Clinton's Attacks on Obama Patriotism Have Nothing to Do With "What the Republicans Will Say in November" - Everything to Do with Her Own Strategy

For the last several weeks we have been inundated with statements from the Clinton Campaign (and some media pundits) arguing that their incessant attacks on Obama's patriotism, their use of McCarthyite "guilt by association", and attempts to make Obama look like a "cultural elitist" are all justified because "the Republicans will do it in the fall".

They justify lifting whole chapters from Karl Rove's Republican playbook as an attempt to demonstrate to Democratic voters and superdelegates that these kinds of charges will make Obama "unelectable" in the general election.

Many Clinton surrogates pick up the refrain with statements like: "Well I know Obama doesn't agree with those video clips of Rev. Wright, but that's what the Republicans will say about him." Or: "I know Obama's not really an elitist, but the Republicans will make him sound that way." Or: "They'll trot out all of his past associations, so it's important that we examine them now."

There are two things to say about this line of argument.

First, Clinton knows that her keyhole-sized chance of winning the nomination hasn't got a prayer if all she can do is make an argument to superdelegates for the "possibility" of what Republicans can say about Obama. The bottom has to fall out of the Obama candidacy. That requires a lot more than showing superdelegates that Obama might be vulnerable to Republican attack. They have to convince the voters that the charges they are raising are true -- that Obama is an unpatriotic elitist.

Clinton needs a stampede of superdelegates in order to win. That requires that Obama loses the final primaries by big numbers, and that his numbers in the national polls tank.

The problem for Clinton, of course, is that Obama is the furthest thing from an unpatriotic elitist, and that by relentlessly making these charges she has been raising her own negatives to dizzying heights.

The next time you hear the old "we're just bringing this up because the Republicans will say it", remember the kids in high school who used to go up to you and say, "I don't believe this about your friend Amy, but I'm telling you what other people are saying for your own good." Neither justification is true. In both cases they want you to believe the content of the personal attack.

Second, the general election will not be decided based on narratives constructed about past associations and old friends of the various candidates. And if it were the Republican slander machine would be equally well supplied by the Clinton's stable of past political and business connections (think pardon recipient Marc Rich).

To succeed in this year's general election, the Democratic nominee must convince voters that he or she is better equipped than John McCain to change Washington and lead America into the future.

Both Clinton and Obama bring some negatives to the general election fight. But Barack has a pretty short stack when compared to Clinton's 60% negatives, her difficulty making an emotional connection with the voters, and her positioning as an "experienced insider" in an election where the voters want change.

There is voter fatigue with the two-decade run of the Bush-Clinton show that has defined American politics since 1988. It's possible to imagine that even though McCain's election would, in fact usher in a Bush third term, many swing voters could be convinced that McCain is more about change and fresh approaches to future than Hillary Clinton.

The contrast of past and future, of change and the status quo, is crystal clear in a match up between the 46-year-old newcomer Obama and 72-year-old insider McCain.

Obama's ability to inspire enables him to reach out to independent voters that otherwise find McCain very attractive. It also gives him the ability to mobilize millions of young and African American voters that will change the electorate.

Most importantly, Obama's proven ability to mobilize at the grass roots gives him the credibility to convince voters that he can accomplish what they want most -- that he can lead a movement to change the way things are done in Washington.

The narrative that over incredible odds, a young African American Senator has challenged the conventional wisdom, won the Democratic nomination for president, and found 1.3 million grass roots donors to finance his candidacy gives him enormous credibility to argue that he can take on the special interests and force members of Congress to guarantee health care for everyone. It gives him credibility that he can lead a movement to remake our economy to benefit everyone and not just the wealthiest among us.

And, of course, Obama's judgment in opposing the War in Iraq from the first day, contrasts sharply with McCain's commitment to four more years of Bush foreign policy. Hillary Clinton's early support for that War does not.

To win the 2008 election, Democrats don't need to worry so much about all of the charges the Republicans will make about them and their pasts. The election depends upon what we say about the voters and their futures. In the end, that is why Barack Obama is by far the strongest Democratic candidate for president.

Robert Creamer is a long time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight. How Progressives Can Win, available on amazon.com

Comments

[pad759]

Who cares a rat's ass about what the Republicans think, they will have their hands filled with their own crazy ass candidate. He is mentally ill. (agent orange type)

This election is filled with some much hatred for anyone who don't think like their candidate. We Americans will deserve everything we get if we keep letting hatred get the best of us. This are common sense issues. We let race get in the way of picking the best candidate, and ones who need the most help are the ones that are the most prejudice.

[SMAGGIE]

Just reading some of these replies, it seems to me that none of you want what is best for the United States of America. There are those of you who think that Obama is "Jesus Christ". If he is he is the ANTI-Christ. He has not given me any reason to think he would make a good President. The speeches that I've listened to, the things he says, are things that have brought us this far. He never has said "what I will do is"............His wife, Michelle also talks ONLY about the predicament our coutry is in right now. He nor she seem to have any plans to change that. Of course, his main word is CHANGE. Well what are his plans for change? Could it be that he wants the blacks (which he is not) to control our government? Does he want us to give up and let the Muslims take over our country?
Does he want all the stories told about him ignored? We all have a choice to vote for the person who will get us out of the predicament that Gerogie has put us in. It takes a person who is smart enough about politics to do this. Obama is NOT!

[rosal]

This page is full of Republicans in disguise. Forget your propaganda, we will never vote for McInsane. He is too unstable. An old, unbalanced, erratic, short fused man, its very dangerous for the country. A person that looses his temper in a second, with the finger on the red button? We are not ready for Armagedon. Back to the drawing board samggie.

[newddle]

You write, Mr. Creamer, "To succeed in this year's general election, the Democratic nominee must convince voters that he or she is better equipped than John McCain to change Washington and lead America into the future." Seems to me Hillary's complaints to donors in early March about MoveOn.org tell us that she doesn't favor democratic processes, if the Democratic base comes out in droves and opposes her candidacy. She's for democratic processes, if they favor her. Electing her would spread and deepen the Mordor shadow of un- and anti-democratic government over the US. Her lie that MoveOn.org opposed US intervention in Afghanistan and her claim to her donors that "this is what we're up against" foretell 4 more years of a US president lying to the people and manipulating information. To help protect our democracy, she must be defeated.

[Denni]

IF Clinton is competing for the 2012 election, she can forget it. What she's done so far won't be forgotten or forgiven by voters. She's trashed the party she sorely needed. She may as well complete the lieberman transformation and become a Republican.

[ladyv]

Hillary is not competing for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. She hasn't been for at least six weeks, now.

Hillary is competing for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. Her entire strategy at this point is to attempt to prevent Obama from winning in the fall. Every word and action coming from her camp is clearly and obviously designed for that purpose. They're not idiots, over there. They can do the math that shows she cannot and will not win this nomination, and they can do the math that shows that she won't be too old in 4 years, but she will be too old in 8 years.

Why anyone doesn't see and understand that she's trying to defeat the Democratic party *period* is beyond me. Nothing could be more obvious.

[Bondaroid]

First of all the definition of patriot is; One who loves, supports and defends ones own country. From what I have seen from the left including Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy, Kerry, Durban and their ilk is that they are anything but patriots. Obama refuses to even wear the flag on his lapel and lies about the reason for it. He said, “I have never said that I don’t wear flag pins or refuse to wear flag pins. “That is the kind of manufactured issue that our politics has become obsessed with.” But during a campaign stop in Iowa last October, a reporter asked Obama why he wasn’t wearing a flag pin to express solidarity with 9/11 victims. He said, “You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of important to our national security. I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.” What a patriot. And his wife, his partner, even said that this is the first time in her life she has been proud of America. Spoken like a true patriot. It seems to me that Obama's use of the word patriot is nothing more than cheap political gimmick, he really doesn't believe in patriotism otherwise he would live it every day.

[John C. Bonser]

To claim to be a patriot because you wear a flag on your lapel in ludicrous!

[Bob Egan]

Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest," but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.

Support the Values of America
Protect our civil liberties

It is no badge of courage to blindly accept the actions taken in our name by our government.

Using patriotism to oppose your political opponents is empty rhetoric and empty patriotism.

In other words, the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia, and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder? Who are we calling terrorists here? Outsiders can destroy airplanes and buildings, but it is only we, the people, who have the power to demolish our own ideals.

The people that fought for our rights were patriots and yet those that are taking our rights away are calling those of us that are refusing to give up our rights unpatriotic! What’s wrong with this picture?

If we're really committed in keeping terrorists from stealing our freedoms, then
We must be true patriots to our Constitution. But in times like these, it's difficult for people to be patriotic. It's much easier to wave a flag.

[BinAgain]

Bib Egan
Amen..so very well said..I thank you from the heart.

[Zeje]

Why doesn't Bush put his hand over his heart when he hears the national athem?

[mjc]

Hard time finding it......???

[Terriac]

This kind of post, with that same stupid reference to the flag pin, just makes me see red. Bin Laden could put a flag pin on. Would that make him a patriot? That stupid flag pin doesn't mean a thing. Anyone can put something on their lapel. It's what drives you as an individual and your core beliefs that matter. Not a stupid flag pin! God, it's no wonder this country is in the state it's in if that's what we base our decisions on. It's right up there with the equally stupid slogan during the 60s. "America, love it or leave it." It's counterpart, "America, change it or lose it" always much more sense. If you think what Bush has done to America in the last eight years is something to be proud of, then we are all in a lot of trouble.

[Syco]

So if Bin Laden wears a flag pin then he is a patriot?

[soonerdem]

It's not bad enough that the Repubs tell countless lies and keep the voters minds on nonsense,now Hillary is pitching in with the same basic bull shit.I have always admired her spirit but I just don't like to see Dem's doing the GOP's job for them.I am 77 and not in the best of health which means if another Repub gets elected I probably will never see a Dem in the Whie House again,sad, real sad.

[AC500]

People aren't as dumb and asleep as they were before George W. Bush and his minions lied and manipulated the country into his illegal war which eviscerated the county financially ... all with a call to unquestioning patriotism. No, I don't see people falling for the 'patriotism' card again so easily. The Republicans just might find it backfires. People are waking up from the 'herd' mentality patriotism generates and want their individual rights and freedoms back.

[Grannybj]

Today in PA, she's saying, "I'm like you." Does she infer "white like you" for the racist votes?

[PHLSouthernJack]

WOW! That comes right out of the Amy Holmes' playbook of turning every comment or statement anyone in the Clinton campaign into a racist statement.
It is people like Grannybj that play the race card and do more harm to the Democratic Party and continues to pull the races further apart.

[Syco]

We all know black people complain about racism when it never really existed.

[Zeje]

Meanwhile, Nafta continues to send jobs overseas. The dollar continues to sink. Prices -- especially food and oil -- continue to rise. Americans continue to lose health benefits. Salaries continue to decline. The war in Iraq continues. Plans for war in Iran continue. Home foreclosures continue to rise. Home values continue to decline. But, fortunately for the corporate powers that be, the only thing that matters to the American people is a flag pin.

[pkrbkr]

It is clear that a paradigm shift is needed in Washington. The oligarchy must end. Unfortunately, Clinton supporters seem completely unable to grasp how much she is disliked and even more - how much she and her husband together are completely loathed. Party leaders go on television and talk about how the party will come together for the fall. The arrogance would be laughable if it weren't so sad. The Clintons are not despised because of Barack Obama!!!! Their attacks on him are so short sighted. They are desperate to "win" the nomination, but then what? The same old established mess the country has been dealing with for decades.

[PHLSouthernJack]

This just shows that you have not taken the time to see Clinton's plans which are more detailed and obtainable than Obama's plans.
Also, how is Obama going to create this paradigm shift in Washington when his entire track record in government has been playing the political games he speaks from the stump that he opposes. This shows how he speaks out of one side of his mouth while doing the opposite.

[Petesdaddy]

Wake up, PHL. Americans don't elect presidents because of their plans. They elect on charisma and image. And Barack Obama has it. George BUsh didn't have a plan or thought of his own. But he has charisma. I'm for Obama. I like his dance style.

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Clinton's attacks on Obama have achieved the dual effect of damaging her own case for being the nominee-- as well as his. She has either poisoned the minds of Democratic voters with un-Democratic lines of attack, or at the very least exploited the negativity that some Democrats already felt about Obama. This has divided the party, and severely wounded Obama's case for unifying the country: how can he bring Americans together if he can't even unify Democrats?

Clinton's case for being the nominee was that, out of a field of many attractive candidates, she was the best. She stood head and shoulders above the other candidates in nearly all the debates of 2007. What she lacked in charisma she more than made up for in competence. She was always a "general election" kind of candidate-- moderate Democrat-- but still progressive enough to please most of the party's base.

That was then. Now: because Clinton lacked a post-Super Tuesday strategy and also has what appears to be a personal grudge against Obama (a grudge shared with her husband because Obama's own rock star status threatens to overshadow the Clintons' monopoly on the party's spotlight), she has resorted to attacks on Obama's patriotism, as well as other Republican-style attacks which only show the cream of the crop has become the bottom of the barrel.

"Superlative" has fallen to "he's worse than I am."

[PatrickWalker]

Finally realized that Obama isn't the super candidate you thought he was? Preemptively blaming Hillary for his loss now are we?

[Oldchef]

Did you read the comment you are supposedly replying to?

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

Obama is a terrific candidate who will still be safely ahead in the delegate count whatever the outcome of tomorrow's primary. My point is that Hillary Clinton's main strength-- as a competent, experienced leader who is too successful to need to stoop to desperate, dirty politics-- has been shot all to pieces by her post-Super Tuesday style of campaigning. If Obama is so lousy why has she had to spend so much time trashing him rather than emphasizing her own superiority? Due to this mindset the argument for her being the nominee has gone out the window.

[Horst]

Clinton is a lying politician of the worst kind. Only the truly stupid and uneducated fall for her act.

[PHLSouthernJack]

What has she lied about other than mis-speaking about the bosnian incident?
I am not a stupid or uneducated person and I am a person that would rather have Clinton in office than Obama at least until he spends at least a full term as a US Senator before trying to get a promotion.

[Zeje]

She lied about her support of NAFA. She lied about her vote for the war in Iraq. Recently, she lied about Moveon.org being against the Afghanistan war. That's just for starters.

[Syco]

So because she has spent 1 full term in the senate she is better?

[democraticjack]

The premise of this article is bogus. Give me an example where a main surrogate of the Clinton campaign has attacked Obama's patriotism? I don't mean Obama "interpretation" either. I could say this constant Huffingtonian use of the word Rove is an attack on Hillary's patriotism using the same tortured logic contained in this article. You people will say anything, won't you.

[joeinvt]

I was going to post a similar reply but you have already done so quite well. Accusing Clinton of bad things she hasn't done is about as Rovian as it gets. All else pales though in comparison to the Obama campaign's use of the race card.

[LucieLee]

Sounds like the "kitchen-sink" and I won't legitimize it by calling it a strategy, because I feel like that would make me somehow agree with what Hillary is trying to do. I certainly think she is doing this out of nothing more than desperation......As if wearing flag lapel pins made in China somehow qualifies that's how you show how patriotic one is...then the government should send us all a pin with the checks they are supposed to be sending us..and demand we wear it....!! Clinton's attempt at gravitas is just a cause and effect of this"silly season"........

[desmirl]

Clinton has all but nailed the coffin lid shut on a Democrat victory for the White House in November. She and Bubba are our national POX. Why WON'T they go away? What bad thing did we do to deserve them? Is Karma really that much of a b**ch?

[Zeje]

You're right. Hillary has ruined the chances of a Democratic victory for the White House.

[mjc]

You'd better Obama before he spends any more of his millions!