David Corn: Bickering is Hillary Clinton's Friend

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/01/bickering-is-hillary-clintons.html

Bickering is Hillary Clinton's Friend

By David Corn | January 22, 2008 5:02 PM


The conventional take is that neither Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton came out well during Monday night's joint-slam of a debate. And on Tuesday, the cat-fight continued, with HRC belittling Obama and claiming he "was looking for a fight" because of his recent primary losses. As he did on Monday night, John Edwards called on the leading contenders to knock it off.

Bicker, bicker, bicker. It does make the face-off between Obama and Clinton look petty. And that is to Clinton's advantage.

She's once again in the lead. In New Hampshire and Nevada, she beat back Obama's politics of hope. Trench warfare has served her well. As I noted recently, Obama's challenge is to bond with voters in the upcoming primaries and to connect them to his unconventional and transformative brand of politics. It's one helluva tough assignment--especially given the size of the playing field for Supersaturated Tuesday on February 5. Clinton merely has to succeed in her conventional task: selling herself as the better-qualified candidate. If Obama gets tied up in schoolyard-style back-and-forth with Clinton, he will become bogged down. He will not soar. He needs to. She does not.

On Sunday, Obama delivered a triumphant speech at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta. (Watch it here; read it here.) Forget the budget deficit or the trade deficit, he said, the nation has a "a moral deficit...an empathy deficit." He explained; "I'm talking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brothers keeper; we are our sister's keep; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny."

He defended the importance of inspiring rhetoric:

That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words--words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner.

He led with words, but he also led with deeds. He also led by example. He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.

It was Obama at his best. And it was the sort of material upon which he should be judged as a presidential candidate--far more important than the nanny-nah-nah exchanges between him and Clinton.

So if Clinton can keep Obama engaged in spitball-slinging, she will be doing herself a favor. He is the candidate who needs the space to make an unconventional case. Clutter is her friend. A mudwrestle helps her, not him. Don't be surprised if the Clinton camp keeps squabbling alive.

[Armstead]

1. That's just what the Clintons do

Tear down the opposition rather than focusing on their own positives

[babylonsister]

2. I agree. Why anyone thinks this is a good thing for Democrats or

our country is beyond me.

[Windy]

5. I don't want to go back to the Clinton circus. No more drama!

I want positive forward thinking measures to heal this country and repair our reputation around the world.

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. I've said it before, and I'll say it again....Obama has to

realize that he can't play in the same septic system as the Clintons. They are both much too skilled at scorched earth politics when there's an elective office at stake. They have managed to knock him off his pedestal, and off message answering their lies & distortions. I almost feel sorry for Grandpa McCain when they get hold of him (LOL).

[babylonsister]

16. He's in a tough spot; he needs to defend himself, but it's too bad

they're 'playing' in a sewer.

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. couldn't agree more babylonsis....

I, like most black folks, have always adored the Clintons; and now I'm asking myself why. My primary concern is where we go from here once they have bullied their way to the nomination? I think they have opened a rift that may take years & years to heal; and we don't have the convenience of that kind of time to heal this nation.

Bill Clinton's demeanor, on the campaign trail, is very troubling to me and I think he has forfeited the title of "titular" head of the party, and should be replaced by Al Gore who truly was our last elected Democratic president.

[oasis]

13. "I'm in it to win it". If HRC doesn't do what it takes to achieve the presidency, then

she doesn't deserve to have it.

[RDANGELO]

3. Obama has to respond to the Clinton attacks directly.

That is why he lost New Hampshire. Even if it is seen as bickering. he has to do it.

[pampango]

11. That's the tough call in any campaign, but especially with Obama.

If he gets into a mud-slinging contest with Hillary, he is playing her game and not playing to his own strengths, especially since she has Bill to help with, or even lead, the slinging.

He has to figure out a way to point out the tough campaigning that the Clintons are famous for, but not try to beat them at their own game. He can't. His only chance of success at this point in the process is "stay above the fray" and preach his message and hope that there is a backlash to the Clintons' campaign style. There is no guarantee that there will be a backlash (Bill will know when to back off in all likelihood) or that this strategy will be successful for Obama, but it is his only chance, IMHO. Even if it fails, he leaves the campaign on a high note for the future.

[beachmom]

4. And keep the country bickering, too. What a sad legacy the

Bush/Clinton dynasty has been. Please, Dem voters: end it now.

[Barack_America]

8. Exactly. Americans will either get sick of it by Feb. 5 and vote for Obama...

Or they will get sick of it by Nov. 8 and vote for McCain.

The Hillary sentiments have been dredged up. She might win the nomination but she'll never make it out of the general election.

[peaches2003]

12. Dem primary voters are fools

if they can't see the writing on the wall that giving Billary the nomination is handing the Presidency to the Repugs. No matter how much we liked Bill in the 90s (and I did), the vast majority of voters are just sick of them and don't want to go backwards and relive their dramas all over again. I will sit out the election before I will vote for Billary if they get the nomination and I am not alone.

[splat]

6. But Dr. King was a spiritual leader, not a president

It's an inevitable role for Obama, but it doesn't necessarily lead him where he wants to go.

[HeraldSquare212]

7. It's their only skill. nt

[madrchsod]

10. "The Bickering Bickersons"

"Blanche... is one of the monstrous shrews of all time. She makes her husband... take two jobs, a total of 16 working hours, in order to bring in more money which she squanders on minks and the stock market. Meanwhile, he can't afford a new pair of shoes and goes around with his feet painted black. In the few hours he has to sleep, she heckles him all night with the accusation that he doesn't love her. Her aim appears to be to drive her husband crazy and she succeeds very nicely. The harassed John's only weapon is insult, at which he's pretty good."


"About the only thing that wasn't funny about the show was the couple's apparent attitude toward each other. As New York Herald Tribune critic John Crosby described them (in the May 25, 1948 column which gave the couple their nickname, "The Bickering Bickersons"):"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bickersons
The Bickersons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

i`m giving my age away when the bickering bickerson`s was the first thing i thought of when i read that headline....

[hedgehog]

14. I think Oliphant says it all:

[babylonsister]

15. WOW. Quite the cartoon; thanks, I hadn't seen that.

:wow: