Barack Obama faces a decision which will affect his political future, and that of his party.
His strong performance thus far, not only in fundraising but also in vote-getting, has attracted a few jabs from the Clinton camp (including Hillary’s Nuclear Weapon, former President Bill Clinton himself). To date, these have been sharp blows, but not too hard. They just wanted him to experience the taste of his own blood in his mouth to see if he has the stomach for it.
Take the recent feint on race, which resulted in a huge flap. Despite the absence of any real “racial remarks” from the Clinton side, Obama’s campaign and (more importantly) his unaffiliated supporters rushed to condemn “racial politics” so fast that the candidate was unable to control the reaction. Almost overnight, then, instead of being “above politics as usual,” he was trapped in the same old politics of race, with the same old faces coming forward.
Bill Clinton pointed out the hypocrisy of Obama’s main comeback to any criticism or claim of superior experience from Hillary’s campaign: that she voted for the Iraq War Resolution. Clinton notes that while Obama did speak against it at the time (when he was in the Illinois State Senate), his rhetoric was toned down in 2004, and he expressed ambivalence on the issue – at one point saying he couldn’t say whether or not he would have voted for it himself.
And he really hasn’t any other comeback. Hillary’s rush to present a detailed “economic stimulus plan” shows the problem clearly. Whether or not it’s a good plan is almost irrelevant: the point is she is thinking in terms of concrete solutions and specific policy proposals to address problems, not assuming they will all take flight on gossamer wings when the New Day dawns.
So Obama must choose: he can continue down the road to the nomination by fighting back, as in calling Bill Clinton a liar. If he takes this path, he ain’t seen nothing yet.
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