Paul Begala showed his ‘independence’ from Team Hillary yesterday. Referring to the fact that Barack and Hillary tried to wait each other out on the Iraq War funding vote, Begala told CNN:
“You know, I think both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, neither of them covered themselves with glory here. This — this bill was not unexpected. It was not a deal that would suddenly shock anybody. And the fact that they could not decide until just — just right before the vote, where they were going to be, I think, is going to upset a lot of their supporters. And maybe this gives new oxygen to some of the stronger, clearer anti-war candidates.”
Maybe. Only the most politically addicted will have noticed the atmospherics around the vote. The vote itself is what counts. I can’t see too many people saying, seven months from now, ‘I would have voted for Hillary but she waited until the last moment to cast that ‘nay’ vote’. I mean, let’s try to keep it real here.
But there is a much larger point here. The last time we had a senator running for president from the majority party, it was Bob Dole. And Bob Dole was the majority leader. Dole was able to use the Senate as a tool in his campaign. For example, the Republicans tried to gunk up the Welfare Reform Bill with enough poison pills that Clinton would be forced to veto it. Clinton called their bluff and signed the bill anyway. Even though this caused several mid-to-high level resignations from the admininstration, it didn’t ultimately hurt Clinton’s reelection prospects. So, what’s my point?
The point is that if we are going to turn the leadership of our party from Reid-Pelosi to Dodd or Clinton or Biden or Obama, then they need to demonstrate an ability to lead the Senate caucus.
Dodd made a genuine effort to lobby his colleagues on this bill. The rest of them were holding their fingers in the wind up until the last moment. It’s less the specifics about what Barack and Hillary said before the vote or how long they waited to cast their votes, than it is a failure to show any leadership role over the caucus. Dodd proved ineffective. But Clinton and Obama didn’t even try. And that makes it hard to picture them as the leaders of the party a mere seven months from now.
Good point on the leadership issue — granted, getting a bunch of Democratic Party politicians to hang together on ANY issue or vote is rather like herding cats. On the other hand, that’s a very valuable skill in a President who wants to get something accomplished, even with a Congress dominated by his (or her) own party.
Someone (I forget who, sorry!) observed in a diary or comment that it appears that Hillary has been waiting for Obama to make a statement on issues or votes in the past few weeks, then she does her “Me too!” statement. I wonder if both Obama and Hillary were waiting to find out how the other was going to vote first (for the Me, Too! factor), so that either BOTH of them would be “standing up to the President” or “supporting the troops” depending on which way the other went? Neither wanting to give the other a poll advantage by doing the “wrong” thing when the opponent did it “right?”
If so, why the hell didn’t they just call each other on the phone earlier this week, discuss it, make a decision, and come out strong from the start? What would have been the harm to either of their campaigns to make a joint statement a couple days ago? (Other than the desire not to share the high ground with an opponent? Politics over principles?) But noooo, they had to each wait it out… avoid being targeted by FOX news or their own base… (okay, this may be unfair to Obama, at least, but Clinton has been far more of a “wait and see how the wind is blowing first” candidate from the start, even if she eventually comes down on the right side most of the time.) Or did they not want to come out against their own caucus too early? Either way, makes them both look unsure and timid in the face of adversity… not good, if you want to be President of the United States. Especially not good, given the saber-rattling candidates on the Republican side, and the need to swing a fair number of Independent voters to the “D” side to win…
Dodd gets points for trying, at least. I haven’t heard how (or if) Richardson came out with any statements on this bill this week. Edwards came out strongly, and has from the start, but he’s not in the Senate now… Still, at least he has been on the right track.
Dodd is, frankly, surprising me.
he looks better and beter all the time.
the dems who caved seem to have done so because
a) they either forgot why they were elcted
or
b) they were afraid o what the Rethugs would say about them
if “a’ then they need to be told the voters wont forget
if ‘b’ the need to be told the Rethugs will talk about them regardless of what they do
anybody seen any spine in DC?
When you have nothing to lose you go for broke. I think that is what Dodd is trying to do right now–I know it sounds cynical, but politics is a form of poker… you have to wrap your idealism inside pragmatism, otherwise you will never accomplish anything.
The problem Obama and the front-runners have is that they don’t want to cede any of their status… and so they become cautious when making these type of votes which are supposed to be (according to the beltway) controversial. Its a problem because, voters don’t want someone who is wishy-washy when it comes to issues of importance. Vote. State your reasons. And move on. Don’t hide.
I really don’t get all this handwringing about when Clinton and Obama voted. What would they have been waiting for? Are you saying if it looked like the bill would pass, they’d have voted Yes? Makes no sense at all. How would that have helped them?
As to leadership, point taken, but the real leadership crisis was in the Senate, where it was decided to, as all the headlines and lead paragraphs put it, “blink”, “fold”, “back down”. This bill should never have gotten to the floor. I don’t know which is worse, the cravenness or the sheer political incompetence.
The Democratic Party, which is finally in position to kick some evil ass, instead cowers in fear that some asshole will call it mean names. I’m trying to resist, but am nevertheless rapidly approaching the conclusion that there’s no salvaging the Dems. If we want our country to survive as a republic we’ll have to work outside the putrid political system that has become exactly what the nation’s founders despised.
They were waiting for enough other votes to be cast so that they could vote against the war, but be sure that the war bill would really pass.
And if it looked like it wasn’t going to pass they’d have voted against it? How was that supposed to help them? Still makes no sense to me.