. It's not because she's a woman-- or a woman over fifty-- or a powerful woman over fifty. It's because she's a Clinton.

[PlanetKansas]

No matter who you support, for whatever reasons, there will still be only one Republican and one Democratic nominee in the election. It has always been a choice of the lesser evils, and the Dems may have to make their peace with the Clintons unless they want another 4 years of Republican thugs.

A part of the primary process is to develop a platform. Even if Hillary gets the nod, the Dems will have to integrate the work of Obama, Edwards and Kucinich into their platform depending on the number of primary votes they earned.

I believe the three losing candidates should become part of the next Administration's Cabinet so their ideas can become a platform for some real change. I can only hope the 4 of them are on friendly terms after the ring of fire they endured.

[fitCTmom]

"Oh Bill, help me! They aren't being very nice to me..They like Obama better than me! Didn't they read the script? I'M supposed to be inevitable; All your friends told me so" Wha, Wha, Wha....just what I want for the women of America "Have your husband fight your battles. Puh-LEASE!" Strong woman, ha! Obama was great last night, he shouldn't roll over for them.

[Justtellthetruth]

I am going to ask this again:

what has Hillary ACTUALLY DONE????


Through inbelievable HUBRIS and self involvement, she, as the unelected, unappointed, not congressionally approved, first lady, tried to completely change healthcare in SECRET, CLOSED MEETINGS, (1/7th of the US economy) and did such a horriffic job that all support on both sides of the Aisle evaporated, turning the entire matter radio active, and effecivly consigning americans to the worst system of health care in the industrialized world for almost 2 decades.


She has backed 3 Middle eastern wars, Iraq, Iran (working with Bush and Lieberman to start a war) and Lebanon.

All three have been objectively proven to be completely Ill advised, avoidable, and unnecessary, 2 ending in total military debacles and 1 still being attempted by Hillary and her Neocon friends.


She needs to be outed and attacked on all these issues. Shes caused more pointless and avoidable suffering in pursuit of her petty politcal ambitions than just about anyone else I know of.

[TheWesternBreed]

This Bill-Hillary campaign reminds me of what Stalin once said about Vladimir Lenin's widow: "Just because she shared a bathroom with Lenin doesn't make her into Lenin."

I will still vote for any Democratic candidate in November.

[pravda]

Hillary's lame reponse last night that all of their spouses were passionate on behalf of their partners was laughable. Neither Michelle Obama nor Elizabeth Edwards has the clout of a past President of the US, and neither of them has slandered Hillary the way Bill Clinton has belittled Obama.