Whether it’s Tom Hayden’s wife or the editorial board of the New York Times, Hillary Clinton has managed to seriously get under the skin of the intellectual wing of the Democratic Party. But that doesn’t mean that Obama is getting consistent advice for how to respond to Clinton’s low road. Even in ripping Clinton’s slimy campaign, Gail Collins couldn’t resist the urge to poke Obama.
Mr. Obama is not blameless when it comes to the negative and vapid nature of this campaign. He is increasingly rising to Mrs. Clinton’s bait, undercutting his own claims that he is offering a higher more inclusive form of politics. When she criticized his comments about “bitter” voters, Mr. Obama mocked her as an Annie Oakley wannabe. All that does is remind Americans who are on the fence about his relative youth and inexperience.
If Obama is not supposed to ‘rise to the bait’ what is he supposed to do? His campaign is already issuing some threats.
In the two weeks leading up to the Indiana primary, a Democratic strategist familiar with the Obama campaign said aides are likely to turn to the controversies of Bill Clinton’s White House years — Hillary Clinton’s trading cattle futures, Whitewater and possibly impeachment.
“Everyone knows the history of the Clintons,” the strategist said.
Plouffe would not say the campaign planned to address that period, but seemed open to the possibility in the future: “The Republicans certainly are going to look at those issues, the Clinton finances, the record issues. We have chosen not to go there.”
It’s a little bit ironic because winning Pennsylvania allows the Clinton campaign to go on, but the results last night actually freed Obama up to take some risks. Clinton now needs approximately 69% of the remaining pledged delegates to pull even with Obama, and her chances of overtaking his popular vote lead are now exceedingly poor.
Moreover, the country now knows Obama and he can go negative without it ruining his brand. Even so, I don’t think it’s a fantastic idea for Obama to revisit the scandals of the 1990’s, except to subtly remind people that Clinton has her own electability issues. That is the kind of job best left to surrogates.
I will say that as this contest is moving into Kentucky, West Virginia, and North Carolina, Obama needs to expand his appeal among white working class voters. And the voters in those states like to see some fight in their candidates. I’m not sure that’s true for the nice, well-mannered voters of Indiana and Oregon, however.