The Clintons are quite a couple. First he jumped to her defense with his tirade at Dartmouth, now she has jumped to the defense of his defense.

Hillary Clinton met Tim Russert on Meet the Press this morning and laid out what Bill meant when he called Barack Obama's campaign and the press reporting of it a "fairy tale." After Russert ran through a ream of quotes from black newspaper columnists and politicians, all perplexed and disenchanted with the Clintons, Hillary laid out her case in 35 minutes uninterrupted by commercials before carrying on another 20-something minutes.

What Bill was getting at, she explained, was that Barack Obama's high-profile political career began in 2002 when he gave a speech before Congress saying he would not authorize the United States to go to war, or use military force, against Iraq. "I'm not against all wars, just dumb ones," Obama had concluded. This is a speech that he still refers to often in his campaign.

Hillary and Bill say this speech was even kept on Barack Obama's Web site until about 2003 or `04. Then it was removed, and when asked how he thought George Bush, Jr. was handling the war in 2004, Obama said he thought Bush was doing what needed to be done. Obama then voted exactly like Hillary on every war-oriented vote, which usually was for increased funding, increased troops, etc.

Now Obama rolls out the 2002 speech and says, "See? I knew better all along." He voted against the war before he voted for it, you see? And now he's against it again.

I was glad to hear Bill's statement cleared up. He was addressing an audience of Ivy League kids who probably have studied world affairs since they could hold their own milk bottle, so it only barely made sense to someone like me who spends more time reading news of Robert Plant's latest tour than studying the Paul Tsongas campaign.

However, Hillary didn't win personality points from me. She explained what her husband had said, then Tim Russert ran the two seconds where he said, "The whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." Then Russert tried to move on, but Hillary put her hand up and insisted on talking over Russert ("Tim! Tim! I'm not going to let you get away with this...") until he gave up. She then reiterated what she had just said over the preceding six minutes, which was uneccesary. This happened two more times throughout the hour. Hmm...was Hillary showing strength, or being rude? Maybe both, and I'm not sure if it's a asset or liability.

2 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

Hillary wasn't being rude, she had every right to point a finger at Russert's yellow journalism. He deliberately took the last five seconds of a four minute quote (on Youtube, by the way), which clearly shows that Bill was referring to Obama's stand on the Iraq war. Russert knew this, and tried to make the quote look like it was about Obama's entire campaign, an out and out lie.

Point two, Hillary correctly pointed out that MLK's speeches and actions would never have materialized into a 1968 Civil Rights Bill if LBJ hadn't nad the power to see it through congress. MLK would have agreed if he were alive today. That is why MLK lobbied hard for LBJ's election. But, Obama's spin doctors (like SCX's nitwit Senator Clybourne) tried to make it out like Hillary went down to SC bad mouthin' King. On a scale of one to ten, just how stupid would that be?

The fact remains Obama has done almost nothing of substance while in Congress...he is all talk, no results.

4:50 PM, January 13, 2008  

 Art said...

Wow, I've drawn out a Clinton supporter! You should read my preceding blog of January 10th that includes the video you're refering to, and an analysis of what this means for a possible Obama presidency. I agree Hillary should have pointed out the "yellow journalism" (though I'm a Tim Russert fan), but I wonder if she couldn't have done it a little more smoothly.

11:12 PM, January 13, 2008  

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