Hillary Clinton is hitting the campaign trail for Obama today in Ohio. Here’s a little blurb from The Trail, The Washington Post’s daily campaign round-up.
ELYRIAl, Ohio — Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), swept into friendly territory today to campaign for her former rival, generating large, passionate crowds — but barely mentioning the woman whose popularity has many here fretting.
Since the Republican convention, Clinton has pointedly avoided directly criticizing vice-presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as she campaigns for Sen. Barack Obama, a strategy her staff says is endorsed by Obama’s campaign. The goal, campaign strategists say, is to get the message back to John McCain’s record, and not to create a clash between two women.
Ok, here’s my question for you:
Why doesn’t Hillary Clinton go after Palin directly?
It seems incredibly stupid to me to take your second most popular Democratic primary candidate, who has a huge advantage with women voters and essentially neuter her like this. Obama doesn’t want to or have to attack Palin, but the one Democrat who can, and the one who should is Hillary Clinton, and here’s the line I’d put in her stump speech to make this point.
We didn’t put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling so the least qualified person running for national office in my lifetime could be only one John McCain heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Tell me I’m stupid, but what’s wrong with that message, especially when it comes from the one person who’s earned the credibility to deliver it during this campaign season? McCain’s rise in the polls is tied directly to the wave of celebrity popularity Palin has generated. The McCain campaign has made Palin their strength. Well, the best way to win is to attack your opponent’s strength, not shy away from it. That’s how McCain’s Rovian protege campaign manager is running against Obama. If the Democrats want to win this year, and if we all want to avoid the nightmare into which a MCCain/Palin administration would deliver us, then it’s time to take the gloves off.
Obama doesn’t have to be the one taking shots at Palin (and at McCain’s poor judgment/opportunism/ambition) at choosing her as his running mate, but Hillary should. To paraphrase some campaign slogan I seem to recall: Yes she can!
