Posted on 02/24/2008 6:44:46 PM PST by jdm
So far in the campaign, Barack Obama has generally refrained from going after the most critical weakness of Hillary Clinton's candidacy: the fact that the Clinton whom Democrats really like is Bill, while Hillary, who now presents herself as the voice of experience, got most of that experience as First Lady, first of Arkansas, then of the United States. Until now, no one has ever suggested that being married to a former President constituted a qualification for the office.
Today, Obama took the gloves off. He attacked Hillary's support for NAFTA, and Hillary responded by trying to distance herself from her husband's policy during the 1990s. Obama finally called Hillary on the fundamental contradiction of her candidacy:
Sen. Barack Obama said today Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton presents herself as if she was "co-president" from 1993 to 2000.
Mr. Obama, holding a town hall forum at a wall board manufacturing plant here, said his criticism of her position on the North American Free Trade Agreement is fair because she includes her time as first lady for eight years as part of her claim to "35 years of experience."
"She has essentially presented herself as co-president during the Clinton years," the Illinois senator charged during a press conference after the town hall concluded. "Every good thing that happened she says she was a part of, and so the notion that you can selectively pick what you take credit for and then run away from what isn't politically convenient, that doesn't make sense."
That's exactly right. Hillary's candidacy has always relied largely, but usually implicitly, on claiming credit for her husband's presidency. Her campaign's response to Obama admitted, however, that she can't make her claim to a "co-presidency" explicit:
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson responded to the co-president remark on a conference call later: "I don't accept that charge."
"There's no question that Senator Clinton ... was a key and valued adviser to her husband [and] took the lead in several significant areas," he said, but, "that [co-president] is not a title that Senator Clinton or her husband would accept as valid."
Which, really, pleads guilty to Obama's charge: that Hillary selectively takes credit for whatever aspects of her husband's presidency are now politically helpful, on the theory that she wasn't "just" a First Lady, but rather a "key and valued adviser."
The Clintons were never really able to solve the central dilemma of their campaign: who is the candidate here, Bill or Hillary? It's true, as Mark Steyn says, that Hillary represents the Clintons with their pants on. In another sense, though, when she talks about her experience, she is the empress who isn't wearing any clothes. Obama's willingness to point this out, however gently, is another nail in Hillary's coffin.
NAFTA was a disaster.
Definitely. It's what has brought us to the finacial mess we're in today. Ironic how th unions' favorite president is the one who destroyed their jobs.
She did have an office in the West Wing, and every time the Republicans went up to meet with old Bill within 30 minutes word from the White House said something different than was agreed to during the meet and greet. OLD Hillary ran the show she just can never take the official credit.
another nail in Hillary’s coffin.
Nail her down TIGHT boys, wouldn’t want her to escape again.
Hillary is full of it. My wife couldn't do my job, and I couldn't do hers. Ever. And we have a real marriage, not a fake one like the Clintons'.
I haven't figured that one out at all. Another quandry...all this complaining about the economy and how we shouldn't be borrowing from the Chinese to pay the Arabs but at the same time they don't want us to drill for our own oil. What are we supposed to do....ride a donkey?
Yah, NAFTA took all our good American jobs, sent them to Mexico. Our unemployment rate is sky high, Mexicans are all staying home and earning the big bucks, and illegal immigration has been reversed.
Excuse me, I have to nip down to the kitchen for a moment and find a corkscrew so I can pluck out my own eyes. Back in a bit...
I dunno..calling her a "lady" is probably a stretch...
Where’s that old Clinton dirt machine that used to be so effective? If they are holding anything juicy on that oily scumbag Obama, NOW is the time to cut it loose.
No pun intended?
Bush I would have pushed it through. He couldn’t because most of the resistance came from Democrats, where he had no clout. Bill could, because he had clout with the Democrats.
Everybody knows that Hillary goes both ways.
Yet Hillary attended the signing of the Nafta agreement where many spoke to greatness of Nafta.
Obama knows this so why doesn't he just say it.
Yes, Hillary was co-president. The twofer president. Clinton words easily proven.
We need to prop Hillary up as much as we can for the time being. I urge all to support her in the upcoming primaries/cauci.For Obama, the worst thing to happen when you are on a winning streak is to have a schedule like Obama has now...no games for a long stretch. That’s good for a losing streak...bad for a winning streak.
Isolationists are a serious American problem today the same as in the early 20th century. They haven’t learned a damn thing in nearly a hundred years
Or more to the point, was Bill Clinton America's First Woman President?
“got most of that experience as First Lady”
Hillary might claim that, but where?
Definitely in the Oval Orifice, Monica had the edge.
Mahalo
But she prefers one way more than the other. The other way.
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