In case Rush Limbaugh doesn’t bring down Barack Obama with “Operation Chaos,” Hillary Clinton has another plan for her presidential prospects. With no realistic chance at winning the nomination, Clinton will tear down Obama until he’s an unacceptable choice – leaving superdelegates no choice but to pick her at the National Convention. It’s what one Democratic Party official calls the Tonya Harding option, which explains why Clinton yesterday tried to get political mileage out of Obama's Pastor Wright controversy. In 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association banned Tonya Harding for life from participating in any sanctioned events – due to a “clear disregard for fairness, good sportsmanship and ethical behavior.” In 2008, who’s going to sanction an out-of-control Democratic candidate who doesn’t seem to care that she’s helping to elect John McCain?
It’s been a week since Obama gave the most beautiful speech of his political career – where he bravely refused to let race be another hot potato. His pastor had made inflammatory comments that could derail his candidacy and sap momentum, and Obama had to do something about it to contain the damage.
But Obama could have thrown Reverend Wright under a bus like so many politicians have done under similar circumstances when their strident supporters become a liability. Instead, he remarkably took the opportunity to give a frank talk about race – treating voters like adults, and forcing us to confront unpleasant realities. According to a New York Times poll, 70% of Americans approved of his speech.
To still use the Wright controversy against Obama for political gain – one week later, and after he made such a bold speech – is beyond the pale, and clearly smacks of desperation. John McCain knew better than to go that route, and even Clinton’s former pastor said good things about Wright. Clinton herself kept quiet for a while, knowing full well that attacking him on it would backfire.
But pretty soon, her advisers must have told Clinton that she had to bring it up – because the Wright controversy is still a liability for Obama among working-class whites. “He would not have been my pastor,” said Clinton yesterday in Pennsylvania. “You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend. You have to speak out against that — if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving.”
Clinton said this while Obama was taking a brief vacation – in what was probably a calculated move when she could own the media spotlight. Ironically, she said it after meeting with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a right-wing publication owned by Richard Mellon Scaife – the same “vast right-wing conspiracy” that Clinton famously railed against ten years ago.
By calling Wright’s sermons “hate speech” and legitimizing a right-wing rag that gained notoriety by spreading rumors about Vince Foster, Hillary Clinton has become the enemy that she once despised. But that’s what she has reduced herself to. And if there’s one political lesson that she learned from her husband, it’s that you must do “everything” to get elected. Even if it means sinking to the politics of personal destruction.
To say that Clinton is pushing the “Tonya Harding option” is an apt analogy – because Harding never won the Olympic gold medal. Her mission was just to knee-cap her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, in the hopes that she will win the competition by default. At this point, the math does not bode well for Clinton – and Obama will win the nomination unless his campaign faces a monumental meltdown. Only then could she actually have a chance.
The “Tonya Harding option” was predictable – especially if you know the Clintons well. Consider what Dick Morris, Bill’s notorious former consultant, said on the eve of the New Hampshire primary – when we all assumed she was going to lose. He predicted that she could make a “very dirty comeback” that would exploit Obama’s race. If you disregard the fact that it was on Fox News, Morris pretty much laid out what Clinton’s strategy has been in the past few months: watch it yourself.
We don’t hear much from Tonya Harding these days – and her fall from stardom has been pretty depressing. But she was banned from professional figure skating for her unethical behavior, and the sport is better off today without her. In that arena, bad actions have consequences – and we look back on the Tonya Harding saga as a cautionary tale.
Will the Democratic Party stop Hillary Clinton before she inflicts more damage? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that a presidential nominee will be picked before the Democratic Convention. He wouldn’t elaborate on how, but said “it will be done” – and mentioned that he met with DNC Chairman Howard Dean about it.
Howard Dean, a former Presidential candidate himself, knows what it likes to have your campaign fall from grace – and how painful it must be to acknowledge a reality after your hopes have evaporated. For the good of the party, Dean should let Hillary Clinton know that it’s all over and time to move on. Because tearing down the eventual nominee will only help elect John McCain.
EDITOR’S NOTE: In his spare time and outside of regular work hours, Paul Hogarth volunteered on Obama’s field operation in San Francisco.
No comments:
Post a Comment