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Obama has suffered a difficult week, partly of his own doing. The fact that he attended some sermons where controversial things were said or that the church is being portrayed by some as extremist (even separatist) is of course a political problem for him and will play into efforts by the right to exploit race. But, the good news for himis that it is more difficult now than before for bigots to play the fear card that Obama is a Muslim, and Obama has rightly taken the high road and has acted ethically. It will cost him some votes, especially among those who don't pay attention. But, this is his punishment for being politically (not ethically) unwise and staying involved with that Church and minister. In many ways, I don't feel bad for Obama -- anyone who mixes religion and politics, whether left or right, deserves the consequences of the narrow-mindedness and intolerance of almost all religions.
But, let's not forget that Hillary Clinton has to have an extra closet for all her skeletons. The Obama campaign needs to raise the legitimate issues about her and her husband. How did they get so rich? Why are they refusing to release tax returns? Why are they refusing to release many records from their White House years? Why did Hillary Clinton fail so miserably with health care reform? Why has her leadership failed so badly in the primary season? Why did she fail so badly with the White House travel office scandal? To what degree is she in bed with lobbyists? Why hasn't she spoken up more forcefully on issues of women and feminism? Why did she refuse to apologize for her IWR vote? Why did Clinton take the reactionary stand in favor of cluster bombs? What about her weird investments that netted her gains of 1000s of percent in a short period of time? Hillary is the corporate Democratic candidate, and while she's certainly far better than McCain, she is part of the DC culture that has turned people off to politics. It will not only be a victory for the Democratic Party if Obama is the nominee (the Party will get more members than it will lose), it will give American politics a new direction and therein lies tremendous opportunity for growth.
The Obama campaign right now seems to be making the same mistake that the Clinton campaign made. His supporters are treating his nomination as inevitable and, right now, he is taking the high road. But, I think he needs to raise legitimate questions about Clinton himself so that it gets media attention. If Obama is aggressive enough to do make the PA race close, then I think at that point many superdelegates will begin to rally around him for the good of the Democratic Party. However, if Obama continues to absorb attacks and take the high road, there's a good chance Clinton will put herself back in contention with a big victory in PA.
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