RECENT POSTS
- Oprah, Health Care Lobbyists, Among Recent Visitors to White House
- An Obama Thanksgiving Menu, with an Extra Serving of Pie
- White House Thanksgiving Traditions: Broken and Observed
- Obama, GOP Air Differences Over Jobs, Economy In Thanksgiving Addresses
- White House State Dinner Party Crashers
- Obama to Lay Out Emissions Goals in Copenhagen
- Free Bird
- The "Good" War
- The Presidential Planner
- Under the Stars, Obama Toasts India’s Prime Minister
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
Hillary Clinton's Samsonite Argument
April 17, 2008 8:54 AM
To me what was most interesting about the debate was that Sen. Hillary Clinton was so directly making her argument to superdelegates.
More so than to voters, quite often.
Call it the Samsonite argument.
"I've been in this arena for a long time. I have a lot of baggage, and everybody has rummaged through it for years," she said. Therefore, she argued, "I will be able to withstand whatever the Republican sends our way."
But it wasn't enough for her to say that -- Clinton pointed out all of Sen. Barack Obama's relatively unrummaged-through luggage. Including some misrepresentations of that baggage.
Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos brought up a number of issues that Obama's opponents have been making hay over -- and Clinton consistently added and elaborated about them.
Polls indicate that 72% of Democrats believe Obama has successfully distanced himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but Clinton is apparently not among them.
"It is something that I think deserves further exploration," she said of the controversy. "For Pastor Wright to have given his first sermon after 9/11 and to have blamed the United States for the attack, which happened in my city of New York, would have been intolerable for me. ….. And I think that it wasn't only the specific remarks, but some of the relationships with Reverend Farrakhan, with giving the church bulletin over to the leader of Hamas to put a message in. You know, these are problems, and they raise questions in people's minds. And so this is a legitimate area, as everything is when we run for office, for people to be exploring and trying to find answers."
(For the record, "giving the church bulletin over to the leader of Hamas" is a reference to the church bulletin running an oped by the deputy of the political bureau of Hamas that had appeared in the Los Angeles Times.)
After Stephanopoulos asked Obama about his relationship with William Ayres, a former member of the Weather Underground with whom he is, according to his campaign, "friendly," Obama said "this kind of game, in which anybody who I know, regardless of how flimsy the relationship is, is somehow -- somehow their ideas could be attributed to me -- I think the American people are smarter than that. They're not going to suggest somehow that that is reflective of my views, because it obviously isn't."
Clinton immediately jumped in to point out that it wasn't just that Obama and Ayres were friendly, but that "Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position."
She then made quite a leap, tying a quote of Ayres that appeared in the New York Times Arts section on 9/11 with 9/11.
"If I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11 and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more. And what they did was set bombs and in some instances people died."
Obama said that "by Senator Clinton's own vetting standards, I don't think she would make it, since President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me serving on a board with somebody."
His general reaction was to reject this kind of politics.
"I recall when back in 1992, when she made a statement about how, what do you expect, should I be at home baking cookies?" he said. "And people attacked her for being elitist and this and that. And I remember watching that on TV and saying, well, that's not who she is; that's not what she believes; that's not what she meant. And I'm sure that that's how she felt as well. But the problem is that that's the kind of politics that we've been accustomed to. And I think Senator Clinton learned the wrong lesson from it, because she's adopting the same tactics."
And, the Obama campaign says, this is why Clinton's disapproval ratings are so high.
- jpt
April 17, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (310)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Considering the lies, war, treason, torture and the broken oath to uphold the constitution so help me god, makes me wish you republicans had looked into Bush's pastor before he was elected.
Posted by: MarkD | Apr 18, 2008 2:30:56 PM
Obama has turned from "Hope" to "Bitter"
Hillary has him right where she wants him now. He is blaming the media for his downfalls and as you can tell....they don't care for that.
Posted by: Harley. | Apr 18, 2008 10:08:19 AM
60% of Americansaid that Hillary is not trust worthy. I think that this speak for itself. who is she going to defend? the 60% that dont truisth her. People can gamble on Obama but not her.
Posted by: leche | Apr 18, 2008 1:28:43 AM
face it!
Obama came across like a school kid last night!
He stumbled over his thoughts and mangled his words and gave no indication that he can function in the absence of a speech writer.
And he didn't lose because he was black.
Or because he was blue.
He lost because he showed that he would come to the table WITH the support of enemies of our country but WITHOUT a plan to to keep us safe, or bring home the bacon or provide healthcare for EVERYONE!
He was lucky that he wasn't asked any deep questions because he sure didn't seem to have any deep answers.
and DL:
the two members of the "terrorist group" pardoned by Clinton had been jailed for many years and were "remorseful".
Obama's friends and/or neighbors ... NEVER were punished and publicly stated that they hadn't done enough (bombings).
In fact they sound a tad like his beloved pastor!
and however you pad the polls, your buddy L O S T!!!! big time!
Posted by: eyes open | Apr 18, 2008 12:40:18 AM
I just want to know who will be Senator Obama's pastor if he should be elected President?
Jim
Posted by: Jim Valentine | Apr 18, 2008 12:39:46 AM
This is in response to a couple previous comments
The media has had no trouble in vetting Hillary, I've already heard about Nafta and ton of other issues when it comes to Hillary, but I have not heard hardly anything when it comes to Obama other than Reverend Wright.I have already heard people asking, who is William Ayers? Why, because none of this is hardly mentioned in MSM if even at all.
As for Nafta, do the words Obama and Canada ring a bell? As for his friend Ayers, along with the fact they were neighbors and served together on the Woods Fund Board, Obama also had his political "coming out party" in 1995 at the Ayers home, At a University Chicago Panel in 1997 which was orchestrated by Michelle Obama, Ayers was invited by the Obama's to make a joint appearance with him. So I think it's safe to say they weren't just casual acquaintances. I'll go one step further than that though,top Pentagon Officials and a former CIA intelligence officer have maintained that Ayers along with Obama funneled money that went towards funding the PLO
Posted by: DianePA | Apr 17, 2008 10:02:26 PM
"Obama supporters complaining about ABC debate moderators sound like baseball fans blaming the Umpires after their teams got beaten."
Obama loses the debate (because he is not EVEN qualified to run for Presidency) and then blames Hillary!!
What's going on folks???
Just vote for Mccain.
Obama is making a fog of nonsense all the time.
Posted by: Jkan | Apr 17, 2008 9:58:49 PM
Why didn't Gibson or George go after Hillary on NAFTA, COLOBIA TRADE and MARK PENN/BILL CLINTON, HER NOT RELEASING HER TAX RETURNS FOR 2007 and THE CLINTON LIBRARY DONOR LIST!
WHO IS ABC ENDORSING HERE?
That debate was a joke! And ABC should be ashamed of themselve!
Posted by: jonathan | Apr 17, 2008 9:19:07 PM
Hillary proved last night why her negative numbers are very high!
Hillary proved to be the elitist, making her case to the Superdelegates, instead of the American people.
It's clear that Hillary is not the candidate that will bring about the kind of change that the American people are seeking from Washington.
Hillary Clinton feels that Obama's contraversies deserve exploration because she feels SHE will benefit from them, but isn't thinking about the American people, including those in PA.
I don't see how exploring these contraveries will benefit us in the least bit.
Posted by: stacy | Apr 17, 2008 9:11:43 PM
judi:
on that note let me ask who paid for it when they went after Hillary in previous debate? Did you assume Obama was suppose to just be able to skip through this Election like a skip through the daisies? And more importantly, do you think the republicans wouldn't go after him on the same issues? They'll go after him on the same things and much, much more. This is nothing compared to what he would face with then. Are you gonna accuse everyone of being paid then too?
Posted by: Geoff | Apr 17, 2008 7:59:29 PM
judi: Eveyone who loves america!
Posted by: russell | Apr 17, 2008 7:19:30 PM
Who paid ABC to go after Obama? It was clear to all who watched how one-sided the questioning was and what a waste of our precious time. Mr. Obama outclasses both Clinton and McCain, and they obviously understand that as evidenced in their critical duet. Perhaps Clinton would be better off running with McCain?
Posted by: judi | Apr 17, 2008 6:49:30 PM
I just want to set some facts straight on a couple things. Regarding the Weatherman Underground
The two people members that Bill Clinton pardoned, first of all were not friends of his,both admitted to regretting their crimes and they served more than 15 years in prison.
Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn,on the other hand, didn't spend one day in Jail. Ayers has never showed any regret for what they did. In Fact, not only has he publicly stated he WASN'T SORRY, but in an interview he did on 9/11 he said that " I don’t regret setting bombs, I feel we didn't do enough” then when he was asked if he would do it again he said "I don’t want to discount the possibility".
Posted by: Todd F. | Apr 17, 2008 5:27:52 PM
MarkD. I didn't mean to hack-up former President Clinton. My disagreement with the Clintons has more to do with Hillary, than Bill.
However, I will have to respectively disagree with you over any possibility of President Clinton being re-elected, whether he could by law or not. The latest public opinion poll today has Bill's negative ratings at an all time high of 61%, right up there under Hillary's record high of 62%.
The Clinton's major backers are falling out like flies and people leaving them are no longer intimidated by the Clinton's negative campaign strategies, nor their mafia wanna-be-type influence they have flaunted for years.
I hate to be a bearer of bad news, but the Clinton era is coming to an end very soon. The public has wised up via this Primary Election '08.
It's time to REALLY clean out Washington, and I'm starting by backing Obama......even though I don't like 100% of his positions on issues.
Posted by: Littlepup5 | Apr 17, 2008 5:27:41 PM
The list for both of them stinks. Wright and the weather underground taint both of them. Billy boy's pardon list though only taints one. Only one has an advisor that stole documents from a federal archive and then destroyed them. There's where the trust issues start.
Posted by: Alex, from Austin, Texas | Apr 17, 2008 5:11:03 PM
My priest said something that I didn't like in church on sunday so I am NEVER going back there never mind I've been going there since I was born.
My boss doesn't agree with my views so I'm quiting tomorrow.
I don't wear a Flag Pin oh God please don't ship me to mexico I'm still an American.
I was on a board with someone who made remaks when I was 8 years old. Now I'm a terrorist.
I am Hilary Clinton and I approve this message.
Posted by: simmy | Apr 17, 2008 5:09:06 PM
and why can no one answer me why we are not talking about this "umbrella" thing that Sen Clinton proposed last night.
Hello we are so wrapped up in these stupid issues taking our eye off the real issue...
an umbrella organization for ANY country who doesn't go nuclear to be protected from ANY attack with MASSIVE RETALIATION?.
what does this mean? can someone tell me how this is different than George Bush and John McCain.
she didn't say appropriate reaction...she said MASSIVE RETALIATION between any middle eastern country who is attacked by Iran who isn't nuclear, who agrees to fall under our "protection" or "protective umbrella"
why are we not talking about that?
We are not supposed to be policing the world and expecting America to pay for it. ...pay for it ...not only in money but reputation and giving the terrorists more recruiting tools.
Somebody stop the madness and look at the red flag from last night.
Posted by: dl | Apr 17, 2008 4:32:35 PM
Sadly for you Littlepup5 Bill Clinton is not running for president. He can't it's in the Constitution. But if they did change that rule with a Constitutional amendment he would be re-elected in a heartbeat.
If only you could say the same for Bush. It must burn republicans that Bush has so ruined the republican name that there is zero chance of earning the presidency again, much less this go round.
Sorry John McCain, Your military background and years in the senate just make you another Bob Dole presidential wannabe.
Posted by: MarkD | Apr 17, 2008 4:31:30 PM
and southern bell ...add to that the fact that she with her overwhelming name recognition and status from the beginning of this primary... add to that the fact that there has been no discussion of the lists of scandals that follow the Clintons in the democratic primary...which will not be the case in the general...how anyone could think that she could win.
If all of the Clinton supporters are blindly continuing to spout these created issues and gaffes from Obama...a list at maximum is what? 6, 8 ...and Hillary has pages and pages of issues and questions and lawsuits and investigations and statements and scandals that no one is allowed to raise... all that have so-called "been vetted" ...yet we have not seen any of them used in this primary...
well like I say...the tsunami that has been held back would sweep this party and the country to it's knees from the RNC and 527's if Hillary was somehow able to manage some kind of whirlwind trashing of Obama to get the superdelegates to fall back in line with the Clinton ranks(all the while he tells his campaign not to talk about "those" issues so we can stay on issues that won't risk the party or the change we need...you know the stuff that matters...or maybe it's just only matters that Hilary gets to take her thrown).
Posted by: dl | Apr 17, 2008 4:24:46 PM
concerned
Hillary's list of questionable associates is MUCH MUCH longer than Obama's and as far as far as Ayers goes...the two people that Hillary's husband pardoned were not explained at all.
So her husband who is going to be living with and advising her...looked at these "heinous people and their crimes" these so-called "terrorists" from this same group... and said they should be pardoned...
yes hypocrisy hypocrisy....
Posted by: dl | Apr 17, 2008 4:13:53 PM
Post a comment
