Race Factor Looms Large
The sharp elbows continued to fly between the Obama and Hillary camps, much of it centered on Geraldine Ferraro’s comments Monday. Here’s what the Politico.com’s Ben Smith and Paul David Kahn are reporting:
The cycle of offense and apology, on racial grounds and others, has become a familiar feature of this campaign. But both campaigns swerved deliberately from the pattern Tuesday, choosing confrontation over delicate compromise. Obama’s aides announced they’d had enough “offensive” attacks, while Clinton’s suggested that they’d had enough of the politics of grievance. A top Obama adviser suggested that Clinton should “repudiate” Ferraro’s words, and another demanded that Clinton drop her from the campaign. Clinton’s campaign, in response, essentially accused Obama of being the one to inject race into the contest, labeling his very complaint a “false, personal and politically calculated attack.”
The reactions began Monday night with a relatively mild reaction from Clinton’s campaign to the Ferraro comment. “We disagree with her,” spokesman Howard Wolfson told Politico.
Obama’s campaign called a midday conference call, in which Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, drew a line in the sand. “All this is part of an insidious pattern that needs to be addressed,” he said, suggesting that Clinton is “trying to send a signal to her supporters that anything goes.”
Axelrod walked a fine line, not explicitly citing any racial element to the “pattern,” and Obama aides later stressed that he had not intended to suggest there was a racial element to the attacks, just a level of “negativity.” But the items Axelrod cited, two Clinton supporters’ suggestions that Obama’s past drug use would hurt him, and Clinton’s “own inexplicable unwillingness” to affirm Obama’s Christianity in a television interview, have been interpreted in the past by many Obama supporters, inside and outside the campaign, through a racial prism.
The more I read his quotes, the more convinced I am that Mr. Axelrod isn’t ready for primetime. His statement that “Clinton is “trying to send a signal to her supporters that anything goes” makes him sound like a little weeney. As Sen. McCain frequently says, “this ain’t beanbag.” I wholeheartedly agree. I want to know that the candidate is mentally resilient, that he’s able to withstand the criticism that they’ll surely face.
That said, if this devolves into a mudslinging match, neither Obama or Clinton will win. In fact, it might split the party, though not permanently. The other thing coming out of this is that anytime they’re throwing haymakers at each other is another time when they aren’t laying a glove on John McCain.
Meanwhile, McCain will stay in the news, this time by leading a congressional delegation to Europe and the Middle East:
John McCain, the Republican candidate for U.S. president, plans to travel to Europe and the Middle East for 10 days in mid-March as part of a congressional delegation, officials familiar with the trip said on Sunday. McCain, an Arizona senator, is staking his claim on the presidency based on his national security experience, and his foreign trip will play into that theme.
He and other senators plan to meet some foreign leaders along the way, officials said.
Israeli media said McCain planned a visit to the region on March 18. The Washington Post said the trip might include a stop in Iraq.
The upshot for McCain in this is that he gets to look like a statesman while Hillary and Obama are throwing haymakers at each other. That image won’t be lost on voters. That’ll only strngthen McCain’s image of statesman and Commander-in-Chief-in-Waiting.
I’m noticing Obama’s campaign is having trouble recently. Yesterday, here’s how she attacked Obama:
“Today my opponent is here in Pennsylvania talking about energy policy, and I think specifically talking about wind energy and that’s great,” she said, “except in 2005 when we had a chance to say ‘no’ to Dick Cheney and his energy bill, my opponent said ‘yes’ and voted for it with all of those tax subsidies and giveaways that have been used by the oil companies and others to retard the development of clean, renewable energy. Really when you think about what we have to do, it’s not gonna happen just by asking people. It’s not gonna happen just by saying don’t we all agree. We’re going to have to fight to make the changes against the special interests that dominate Washington.
Telling a Democratic audience that a candidate voted for “Dick Cheney and his energy bill” should surely provoke a counterattack. It didn’t, which isn’t wise. After all, an attack unanswered is an attack that’s verified. That’s just another indicator that Obama isn’t ready for primetime. Yes, he’s a great speaker but he simply isn’t a fighter.
His inability to fight off attacks won’t impres the superdelegates. They’ll want someone that’ll fight back effectively. I haven’t seen Obama display that ability on a consistent basis yet.
Rest assured that Team McCain is taking note of that.
Technorati Tags: Obama, Hillary, Mudslinging, Racism, Geraldine Ferraro, David Axelrod, Democrats, John McCain, Statesman, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog