Obama Bombs
1 comment July 27th, 2007
As noted in recent comments on this blog, Barack Obama fell for a Hillary Clinton trap during the debate in South Carolina. I have noticed that some media pundits think Hillary has overdone it. While generally conceding that Obama fell into a sink-hole with his hospitality for dictators comment in the debate, Hillary’s follow-up attacks on Obama’s naivite have left her vulnerable to counter-strokes from Obama about her being like Bush-Cheney and how her original pro-Iraq war vote demonstrates her level of inexperience, according to these commentators. I would suggest that these pundits miss the point.
Of course, Hillary’s pro-war vote in 2002 was based purely on politics, rather than a cogent analysis of national security strategy. But that is what Hillary does-political calculation and not geopolitical analysis. Everyone knows about Hillary’s pro-war vote, and yet she has managed to convice most Left-leaning Democrats that she is the best anti-war presidential candidate. The fact is, Hillaryland wants Obama to attack their candidate, the more the better. Obama is not only inexperienced in foreign policy and national politics. Compared to veterans Bill and Hillary Clinton (and he is runnning against the two of them), when it comes to old-fashioned mud-slinging politics, Obama is a babe in the woods. He is actually undermining the only important distinction he has in the presidential race, the perception that he is a new politician representing, as stated in his recent book’s title, “the audacity of hope.” By forcing Obama to attack her, Hillary is beginning to demolish Barack’s fresh face and image of being above negativity.
In reality, Barack’s advisors have made a terrific strategic blunder, one which will undermine their star candidate’s value proposition. They have played right into the Clintonian master-plan for the upcoming primary campaign. One early example is that the Clinton camp have just sent out their first mass mailing pitch for funds based solely on Obama, and not the Republicans. Obama foolishly compared Hillary Clinton to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. He might as well have drafted Hillary’s fundraising pitch. The Clinton political machine wasted no time in letting their supporters know that Obama is now the enemy. This is going to get hot and nasty, as Obama receives a dose of reality therapy in the art of the Clintonian politics of destruction.
