This is What Barack Obama Should Tell Bob Novak: "Put Up or STFU!"

What a difference a day makes ... twenty-four little hours and apparently no lessons learned by the spinmeisters at the Barack Obama campaign. Only hours after his none-too-impressive performance in Las Vegas--that was when the Democratic presidential candidate was loudly booed after comparing a key policy difference with Hillary Clinton as "the kind of thing that I would expect from Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani"--the campaign continues to test drive none-too-clever and patently obvious Republican talking points. The latest political zeitgeist: The Obama campaign demands a response to an anonymous rumor planted by the Prince of Darkness himself, right-wing operative and Karl Rove confidante Robert Novak.

Stop laughing. This is serious presidential business, at least according to the Obama brain trust.

First, the back story. On the morning after the Sin City Showdown, the Huffington Post published our post on Barack Obama and John Edwards' grasping at straws--sorry, strategic offensive, they probably call it--called, "Paging John Edwards and Barack Obama: Your Republican Talking Points Are Calling!" It seems to have struck a nerve. Several hundred Huff Post readers commented and many, if not most, took issue with our premise that Messrs. Obama and Edwards were using Republican talking points to attack Sen. Hillary Clinton. It's not that Hillary Clinton doesn't have numerous vulnerabilities, and, Obama cannot brand himself as an attractive and credible alternative. By all means, Obama should be further ahead, but, he is stalled in the polls--up to 30 points behind in Nevada--because his campaign staffers continually seek inspiration from the professional Hillary haters on the right.

Fast forward to Sunday. Robert Novak's Sunday Chicago Sun-Times column claims "agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed."

No details, no sources, no information--just sensational charges and the lurid strokes of a keyboard. It's like Perez Hilton was hired to ghostwrite a Robert Ludlum novel. Who would fall for such a thing, besides gossip hounds, the loony left, and, the professional Hillaraters?

The music should be very familiar. Republicans plant a story with a friendly source. Simple-minded folks and those with nothing to lose become easily distracted. The Republicans smirk and mutter, "Dance, puppets, dance." It's an old Jedi Mind Trick that most of us should easily resist.

Most of us, but, no such luck at Camp Obama, whose not-ready-for-primetime Rapid Response Team--which should have been deployed before the Donnie McClurkin debacle--took the bait. Instead of ignoring the column, or using it to line a cat litter box, the senator immediately denounced the ridiculous story. Obama's wording is classic, more of that meta-messaging "change" rhetoric so beloved by his amen chorus among the e-telligentsia. "The cause of change in this country will not be deterred or sidetracked by the old 'Swift boat' politics....I am prepared to stand up to that kind of politics, whether it's deployed by candidates in our party, in the other party or by any third party."

Naturally, the Clinton campaign dismissed the disinformation but there was even more tough language from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe: "Are 'agents' of their campaign spreading these rumors? And do they have 'scandalous' information that they are not releasing? Yes or no?"

Trash is trash, no matter who sweeps it up. If you're going to quote non-attributed, non-sourced, ambiguous alleged hearsay published by a notorious right-wing operative--the same one who leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, by the way--why stop there? Is the Obama campaign going to repeat Bob Novak's amen chorus to the Bush Administration's fiasco in Iraq? What about Novak's war-beating on Iran in this morning's column?

Here is an even better question to the Obama campaign: If you're going to quote Republican talking points from the Prince of Darkness, why don't you quote what he said last July on Meet the Press, when, on one of their typical all-white and all-male panels, Novak told Tim Russert--who also has credibility problems in this area--that a "woman or African American" Democratic nominee would "give the Republicans hope" and energize their base like nothing before. Media Matters has the video. Watch it.

Robert Novak is a right-wing apparatchik and his version of "hope" is a throwback to the 1950s. This is the exact opposite of the politics of "hope" that is basis of Barack Obama's presidential aspirations. If there is anything "scandalous" to the Novak column, it's the fact that Obama's not-ready-for-prime-time team actually fell for it.

Comments

[insanityfollows]

I used to respect Bob Novack. Not agree with him always, but respect his journalistic talent. Ever since the 2000 campaign especially, I have not been able to stand him. I still can't figure out why he isn't in jail. He does need to shut up, and Obama, I agree, should be among the first to tell him to go fly a kite.

[Centaur]

To repeat what I said in an earlier blog about this sordid story. Novak is a snake who is one among others should be tried for treason for the outing of a CIA agent and his "planting" of this should be taken with a grain of salt. He is unwittingly portraying himself as Othello's Iago.

[rh654]

I think that Obama's move to go after Clinton wasn't all that bad.

One of the biggest knocks on Clinton is that she is part of the machine.

Obama was, I believe, able to put into some people's minds "Mmmm, perhaps Clinton is climbing into bed with Novak to go after Obama" - which I don't think would really surprise too many people.

[JohnCitizen]

REPUBLICAN SLIME MACHINE

Who is behind this smear of both Clinton and Obama?

Simple,just answer these 3 questions:

1. Who does Robert Novak associate with?
2. Who is almost always behind “dirty tricks” politics?
3. Who benefits from such a smear?

Who else, but the lowest low lifes of our political life!
Think George Bush and Richard Nixon tactics.

[Colin742]

Hillary is at about 50% in the National polls. She is doing fine and has every reason not to rock the boat. Just keep working, meeting and talking to as many voters as she can.
The idea that Clinton staff contacted a Republican flack with this story, with some naive assumption that this contact would be kept confidential, is absurd. Reaching this conclusion using reason is not difficult. Obama acted emotionally and irrationally. A president should have the reasoning ability to figure out what an adversary is thinking, how he will react to our actions and so on. This is a MAJOR mistake.

[chouwalker]

There's no pleasing people.

John Kerry doesn't fight back on the swift boating and is criticized for it costing him the election.

Barrack Obama strikes back at Novak and he is critized for it.

Recent history teaches a clear lesson: When you are attacked with a bogus smear, don't just let it go, fight back.

Obama was right to fight back and Rod Mccullom was wrong to criticize him for it.

[bobbypolhem]

The most scandalous thing is that Robert Novak is not in Prison!
Lets face it folks-The entire United States Government is in meltdown
Soon to come The United States economy. All because so many of WE THE PEOPLE buy into these filthy creeps that dominate the folks who run-or try- to run this country.
Novak is the creature of all creatures that would normally be found in that place where really bad people go after they die. So maybe the great many of us are already in Hell

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Why should Obama give him an option?

[SeanGardner]

"Obama's not-ready-­for-prime-­time team"

Write and say what you want. But if you are to be believed, why did Barack Obama pull ahead in latest IOWA poll, even after last week's debate performance. And, he's considered more "trustworthy" in the poll. Here is the link: http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Vote2008/story?id=3887274&page=1

I knew voters would start to doubt that Clinton has more "experience" than Barack, that she represents a "new direction" in politics, and that she actually believes what she is saying. What makes you think they will believe her on the Novak situation?

So Hillary can lead in all of the NATIONAL POLLS she wants, but if she is losing in IOWA state polls, then that means something.

Barack Obama: ready for prime time, and ready to shock the world.

[arks]

I imagine the "experienced" candidates John McCain and John Kerry, both of whom did not "fall for" such tactics, wish now that they had addressed them in a more timely manner.

A campaign run with integrity as a priority should forcefully deny AND repudiate such tactics and "journalism," rather than viewing such an incident as a spin opportunity and responding to the target with catty remarks.

I guess Hillary must have been very naive and inexperienced back when she fell for all that VRWC nonsense.

[globalcitizenlinda]

Settle down people,

A few days from now, an article will come out and say that Obama was right to call out the Clintons.

As usual, it will not get much press.

People seem to be under-estimating Obama's brillaince.

Remember that initially CNN pretended that its debate was fair?

What we learnt in the end is that the debate had been rigged and that the source was the Clitons.

[NABNYC]

What Obama could have said/should have said, ##s 8, 9, and 10:


8. Some people say Hillary is two-faced, that she says one thing, then turns around and says the exact opposite. Like in the recent debates, she and her husband get all weepy and dainty, and whine that the other candidates are being mean to her because she's a girl, and that anyone who points out her inconsistencies is "slinging mud." But after whining like that for weeks, the newspapers finally realize that Hillary's the one who's slinging mud, HIllary's the one who's launching personal attacks against her opponents. She's sneaky about it - she gets someone else to do it, like planting people in the Vegas audience to boo me and Edwards -- but she's the one who's directing it.

9. Hillary keeps accusing her opponents of mudslinging, but check her hands - they're covered in mud and slime.

10. Apparently Hillary has her staff spending time desperately trying to find some secret about me that they can use against me because they're afraid that the voters might agree with me that we need change. We do not have royalty in this country, we do not and should not allow two families, Bush and Clinton, to solely control the presidency for decades on end just because they have a lot of money and a lot of connections, and they think they can buy the office. I'm betting the voters see through this and they want real change. Real change does not consist of having Mr. Clinton step back and his wife Mrs. Clinton step up and take over. That's like voting for tweedledee or tweedledum. Real change means real change. It means letting someone new take over and letting the Bushs and Clintons go off somewhere and retire. Take it easy. They've been around a long time, and it is time for them to go.

[NABNYC]

I dislike her more and more each day. Her husband got all the big corporate money to support her, so she has so many advisers she can send them out to do all sorts of nasty things to other candidates.

What Obama could have said/should have said:

1. I don't know Hillary keeps calling me a Republican. She's the one who supported Goldwater, not me.

2. Do any of these so-called stories about me involve a cigar? I didn't think so.

3. Hillary has been an elected politician for exactly 7 years, and has spent most of that time trying to get Republicans to vote for her. So given that, I'm not sure why she thinks that calling me a "Republican" is the dirtiest word she can come up with.

4. I'm not the one that arranged to have my picture taken with Newt Gingrich - that was Hillary.

5. I'm not the one who gave some insider stockbroker $1,000, and had him give me $100,000 a year later, and claimed that the entire return was just a lucky investment. That's something that only Republicans manage to do, and most of them end up facing charges of some sort. You'll have to talk to Hillary about her insider stock-broker investment returns.

6. Hillary keeps calling me a Republican. Maybe that's what they call "projection."

7. Hillary keeps calling me a Republican. But Rupert Murdoch, the biggest supporter of Republicans in this country, never held a fundraiser for me like he held for Hillary.

[LeeFromVA]

You can blame Novak or you can blame Hilllary, but one thing is obvious, Obama didn't start this mess. Why would anybody fault him for defending himself?

[globalcitizenlinda]

Obama was right to call out the Cliton campaign to take a position otherwise the wisphering would have just grown louder.

No matter how disipcable Novak is, we intuitively know that the Clitons' had something to with this smear although you will be hard-pressed to find their fingerprints.

The legacy of the Clintons' rise to power is characterized by those who were naive enough to trust them and they felt used when they work was done.

I am glad that Obama is not among those who trust the Clintons' desire to gain power.

The way I judge a person is through the statements former close friends make about them. There are too many negative stories reported by former friends of the Clintons and documenting they have perfected the game of negative politicking.

Obama, is astute enough to judge when Clinton swift-boating rears it ugly head.

Remember that Obama from Chicago political landscape and know dirty politican when he sees them. He has been trained to give as good a punch as he gets in order to move forward.

Also recall that a number of the younger former Clinton advisors are working for Obama and most of them know the Clinton play book because they at one time had to implement it.

When the dust settles from this, I suspect that this smear campaign will be traced back to Clinton camp

Obama told us that he wants to put an end to the game-playing and so this is his first step in this quest