When Obama Attacks
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, BarackDavid Brooks writes about an issue I’ve been contemplating. If Barack Obama ends up “getting tough†on Hillary Clinton, doesn’t he lose his most compelling selling point – namely that he’s a new kind of politician? Brooks looks at what an attacking Obama would mean:
And the Clinton people will draw them every step of the way. Clinton can’t compete on personality, but a knife fight is her only real hope of victory. She has nothing to lose because she never promised to purify America. Her campaign doesn’t depend on the enthusiasm of upper-middle-class goo-goos. On Thursday, a Clinton aide likened Obama to Ken Starr just to badger them on.
As the trench warfare stretches on through the spring, the excitement of Obama-mania will seem like a distant, childish mirage. People will wonder if Obama ever believed any of that stuff himself. And even if he goes on to win the nomination, he won’t represent anything new. He’ll just be a one-term senator running for president.
In short, a candidate should never betray the core theory of his campaign, or head down a road that leads to that betrayal. Barack Obama doesn’t have an impressive record of experience or a unique policy profile. New politics is all he’s got. He loses that, and he loses everything. Every day that he looks conventional is a bad day for him.
Just like John McCain gets extra blowback every time he panders because he’s branded himself the “straight talk†candidate, Obama will get extra blowback every time he fires off an attack because he’s branded himself the post-divisiveness candidate. Clinton, meanwhile, has never branded herself as anything but a trench warrior. She doesn’t have to live up to any lofty expectations except “getting the job done.â€
Can Obama win without getting dirty? Sure. In fact, it’s probably the only way he can win. But it’ll take a level of discipline rarely seen in political operatives.
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March 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Good post from a respected source as long as you understand that he wants to see Hillary run against his candidate b/c he knows it’s McCain’s only chance. That’s why so many on the right are doin whatever they can towards that end.
What kind of desperation is Hillary showing when she promotes McCain’s superior experience as a leader? Does that mean she’s gonna steal Barrack’s approach and take the ‘high road’ in the general election, if she gets that far? Or is she just that desperate that she’ll say anything to get there and worry about it later? It’s very strange!!
March 7th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Well Obama himself has managed to stay relatively clean in his attacks, his request for her to release her tax returns and his comments about her not being truly vetted or having real experience were rather mild.
Really its been mistakes by his aides/advisors, like the monster comment that have been damaging, granted it does hurt him when that happens, but unfortunately you can’t control all the words that come out of the mouths of your supporters
March 7th, 2008 at 11:06 am
You know, I’m really not sure who would be the tougher challenger for McCain and I think it would be foolish for any McCain supporter to assume one nominee would be better or worse than the other. Whoever comes out of the Democratic side is going to be very formidable.
Ben, I don’t know if you’re commenting about Brooks or me. I can’t speak for Brooks’ motives but be assured that I don’t use my posts on the Democratic race as a surreptitious way to advance McCain. If I feel like promoting McCain, I do so openly. Otherwise, I’m just a political junkie riffing on the topics of the day.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am
It can done if done with finesse and humor. Obama should start using the red phone as a prop, and come up with a few routines that would be SURE to get soundbite coverage…suppose the phone rings and he answers the phone…Hello?
And then he looks up at the audience and says “Yeah, I know how to answer the phone.” Follow up eye roll gets Big cheers and laughs. Then he returns to call and says “What? Invade Iraq? No, don’t do that. Concentrate on Afghanistan. That’s where the terrorist training camps are, not in Iraq.”
Further, he can legitimately go negative on Clinton if it’s in response to her attacks. Then he can say all sorts of awful things about her behavior like this:
See, you can make all those criticisms even while you’re saying that you aren’t going to take the low road. And it’s a fair tactic because Hillary started it.