Posted by Frank James at 12:34 pm CST
A conservative Internet magazine is reporting that Sen. Barack Obama’s ascendancy as a presidential prospect has sent shudders through the camp of Sen. Hillary Clinton which fears the Illinoisan could hurt her bid if she decides to run as expected.
Insight, the (subscription required) magazine of the Washington Times newspaper, reported the following in this week’s issue.
Sources close to Ms. Clinton said she has been concerned that Mr. Obama could outdo the New York senator in getting support from the minority and liberal base of the Democratic Party. They said Ms. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have been discussing a strategy on how to deal with Mr. Obama and whether he could be persuaded to join a Clinton ticket.
“On paper, this man [Obama] should not be any threat,” a political strategist regarded as close to Ms. Clinton's team said. "He is too young and inexperienced. Yet, he exposes Hillary's weaknesses in a way that has people worried.”
The strategist said Mr. Obama could exploit several of Ms. Clinton’s weaknesses—Iraq and her profligate campaign spending. The strategist pointed to Mr. Obama's early opposition to the Iraq war while Ms. Clinton supported the U.S. invasion.
“I believe that it remains possible to salvage an acceptable outcome to this long and misguided war,” Mr. Obama told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Nov. 20. “But it will not be easy. For the fact is that there are no good options left in this war.”
Another weakness Mr. Obama could exploit is Ms. Clinton's huge spending in her 2006 re-election campaign for the Senate. Ms. Clinton has angered major contributors by spending more than $30 million—exceeding that of any other Senate candidate—against an unknown challenger.
The Insight piece doesn’t mention one of Clinton’s most important weaknesses. When compared with Obama—she comes across to many people as cold, distant, cautious and calculating. Obama, on the other hand, seems to many accessible, warm and fairly forthright for a politician.
Aside from a personality transplant, it’s unclear how Clinton could undo that perception vis a vis Obama.
A Clinton-Obama ticket would seem to make sense on one level because it might lessen the criticism of Obama as inexperienced though that concern wouldn’t do away.
But it also seems like it would be one “first” too many at the same time. Assuming they got the nomination, she would be the first woman presidential nominee for a major party and Obama would be the first black vice presidential nominee. That seems quite a big gulp for a lot of Americans to swallow all at once.
Here's more from the Insight article:
At this point, Mr. Obama, who has published two bestsellers and maintains a friendship with Oprah Winfrey, has the second highest recognition factor after Ms. Clinton, trailing the New York senator by 12 points in a recent Gallup poll of likely Democratic presidential candidates. Still, in what strategists said constituted the first trial run for 2008, the Illinois senator was deemed the most exciting candidate on the campaign trail and held a particular attraction for women.
“Obama is the new product on the market and the real test is whether he can survive long scrutiny," said John Gorman, chairman of the polling firm Opinion Dynamics.
In a poll Opinion Dynamics conducted for Fox News in late October, a presidential bid by Mr. Obama won 38 percent, three points behind that of Republican contender Sen. John McCain of Arizona. For his part, Mr. McCain held a six point lead over Ms. Clinton in any two-way race.
Already, several leading senators have encouraged Mr. Obama, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Veterans' Affairs committees, to test the waters for a presidential race. They include the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, who urged Mr. Obama to speak to audiences in Iowa, home to the first presidential caucuses.
Should both Clinton and Obama decide to run for the White House, it will be fascinating to watch the two circling each other warily.
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Comments
Here we go with the Wingnut party playing games again.
The robots on Fox News have been swiftboating Hillary for two years already.
I've got a new ticket for the Dems to think about.
Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson.
Here's the slogan:
Hillary and Bill in 08!!!
That would make the Repubs heads explode...
Posted by: John E. | November 29, 2006 12:54 PM
Yo Loony Johhnnnny Eeeeeeee., yesterday you were proclaiming Obama in 08!! Today, you say the "wingnuts" are trying to derail Hillary and you're pushing a Hillary-Richardson ticket. Man, you really need to get those multiple personality meds under control, John E., Raving Loon or whatever you're calling yourself at this moment!
Now, if you don't think Billary is concerned about Barack's alleged ascension and the possibility he could derail her/their presidential ambitions, then you're more clueless than originally thought.
Posted by: John D | November 29, 2006 1:23 PM
Little Johnny,I'm still behind my man Obama.
I'm just throwing out ideas for other Dems to think about.
The Repubs are afraid of Hillary,and I think it's funny.
You not getting it doesn't surprise me much.
Posted by: John E. | November 29, 2006 2:01 PM
Insight is the print version of Fox.
Posted by: Tom | November 29, 2006 2:41 PM
We're still 2 years out. That is plenty of time for Hillary to dig her own grave and Barack to get swiftboated no matter what he does. (Yes, I know Jaunito, it's a noun-live with it.)
I like Obama 08 though. Should get more legs than my "Franken/Gore 04 Two Als are better than One" campaign.
But thank Allah the good doctor Frist is no longer a contender. Might have reignited all those righteous, ultra-philanthropic nuts that stayed home on Nov. 7th.
Posted by: Bubba | November 29, 2006 4:33 PM
I'd think that Obama would scare the Republicans more than Hillary.
As noted above, Hillary comes across as "cold, distant, cautious and calculating," not to mention strident, and she has that Teddy Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Democratic-politician habit of emphasizing - every - word when she's saying something that is particularly nonsensical. By contrast, Obama, also as noted above, comes across as "accessible, warm and fairly forthright for a politician." It's a lot like Bush and Gore in 2000; I often think that Bush squeaked that one out because he seemed like a real person, while Gore resembled most closely a telephone pole, and enough people just voted for the person they'd more like to listen to for the next four years to put Bush over the top.
I'd also think that Obama would not be wise to accept a vice presidential nomination. The vice presidency is not a wide road to the presidency. (Who was the last sitting vice president to be elected president? Right, George Bush 41. Who was the last one before that? I dunno, but it's been a long time.) The vice presidency is an opportunity for people to get to know you and all your flaws, but not a place where you can put your stamp on things. That's particularly true in the current media environment, in which the nattering nabobs will be on you like a pack of jackals if you so much as burp. Remember, for example, Dan Quayle, who was one of the young men to watch in the Senate in 1988, before people knew that he couldn't spell potato.
Posted by: Dave Brann | November 29, 2006 4:54 PM
It doesn't matter who runs for the democrats the republicans will demonize whoever it is. Dirty politics is their bag..straight from Donald Segretti's pupil Rove. Segretti was Rove's mentor
and served jail time for watergate. He taught him everything he knew. I feel Rove is more responsible for the low down dirty politics in this country more than anyone.
Posted by: bill r. | November 29, 2006 6:57 PM
Republicans are not afraid of Hillary. They know all her weaknesses and can take her down without trying. They are the ones promoting her in the hope she gets the nomination.
Obama worries them the same as he worries Hillary. Hillary knows he is not a flash or just a nice smile. that he is very very smart and she knows there is alot of depth that the average person isn't aware of. She know he can take her down.
Oh, and BillR., speaking of Rove, did you know that Hillary hired a Rove style hitman to go after Obama. I heard it from Johnathan Alter on Hardball. Seems Rove and Bush taught some bad things to people.
Posted by: Vwcat | November 29, 2006 11:19 PM
Vwcat:
It's news to you that Billary plays dirty, too? Are you serious? Rove plays dirty, but in terms of smearing opponents, he didn't teach anything to the Clintonites that they didn't already know.
Posted by: JB | November 30, 2006 11:58 AM
And personally, I think it would be great to see somebody go after Sen. Obama. His honeymoon just keeps going and going and going, and it's time for it to come to an end. If he's going to be president, the nation needs to see how he handles himself when he's dealing with real opposition, not Alan Keyes.
Posted by: JB | November 30, 2006 11:59 AM
Obama will run and Win the Presidency and Hillary will likely back off and remain senator...although Obama could appoint her to Attorney General. Obama is the Dem frontrunner...the time is right for his star to shine.
Posted by: Michael | December 9, 2006 11:04 PM
i think Obama is the best candidate representing the hope the world so badly needs.he has no match among all the candidates both republicans and democrats.if he doesnt become the next president in USA,it will be mainly because he is African American,nothing else.
Posted by: emmanuel mwange | March 20, 2007 10:44 AM
The danger in Obama is as real as the certainty that Al Gore should have been elected in 2000.
Gravitating toward something new, and something different is not a new phenomenon for the Democratic Party. They have a tendency to be swayed by flashy things, and Obama is nothing but flash. In the clutches, however, Hillary shines because of her exposure and judgement, and prior knowledge she brings to the Presidency of the pitfalls that are impossible for Obama (or any of the candidates) to know about. Yet, that may not be enough "precaution" to elect her as it wasn't during the Gore campaign. Instead, we received an untested, untried son of a President - who by most broad calculations has been a disaster.
What went wrong for Gore isn't what could go wrong for Hillary. Hillary faces the inevitable Y factor: the perception that men can do it better. Faith in women doesn't come naturally even if she seems proficient and experienced.
The Y factor places higher expecations upon women, unreasonable performance levels as compared to men, and an unwillingness to offer women the excuses or doubt that is offered to men - because of the male orientation that has become the custom of male preference.
The Y factor also discounts the X factor through which women are trivialized, discounted, and made irrelevant.
Although Hillary challenges all of those perceptions as accurate, it is her fate to have to face them in something as power-charged if not emotionally charged as the election of a new President.
For men allowances are made. No so for women. It is the history of the gender and the obstacle Hillary must overcome in order to win.
There is no referee standing by to prove or suggest that a President's job is not the enormous test of machismo that requires a male, but there are few willing to admit or acknowledge that a woman can do it as well or even better.
Even in a field where Hillary has the most outstanding exposure to the Presidency and is aware of most if not all pitfalls of governance, the Y factor resides in the background as the large and looming "if" in her election.
In part, this is due more to cultural conditioning than knowledge on the part of the public or the media.
It is cultural conditioning that suggest an African American man, new to poliics with little exposure or experience can tackle the job of President without so much as an examination of his attitudes and whether they fit the form of the values of the nation.
The WOW oratory factor apparently turns all heads.
But the Presidency is not about the WOW factor, once elected. It is about the daily grind adherent to the values the nation holds in very significant and difficult decisions that must be made, often with overwhelming dissent and conflict. The WOW factor is of little use in those situations.
If anyone asked, the most likely answer is that if elected upon WOW factor, it is Obama who would melt like a wilted flower, not Hillary, in the day to day
Presidential tests that arise.
Obama is the untested candidate who may be reduced to handwringing in the oval office if elected. What is most surprising is the arrogance of his inexperience that is likely to allow him to succeed. And that is something the American people must answer for. It may be naive of him, but shouldn't Americans know better - especially after Bush?
Posted by: Pat | January 6, 2008 10:45 AM