Friday, March 28, 2008
Of Crisis Management And Strange Bedfellows
There has been a fundamental change in the last day or two in the campaign. Even though the Clinton campaign publicly proclaims a determination to take this to the convention it is becoming more evident every minute how this is going to wind up. It feels like the flow of events on the campaign trail is making what follows somewhat perfunctory. I've sensed a bit of a pull back by the Clinton campaign from the brink of the cliff over which they, for a time, seemed to be intent on driving the Democratic party.
Senator Obama has weathered a real storm over the last couple of weeks. It began when the media decided that they had not been aggressive enough following the Clinton campaign playing up a skit on Saturday Night Live. So the media started glomming onto any little thing they could catch which cast Obama in a less than favorable light. THEN Jeremiah Wright re-exploded on the Obama campaign. The entire narrative for a week focused on Obama's America-hating angry black preacher problem. The Clinton campaign ratcheted up the pressure on a daily basis harping on Michigan, Florida and electability (although they did not play up the Wright affair as heavily as the Republicans will). Out of all this Obama has emerged relatively unscathed, demonstrating a real ability to fend off repeated bad cycles and not lose ground.
At the same time Senator Clinton stumbled badly into the Bosnian affair. Senator Clinton placed herself in a bad situation and never recovered. Her reply to the controversy has further damaged her in my opinion by adding another layer of prevarication on top of the original. Further, Clinton seemed to disqualify herself from taking emergency phone calls if she is sleep deprived.
This was a head to head petri dish experiment in crisis management by the two candidates, and Obama won with flying colors. Senator Obama gave a response which is widely acclaimed as one of the most important statements in modern history on the issue of race to answer his crisis, but Senator Clinton only dug her hole deeper.
As we wrap things up on this race it is telling that Senator Clinton has taken up with some tried and true card carrying members of the vast right wing conspiracy. We hyper-political lefties took notice when she gave an interview to the National Review Online, sitting elbow to elbow with Richard Melon Scaife. Scaife is one of the worst, having financed much of the movement in the 90's devoted to proving the various anti-Clinton slanders like how Vince Foster was murdered at the First Lady's behest and the President was running drugs with a trail of bodies left in their wake etc. etc. etc... It was this NRO/Scaife interview which was the platform by which Senator Clinton just answered the question as to whether or not she would attend services led by Jeremiah Wright.
Clinton followed up that appearance by going to Fox News and declaring that she was taking the Michigan and Florida cause to the convention and daring the Democratic party to follow the rules she previously agreed to.
A change is in the air, so I really don't want to make this another slam Hillary every chance I get post. Let me just give my opinion as to what is really going on with the right wing's newfound willingness to extend Senator Clinton aid and comfort during this hour of need.
The VRWC is obviously using the Clinton campaign to cause dissension in the ranks of the Democratic party. In fact many of them are quite open about it. Witness Limbaugh with his operation chaos scheme, calling on his listeners to vote for Hillary to win the nomination while never intending to vote for her in the fall. They want to split the Democratic party and damage our putative nominee, using the Clintons to do it. It must really give them some sort of perverse joy to think that the family who drove them positively batty for so many years now offers to serve as an unwitting tool for use against the Democratic party.
But I have no doubt that once the dust has settled that the deranged right will exult in the fall of Senator Clinton. They will be hateful, venomous, unfair and uncouth once more when the Clintons are the topic of conversation. Politics may make strange bedfellows, but if Senator Clinton thinks that these bedfellows are going to keep being all supportive after her use for them is over then she is in store for a very nasty surprise.
Really though, she must know the truth about these characters... and in my opinion this is a measure of the true state of affairs in the Democratic nomination. Senator Clinton is willing to use the talking points and mouthpieces of her long long time enemies to attack Senator Obama because that is all she has going for her right now. I almost pity her at this point.
Senator Obama has weathered a real storm over the last couple of weeks. It began when the media decided that they had not been aggressive enough following the Clinton campaign playing up a skit on Saturday Night Live. So the media started glomming onto any little thing they could catch which cast Obama in a less than favorable light. THEN Jeremiah Wright re-exploded on the Obama campaign. The entire narrative for a week focused on Obama's America-hating angry black preacher problem. The Clinton campaign ratcheted up the pressure on a daily basis harping on Michigan, Florida and electability (although they did not play up the Wright affair as heavily as the Republicans will). Out of all this Obama has emerged relatively unscathed, demonstrating a real ability to fend off repeated bad cycles and not lose ground.
At the same time Senator Clinton stumbled badly into the Bosnian affair. Senator Clinton placed herself in a bad situation and never recovered. Her reply to the controversy has further damaged her in my opinion by adding another layer of prevarication on top of the original. Further, Clinton seemed to disqualify herself from taking emergency phone calls if she is sleep deprived.
This was a head to head petri dish experiment in crisis management by the two candidates, and Obama won with flying colors. Senator Obama gave a response which is widely acclaimed as one of the most important statements in modern history on the issue of race to answer his crisis, but Senator Clinton only dug her hole deeper.
As we wrap things up on this race it is telling that Senator Clinton has taken up with some tried and true card carrying members of the vast right wing conspiracy. We hyper-political lefties took notice when she gave an interview to the National Review Online, sitting elbow to elbow with Richard Melon Scaife. Scaife is one of the worst, having financed much of the movement in the 90's devoted to proving the various anti-Clinton slanders like how Vince Foster was murdered at the First Lady's behest and the President was running drugs with a trail of bodies left in their wake etc. etc. etc... It was this NRO/Scaife interview which was the platform by which Senator Clinton just answered the question as to whether or not she would attend services led by Jeremiah Wright.
Clinton followed up that appearance by going to Fox News and declaring that she was taking the Michigan and Florida cause to the convention and daring the Democratic party to follow the rules she previously agreed to.
A change is in the air, so I really don't want to make this another slam Hillary every chance I get post. Let me just give my opinion as to what is really going on with the right wing's newfound willingness to extend Senator Clinton aid and comfort during this hour of need.
The VRWC is obviously using the Clinton campaign to cause dissension in the ranks of the Democratic party. In fact many of them are quite open about it. Witness Limbaugh with his operation chaos scheme, calling on his listeners to vote for Hillary to win the nomination while never intending to vote for her in the fall. They want to split the Democratic party and damage our putative nominee, using the Clintons to do it. It must really give them some sort of perverse joy to think that the family who drove them positively batty for so many years now offers to serve as an unwitting tool for use against the Democratic party.
But I have no doubt that once the dust has settled that the deranged right will exult in the fall of Senator Clinton. They will be hateful, venomous, unfair and uncouth once more when the Clintons are the topic of conversation. Politics may make strange bedfellows, but if Senator Clinton thinks that these bedfellows are going to keep being all supportive after her use for them is over then she is in store for a very nasty surprise.
Really though, she must know the truth about these characters... and in my opinion this is a measure of the true state of affairs in the Democratic nomination. Senator Clinton is willing to use the talking points and mouthpieces of her long long time enemies to attack Senator Obama because that is all she has going for her right now. I almost pity her at this point.
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