Hillary’s opening salvo in NH is “I’m the only candidate who can withstand scrutiny.” Rather makes Bill Shaheen’s “unauthorized” statement to the same effect that resulted in his resignation from the Clinton campaign seem not so uncalculated, no? So what’s she got on Obama and when will we see it magically appear? A day before NH? My guess is a few days before Super Tuesday, since she’s now adopting a “modified Giuliani strategy” of saying that she’ll be in the race to that decisive day. As Carville famously said about Bill’s detractors, to the effect of you can get anyone to say anything when you troll a $100 bill through a trailer park (although those allegations turned out to be accurate, but that’s fodder for another post), the same is doubly true when you’re trolling for a drug pusher or addict. So what is it Hillary? Based on Shaheen’s premature slip of the tongue, I’d say it involves drugs, probably crack or coke, in college or law school. And if you’ve got dirt of this sort, don’t you owe it to the American people to let it into the sunlight now so that the veracity of the “sources” can be vetted and verified? And what’s worse: collegiate drug use or a lifetime of political sleaze? Politics is changing in America, I hope for the better and maybe the conventional wisdom of an 11th hour unverifiable revelation on a candidate won’t work anymore. I say “revelation” because it won’t have Hillary’s fingerprints on it–it’ll just coincidentally support her “scrutiny” argument about Obama. Maybe an 11th hour revelation on Obama will be enlightening–not about Obama, but about Hillary. Why doesn’t Obama just get in front of it now and lay his cards on the table? Sunlight is the great disinfectant of American politics. Any Hillaryites care to disagree?
Nice try at distorting a comment…but, Senator Clinton has been saying since she the day she began running that the GOP would be hard pressed to come up with new attacks against her in the final election because they have been attacking her for over a decade…and she is still standing.
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p>Obama just by the nature of his novice status on the national scene provides them a blank canvas to fill with their talk jock attacks as they dig into his past record…and you know they will do that. They will take the high minded rhetoric and match it up with the most miniscule votes or statements he made in the Illinois legislature…they will call him a flip-flopper and that will be the kindest thing they do…the GOP is salivating for Obama.
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p>And the media is in love with Barack right now, but when they get tired of the story and need to move it along, they will also start looking closer, much closer at Obama and dissecting his record and statements and proposals…strike the last, they will demand specific proposals to match the beautiful but deliberately vague rhetoric.
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p>And if they don’t the GOP will. Think back, once it was apparent that Kerry would be the nominee they started shooting the legs out from under him to make sure he was good and crippled by the time the General Election even got underway.
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p>I have to agree that Hillary is hard for them to go after because everything they say sounds like old news, past nonsense that didn’t destroy her…she has survived…she is tough enough and knows how to beat them.
I’ll concede she’ll have a strong plurality, but she is incapable of gaining a majority in a two person race. Besides, given a choice between running against a divisive Clinton retread or an inspiring and charismatic leader in Obama, I guarantee that the GOP salivates only at the prospect of a Hillary candidacy in November. As Dukakis would say, a “lead pipe guarantee.” That’s why Hillary’s plurality strategy requires her to knock Obama down and keep him down. She can’t do it directly, hence my prediction about the dirt. Any Obama fans disagree?
Obama has very well thought out proposals. He has the most impressive policy teams on each issue that I have ever seen assembled. It is extraordinary. Go to the Obama website and read his policy proposals. They are detailed and reflect a deep understanding of people’s lives and their problems and he offer solutions that will be effective.
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p>I don’t understand where this notion is that he has not developed detailed policies. They are all there for you to read and scrutinize.
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p>I invite you to examine them and then join the campaign. The Obama campaign is a big tent and all are welcome. You will be embraced with open arms.
Helenann…I read BOTH Obama books. I agree with several reviewers who found it (AoH) very long on the hoping and short on audacity…as for the book about his life, he seems conflicted to me. I have met and spoken with him on several occasions when he was first running for Senate 3 years ago and when he came to DC several times to address labor groups. He is nice. He has a great smile. But, on all of those occasions, he was less impressive when the conversations became issue-specific. He is careful not to offend, and to give the appearance of being for every side. But, I think that if you want to lead and want to move a tough agenda forward, you have to be willing to offend sometimes.
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p>David Axelrod has done a masterful job with both the Patrick and Obama campaigns. He framed the messages which are the same (almost identical rhetoric)…sufficiently vague but uplifting…a religious experience of sorts…how did Barack put it at a rally yesterday?… “a light will come down on you from above and you will have an epiphany that tells you you must vote for Barack”…
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p>What David Axelrod doesn’t want us to consider is that the giddiness will eventually wear off…the infatuation that made you blind to any criticisms or flaws will subside…David Axelrod is the one with audacity and he is hoping that the love fest will last just long enough to get his guy elected without scrutiny.
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p>Axelrod succeeded in Massachusetts before the giddy press woke up after the Inauguration and started pointing out the flaws (both real and imagined)… Whether his playbook can win a national game is yet to be determined. In the meantime…”if you want to be healed, come to the rail.”
I am referring to his written policy proposalson a dozen or so major issues in this campaign, which you can read under ISSUES on his website:
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p>http://www.barackobama.com
Read it all in his book, “Dreams from My Father.” He has nothing to hide. And he has dealt with this before.
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p>My Lord, I don’t know anyone educated at a liberal east coast college who didn’t use drugs. Get over it. Been there, done that. It won’t work.
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p>And it will only hurt her. People don’t want dirt. They want vision and hope.
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p>I hope you are including legal drugs such as alcohol and caffeine for that matter. I knew a Mennonite at my school, and I doubt that he did drugs. Then again, Montreal isn’t “east coast”.