Clinton's Critiques May Not Be the Way to Go

By Connect Mason Convergence Director, Columnist Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Despite Hillary Clinton’s allegations, which many see as crushing desperation, the Washington Post’s Alex MacGillis wrote today in his article ‘Finding Political Strength in the Power of Words’: “Contrary to Obama's reputation as a fiery orator who traffics mainly in abstractions, much of the speech is delivered in a conversational tone, and it includes a long middle section of policy prescriptions.”

Indeed, a quick scan of the Post today reveals quite a few things about the state of Clinton’s campaign.

Dana Milbank’s ‘Washington Sketch’ column today, titled ‘Team Clinton; Down, and Out of Touch’ talked of a breakfast meeting with Clinton advisers: “First came Harold Ickes, who gave a presentation about Hillary Rodham Clinton's prospects that severed all ties with reality. 'We're on the way to locking this nomination down,' he said of a candidate who appears, if anything, headed in the other direction.”

Perry Bacon, Jr. wrote in his article ‘Clinton Compares Obama to Bush': “Clinton's critique of Obama's foreign policy credentials came as she is escalating her attacks in the run-up to primaries on March 4 in Ohio and Texas -- contests that even her husband has called must-wins.” Again, this suggests that the strain of a contest she believed months ago she had won has brought out a nastier side of Hillary Clinton. If Bill’s throwing in the towel and not looking up the word ‘comeback’ in the dictionary, Hillary has to know she’s in trouble.

Despite her lackluster performance at the Texas debate, wherein she basically was forced to eat many of her barbed words, and even claimed to be “honored” to be seated with Obama, Clinton has once again taken to rather pointed attacks on her rival. Check out the “Shame on you, Barack Obama!” meltdown for instance.

The race has stopped being about public service, about the betterment of America, but now reeks of egotism and the time-honored Win At All Costs! mentality that has seen many a political figure through the rough times. This year is different, and it should be.

McCain and The Straight Talk Express have plowed through slick Mormon androids and sidelined Huckabee, the Southern Baptist minister and embodiment of Conservative American Values... for better or worse. Obama’s success is also indicative of this desire for something New, for Change, and has painted Clinton as an Establishment Figure, not a vehicle for radical change. She was the one who wanted to step away from the 1960s early on in the race, a mistake that her campaign staff will most likely rue for years to come.

Greg Craig, who has a long history with the Clintons, even defending Bill Clinton against impeachment in 1998, is now an Obama adviser. In a January interview with The New Yorker, Craig explained his position – “‘Ninety-five per cent of it is because of my enthusiasm for Obama,’ he said last month, at his law office. ‘I really regard him as a fresh and exciting voice in American politics that has not been in my life since Robert Kennedy.’”

With Clinton’s praise of Lyndon Johnson, a rather unpopular figure in the late 1960s, numerous columnists and political writers have pointed out the comparison – Obama as representing the powerful wave of change promoted by the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, Jr., powerful, iconic American figures all killed in that traumatic decade, and Clinton viewed as an embittered, establishment figurehead.

As The New Yorker went on to say in their article about Craig and the unfolding campaign – “In 1968, Craig, who is sixty-two, was campaigning for Eugene McCarthy when he heard a Bobby Kennedy speech at the University of Nebraska, and became a believer on the spot. Since then, Craig has not been inspired by any American President. As for the prospect of another Clinton Presidency, he said, 'I don’t discount the possibility of her being able to inspire me. But she hasn’t in the past, and Obama has.'”

With the Ohio debates tonight and the Make It Or Break It primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island next week for Hillary Clinton, the shift towards Obama may still veer off course, but, for the moment, Craig’s belief is one that is shared by a growing majority. For a while I thought that, if Obama were not to win the nomination, I would be alright with another Clinton in the White House. That opinion has been dramatically damaged by Clinton’s tasteless campaign techniques. It’s Obama or bust for this columnist. Hell, McCain may even have a fighting chance for my vote this November if Clinton wins the nomination, and I’ve never voted Republican, I never thought I would have to.

Well, I guess Ralph Nader’s running now there are other options... eh, not really.