What should Obama do: Go after her or stay "above the fray"?

[Colobo]

Hillary and her camp are trying to force Obama to embrace "old school politics" by attacking him mercilessly. He's in a tough place right now: Does he let Clinton and her cronies spew all their venom in hopes it will backfire or does he decides not to be swifboated and fights her back hard and nasty, putting his image and appeal at risk?

What should he do?

[loveangelc]

1. stand up to her.

[billbuckhead]

4. Obama needs to withdraw so a Hillary can beat the Republicans in November

:tinfoilhat:bama really doesn't want to win anyhow, just destroy Hillary.

[loveangelc]

26. um, no. Another dellusional hillary supporter who thinks she has a chance in nov.?? sad.

[rocktivity]

2. I haven't forgotten what staying above the fray did for Kerry.

Not to mention Nancy Pelosi.

:headbang:
rocknation

[babylonsister]

3. Senator Barack Obama can stay above the fray by speaking

the truth. I think it's time to point out Clinton's 'foibles' (:eyes:) in an elegant way, as he can do so easily.
It's never too late to defend himself.

[girl gone mad]

5. Looks like they already made up their minds to attack.

By accusing the Clintons of racism.

[Cant trust em]

17. Here's what Obama had to say

I couldn't find this on CNN.com, but this is what Fox was carrying.

“I didn’t make the statement. I haven’t remarked on it and she, I think, offended some folks who felt that somehow diminished King’s role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act. She is free to explain that, but the notion that somehow this is our doing is ludicrous. I have to point out that instead of telling the American people about her positive vision for America, Senator Clinton spent an hour talking about me and my record in a way that was flat-out wrong,” Obama said.

From what I understand (I admit that this is unsourced information), it was a delegate from SC who commented first.

[durrrty libby]

6. He should have Jesse Jackson Jr out front and center 24/7

He is da bomb

[dkf]

7. Stay above the fray by calling her tactics old and tired

and talking about the future he sees for this country.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Going After Clinton Is Very Bad

Whenever she is perceived as being pushed into a corner, the voters come to her defense.

Obama needs to take the hight road while bluntly pointing out how he and Clinton differ.

[thoughtcrime1984]

13. You are correct, sir!

I agree with that sentiment.

[tammywammy]

15. Agreed

[robbedvoter]

23. I agree.

[spag68]

9. Tell me

What this venom is? I'm not a pro at this game, having only followed politics for 55 years or so, and This time is no different than any other primaries I've observed, maybe less poisonous. So I come to the conclusion that you want to stir up crap for discussion or maybe a troll. Which is it? added What the hell is wrong with us here, attack the rethugs, not our own. I'm not even an HRC supporter, however, I can't understand why some seem to hate her so much.

[Colobo]

11. Maybe I'm an Obama supporter?

[emilyg]

27. Then act like it.

[Joe the Revelator]

12. Yes, everyone who sees Hillary as being on the attack....

by seeing the "venom" with their own eyes, is OBVIOUSLY a troll. I defer to your seniority

[Colobo]

16. Hehehehehe... true...

[sandnsea]

10. Voter Disenfranchisement in NV

Which he addressed today. I don't care what the judge says, the only reason this suit is being brought is because Hillary is trying to disenfranchise voters. Stay out of the racial stuff, attack the voter stuff. He's doing it exactly right.

[Cant trust em]

14. He can get point out her weaknesses without being negative

I think that it would be fair to make her tell us all about her experiences. As far as I'm concerned she is just as full of hot air and speeches as anyone else. She is just talking about having 35 years of experience, but that's about it. Ask an average voter on the street and see what they Hillary has done for the country in the last 16 years. I bet that he/she can't name a single thing. Obama needs to deflate her balloon.

[spag68]

19. Do you live in NY?

I do and she has rescued the Dem. party here, by co--opting the upstate vote. Her record in the Senate is generally good. We have a Dem. Gov. and are on the way to a Dem state house and Senate. Schumer has been here much longer, and could,nt get that done. She's not my first choice by any means, but if you and others slander her so much now, how will you vote if she is the nominee?

[Cant trust em]

21. I'll vote for her by getting more information like this

I'm fine with getting on board as soon as someone sells me on it, but I don't think that by virtue of being first lady for 8 years and then in the senate for 7 makes you the automatic choice for being president. It just seems like she wants us to accept that she's been here the longest and let it go.
For the most part, I agree with her, though the IWR vote is still something I can't get over.

[Barack_America]

18. Stay above the fray. No doubt.

If he's going to address it, he should do so only abstractly.

He should focus on spelling out his Economic Plan. That's how he gets ahead.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

20. Boxing metaphor-wise, Joe Scarborough has often noted

that GW Bush "doesn't fight well going backward."

I think the Clintons are the opposite... they thrive on defense and get complacent on offense. Counter-punchers. Bill, at least, has a history of needing a wake-up call... he never really started up until things looked hopeless.

We don't know how Barack does going backward because we haven't seen him in that position.

I think he should pretend the other campaigns do not exist, literally. The thing is, even if the outgoing shots are 80% Clinton and 20% Obama, the evening news will cover it as tit-for-tat. Only by completely shutting down combat can he get the one-sided "Mean Hillary" stories he would prefer.

I suspect that one approach wins Nevada and SC, while another positions him better nationally. But I'm not sure which is which.

[BenDavid]

22. Do you obama folks really in your hearts believe the Clintons

are playing the race card? Or are you just agreeing with surrogates like jessie jackson jr who has one hell of a record of jumping on something when in reality there is no there, there....Just like now, hell there is no there, there to say the clintons are using race to attack obama.....

any person that listened and saw the bill clinton speech when he said "fairy tale' knows it was about the mediawhores not asking obama questions and giving him a free ride thus far...Now that should be the biggest story out there is why the mediawhores have not gone after obama.....but I digress....and to say that hrc diminished Dr King and the civil rights movement is down right silly. Now you got john edwards jumping into this "oh let me say something on this, cause I am not getting any good press" what a shmuck.

Just say Christopher and Dana Reeve were still alive and HRC is the president and they come to her and ask her about bringing forth legislation about stem cell research. Now HRC sees this as righteous just as LBJ saw what Dr King was desiring in civil rights and pushed it with his backing into legislation and signed it into law.

Now several years later someone else is running for president and said “Christopher and Dana Reeve's dream began to be realized when President Hillary Clinton passed the Stem Cell Research Act of 2009, and it took a president to get it done.” Well? President Bush did not push it through nor was for stem cell research. President Bill Clinton was for stem cell research but his bills were always blocked by the republican senate.......Is christopher and Dana Reeve disrespected in any way? No, same as Dr King was not disrepected.

[Bread and Circus]

24. Get a sex change and cry his eyes out....

I keed, I keed!!!:D

[Occam Bandage]

25. Continue to stay above the fray. Don't respond to race-baiting.

[DFLforever]

28. Stay above the fray

but attack her HARD on her record and experience - especially Iraq!

Imo the Clintons have hurt themselves badly with this recent shit they've been shoveling. Obama can't help but be angry. But I trust him to handle himself well in any situation - including this particularly ugly one.

[knowledgeispwr]

29. Stay above the fray. The last thing Obama needs is to be the "Angry Black Man"

It'll be hard on Obama if he gets tagged with that. He needs to focus on the issues and his policy.

[OzarkDem]

30. He's already made his choice

His campaign is doing plenty of swiftboating against Hillary and the Democratic party in general. No turning back.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

31. I hope he fights back hard, but always truthful. ....n/t