How It Works

This is how old school politics works. I listened to a great interview this morning on XM Radio's Potus '08 with ex-DNC Chair Joe Andrews. I was determined to share it with you all. Then I came home and started reading my different news sources. An op-ed by by David Brooks made the good point that Obama has to stay above the fray because that's what his candidacy is fundamentally about: new politics, not the old Clintonian campaign methods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/opinion/07brooks.html?ref=opinion
Then I read about Obama aide Samantha Power and her 'monster' comment--and the subsequent retraction and apology. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/07/741318.aspx and
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/03/whats-new-3.html
I then perused comments from the people after these articles (most of which condemned Hillary's new negative campaign) and was reminded that it now appears the Clintons were involved in the Canadian Nafta memo leak. Though no one's reporting it. Hmm.

So, now...my head's just spinning. I've forgotten about the good interview, I just want to tune out of this election. Which is exactly what the Clintons want. Muddy the waters, cast doubt, machinate, hurl charges, make unsubstantiated claims and then say you're a victim. Suddenly, no one really knows what to think. There's voter fatigue, Obama's not exciting and, oh, well, just pull the lever for the devil you know. That's how it works when you want to turn around a campaign. In the end, though, it tends to bite you.

I reflected on recent candidates who won the Presidency after tumultuous primaries. In these cases, the behavior in the primary resurfaced during the term, with disastrous results. Take Bill Clinton in 1992. Drama about his draft dodging and womanizing resulted in crafty denials and explanations that became emblematic of his two Presidential terms. It also resulted in impeachment. George Bush's primary campaign in 2000 featured a 'compassionate conservative' who would 'change the tone in Washington', a proponent of a 'humble foreign policy', and an all round good guy who suddenly had no problem throwing John McCain under the bus in the South Carolina primary. It's no surprise that the hallmarks of Bush's two terms are an extremely partisan, opaque administration that has had no problem reversing the 'no nation building' pledge of his campaign.

So we'll see what happens. We know a few things. No matter whom you support in the Dem primary it's going to be hard to endure much more of Howard (Obama's Ken Starr!) Wolfson, Hillary's press director. It's going to be even more difficult listening to Hillary praise John McCain as Commander-in-Chief (is she angling for a Veep spot on his ticket?). And it's going to be really hard to keep watching Obama's people trip over themselves after such a promising campaign up to now.

But at least one honest thing happened recently. Obama admitted his campaign had 'made some mistakes'. That's the first time we've heard a presidential politician say those words in about six years. It's a start.

Oh, yeah. Tomorrow, I'll discuss the interview with Joe Andrews. I almost forgot.

Is your enthusiasm for this race still high, or is it waning. Talk about this or anything else by clicking on 'comments', bypassing the Google sign up and hitting the nickname or anonymous buttons.