Bill Clinton campaigned for John Kerry in 2004, but now Kerry took aim at the 42nd President Friday, saying the former president "not have a license to abuse the truth."John Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate, who endorsed Barack Obama's White House bid earlier this month, said Clinton's criticisms of the Illinois senator have been "over the top," and suggested the former president is getting "frantic."
Targeting Clinton's recent spate of attacks on Obama, Kerry said, "I think you had an abuse of the truth, is what happened. …I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it's been over the top.
"I think it's very unfortunate, but I think the voters can see through that," Kerry added. "When somebody's coming on strong and they are growing, people get a little frantic, and I think people have seen this sort of franticness in the air, if you will."
Newsweek reports on what Obama says seems like a 2-against-1 primary fight. Currently, while Hillary Clinton is not campaigning in South Carolina, the former president is. Meanwhile, while other prominant Democratic leaders are telling Bill Clinton to cool it, many would still call the last Democratic president the Chief of Party.
Bill Clinton's hardball politics seemed to have worked, as since he's been on the campaign trail, Hillary has not lost a contest. Still, it not very statesman-like is it?
And does the Clinton-Obama war of words risk tearing the Democratic Pary apart?
3 comments:
I am absolutely sick of hearing Bill Clinton. The more he shoots off his mouth, the more the public is convinced we're heading for a co-presidency, which is what we had under him anyway. A true statesman knows when to sit down and shut up because he's no longer in the game. That's what Jim Edgar and George Washington did. In the long run, I think one of two scenarios is possible:
1) Billary's relentless attacks on Obama drive Democrats away from Billary and to Obama, or:
2) Billary and Obama attack each other so much their political capital is exhausted, Edwards (whose appeal is limited) gets the nomination, and the Republicans get four more years
Scenario 1 is much more likely. If you ask me, nobody in their right mind, Republican or Democrat, wants to put Billary back in the White House. Billary's digging a very deep hole, and Obama is waiting for the right moment to dump the dirt in.
Barack Obama has won a significant victory in South Carolina.
Bill Clinton, trying to marginalize the Hillary loss, has said that Jesse Jackson won 2 South Carolina primaries. Not exactly true, they were South Carolina caucuses then.
Was Bill trying to continue to interject (black/white) race into the delegate race heading into Super Tuesday?
The Economist has a good story on the political Bill of the campaign.
It asks:
"Is Mr Clinton damaging his wife's presidential chances as well as his own reputation? This seems unlikely in the short-term battle against Mr Obama. The former president is armed with the biggest megaphone in the business. This could prove particularly important in the battle for mega-states such as California and New York, where advertising is prohibitively expensive and free press is manna from heaven. The Clintons' double-barrelled attack has put Mr Obama on the defensive—not a position that brings out the best in him. It has also succeeded in its chief aim: defining him as a black candidate, and an inexperienced one at that.
But the longer-term effect could be more harmful. The more Mrs Clinton relies on her husband, the more she undermines the most compelling arguments for her candidacy. Take the notion that she is a feminist pioneer. Mr Clinton's omnipresence not only reminds us that his wife made her political career by attaching herself to his coat-tails. Only a spouse could have survived the debacle of “Hillarycare”. It also reminds voters that her first instinct when the going gets tough is to turn to her husband."
The full article is at:
www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10566914
i think that bill's overinvolvement in the campaign will end up disastrous. when i was watching live coverage of south carolina on msnbc, the analysts kept talking about how bill's tactics were to ignore the loss and focus on what he did as a governor and president, rather than making a concession speech about south carolina or talking about hillary's politics or how she will move forward. obama gave another great speech following his win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8mG5qfDXL4
Post a Comment