Times: About that Hillary Endorsement...

[jakem]

In its lukewarm endorsement of Hillary Clinton back in January, the New York Times wrote that yes, the aspiring lady commander in chief is "more qualified, right now, to be president," but also that it's important for her to "take the lead in changing the tone of the campaign" before it gets too negative and divisive and makes people forget about whatever valid trump cards she might actually have over Barack Obama. An editorial in the Times today lets us know that they feel Hillary didn't exactly take their advice.

Says the board: "By staying on the attack and not engaging Mr. Obama on the substance of issues like terrorism, the economy, and how to organize an orderly exit from Iraq, Mrs. Clinton does more than just turn off voters who don't like negative campaigning. She undercuts the rationale for her candidacy that led this page and others to support her: that she is more qualified, right now, to be president than Mr. Obama."

The about-face might not even have been necessary if the Times' 20-person board was allowed to voice its opinion the first time around. Two separate reports—one from Gabriel Sherman in The New Republic and the other from Michael Wolff in this month's Vanity Fair—claim that the board initially planed on endorsing Obama, only to be overruled at the 25th hour by publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. Wolff says Sulzberger opted to go with Hillary after he was lobbied by Clinton money man and private equity financier Steven Rattner. Editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal flatly denies this. But Sherman also hinted at the same idea in his February story. Rosenthal, for his part, later wrote this gushy Obama slob job after being dazzled by the junior Illinois senator at a California rally.

Radar, for the record, still stands by its initial stance that someone needs to bow the fuck out already before we get to Denver because we really don't know if we can take it anymore.

http://www.radarmagazine.com/exclusives/2008/04/hillary-clinton-new-york-times-endorsement.php