… His sharpest words in Clinton’s direction did not mention her by name. On a day when her campaign was demanding that he take part in a "Lincoln-Douglas-style" debate, Obama decried the "ticky-tack" nature of the primary campaign.
"If you watched the last few weeks of campaign, you’d think all politics is about is negative ads and bickering and arguing and gaffes and sideline issues," he said at a town hall meeting in this struggling manufacturing town. "There’s no serious discussion about how we’re actually going to bring jobs back to Anderson, that’s not what’s being debated. That’s the politics we’ve gotten used to over the last 20 years, and I’m tired of that politics because it doesn’t solve problems. One of the things we’ve got to do is bring this country together and stop being distracted by back and forth ticky-tack. I’ve resisted that in this campaign and I will continue to resist it when I’m president of the United States of America."
I don’t know if this is the smart thing to do, given the low level of our political dialogue during the last seven years or particularly during this Democratic Primary, but it’s the right thing to do. If your campaign is about "change," this is definitely one of the things that needs changing. Good for Senator Obama…
The late Washington post columnist Mary McGrory wrote a piece in 2002 titiled “Dirty Bomb Politics”. It was about Senator Max Cleland’s re-election campaign and how he was being mugged by his challenger Saxby Chambliss who won and became the Georgia Senator. We all know Max’s story of a Vietnam veteran losing 3 limbs and Chambliss accusing the Senator of being weak on defense of our country. At the time I heard that I said nobody will believe that but they did. Well, John Kerry didn’t think that anybody voting in 2004 election would believe the lies the Republicans campaign told about him not deserving his purple heart etc but they did. If Obama really wants to win he has to do what President Lincoln did which he can read in the book “Team of Rivals”. Lincoln was not the favorite but he knew better than anyone running that he needed to meet and accept every invitation to speak until the wee hours of the night, even traveling to NYC’s Cooper Union. I honestly don’t think he has done enough homework or met enough people to do the job but I know you do. Lincoln spent years and years traveling the country and lost many elections for lesser political elections. The won thing that he did when he won or lost is, he was always gracious and giving no matter how unfair the other candidate. The winners and losers ended up supporting him because they realize he was a great man. This mattered to the most jaded politcians and they supported him when he finally ran for president..
Joy,
I don’t disagree with that point. Obama just did the Fox News interview this morning with Chris Wallace. But I think he’s going to duck another debate with Clinton. He says it’s because he wants to focus on N.C. and Indiana. I expect that’s true, but I think he’s also avoiding more verbal fighting with Clinton over Wright, Ayers, etc. We I he, I’d do the same thing. That last debate was not in his best interests. If you didn’t see him on Fox, you might take a look. He took your advice. It’s here…