Clinton Criticizes Obama's Ambition? Really?
In 1965, fully 100 years after the death of the Confederacy, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, at long last enshrining into federal law the right of all Americans to participate fully and equally in the political process.
The following year, Barack Obama, then a wide-eyed Kindergartener who was suddenly free to dream bigger dreams than his forebears, wrote an essay entitled “I Want to Become President.”
And now the Clinton Machine is attacking him for it.
This past Sunday, Hillary Clinton—faced with the very real possibility that she will lose the Iowa caucuses and, more damningly, the inevitability that has fueled her effort—used a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to declare open season on Mr. Obama, whose has committed the unpardonable sin of not surrendering to her ambition.
“Now,” Mrs. Clinton announced, “the fun part starts.”
Hours later, her campaign unleashed a personal attack on Mr. Obama, responding to his oft-repeated assertion that he is “not running to fulfill some long-held plans”—a not-so-subtle effort to contrast himself with the Clintons.
The Clinton reaction to a relatively mild dig was both inflated and disingenuous—and a strong hint of what’s to come now that Mrs. Clinton’s political standing is shaky.
In a press release, Mrs. Clinton’s attack-dog spokesman Phil Singer accused Mr. Obama of “rewriting history” and “not telling the truth,” charging that the Illinois senator has, in effect, been laying the groundwork for his current campaign from his days as a Kindergartener.
This is silly stuff.
What is proved, precisely, by Mr. Obama’s Kindergarten essay—or by a similar essay, also cited by the Clinton campaign, that he wrote in third grade? Go to any elementary school in the country and you’ll find all sorts of kids who will gladly tell you that they will someday be a movie star, a famous astronaut, an N.F.L. quarterback, and—yes—President of the United States.
Obviously, Mr. Obama has entertained thoughts of being president for years, long after his days of youthful daydreaming had passed. (The Clinton campaign also pointed to a report that he talked about running for president when he was in law school, and another that he began planning his bid shortly after being elected to the Senate.) And clearly he’s made choices in his life, time and again, that have preserved the possibility of a future campaign. Now his opportunity has arrived, and he’s going for it.
That hardly constitutes ruthless ambition and scheming, and Mrs. Clinton should know it.
For one thing, her husband basically set the standard on that score, having prodded an ROTC officer at age 23 to help keep him out of Vietnam so that—in Bill Clinton's famous words—he might "preserve [his] political viability within the system." There’s also the irony that Mrs. Clinton would accuse Mr. Obama of “revising history” just days after Mr. Clinton, in a transparent ploy to curry favor with anti-war Democrats, claimed that he opposed the war in Iraq “from the beginning.”
Mrs. Clinton, don’t forget, has spent this campaign claiming the high ground. Just weeks ago, she declared, “I’m not interested in attacking my opponents. I’m interested in attacking the problems of America.” She also cleverly chastised her opponents for using “Republican talking points” against her.
But now she’s turning her guns on Mr. Obama and authoring anti-Obama talking points that the G.O.P. will happily borrow should he emerge as the nominee.
It was easy to see this day coming. Fifteen years ago, Bill and Hillary found their path to Democratic nomination unexpectedly blocked by Paul Tsongas. They tried playing fair and lost New Hampshire. Then they started hitting below the belt.
In the run-up to the critical Florida primary, for example, Mr. Clinton cited a bogus Senate vote from the early 1980s to accuse Tsongas of not supporting Israel. It certainly helped that Mr. Clinton had much more money to make the charge than Tsongas had to defend himself against it. Predictably, Mr. Clinton won Florida.
Now, it’s Mr. Obama’s turn. Rest assured, the Kindergarten attack is mild compared to what the Clinton Machine will churn out over the next two months, or for as long as Mr. Obama poses a threat to Mrs. Clinton’s chances of winning the nomination.
In 1992, Tsongas had neither the money nor the organization to fight back. But Mr. Obama has both.
Fun indeed.
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 45.9
- 41.4
- Obama +4.5
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 55.6
- 33.0
- +22.6
- McCain
- 52.6
- 34.3
- +18.3
Without having heard the Clinton remarks, I still get the impression you missed the pooint. Obama has repeatedly "attacked" Hillary for having some long-term plan to become president. No one, however, has said exactly whats wrong with that. Whether it is true or not, why is this a negative? I would assume most politicians either a) have long-wished they held higher office, and/or b)hoped and planned for a long time to allow them to achieve their current office.
Assuming your reporting is accurate and Hillary is now bringing up these things Obama wrote as a child, I think its most likely meant to mock the idea that there is something wrong with someone who eventually runs for president having had that ambition long before the campaign.
You then go on to attack Bill Clinton for claiming to oppose the war at the time. One small problem with you're attack - HE DID OPPOSE THE WAR AT THE TIME. Look at the following link/headlines for proof: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/chris-matthews-rewrites-h_b_...
"Clinton Splits With Bush on Iraq," The Washington Post March 13, 2003
"Deadline for war - Give the inspectors more time, urges Clinton" The Daily Telegraph March 13, 2003
"Clinton recommends U.S. patience on Iraq," Reuters, February 11, 2003.
Lastly, Clinton isn't the candidate who has claimed to take the high ground all campaign, that was Mr. Obama - the candidate of change, of hope, and of a new kind of politics.
It's fine that you are clearly anti-Clinton, but please don't be disingenuous about why. That's just shoddy writing and journalism.
errr....Mike...this is hardly where you want this discussion to go
"Lastly, Clinton isn't the candidate who has claimed to take the high ground all campaign..."
By stating "now the fun part starts" it's pretty clear that she's just jumped on the express train to the low ground and is enjoying the ride. Which is fine, I guess.
There is nothing wrong with having a goal to be president. However, it is the calculation and the belief that the "end justifies the means" that turn so many off of the Clintons. This on the heels of her very pompous interview with Katie Couric. It seemed she forgot there is a public that votes. I didn't hear her say "if the Americans will grant me the privelege to be president" etc. I've never been a fan of Hillary, however, at this point I can't stand her and I absolutely don't trust Hillary. If you ask me this kind of stuff really hurts her. It reminds many of us of the Hillary that she has been desperately trying to get us to forget.
As for her to even attempt to comment on Obama's integrity and character. Please get a grip. I think that is one path she certainly ought to avoid. Nothing like reminding Americans about the stellar "character" of the Clintons-pardons anyone?? Penn was on today trying to claim it was a light hearted joke. They'd be better to fess up to a stupid over-zealous campaign worker. That after being on last week claiming the Zogby polls are garbage. Conveniently leaving out the number of times they have paid for Zogby to do polls for them. Just keep reminding us of talking out of both sides of your mouth, testing the direction of the wind etc. As Scarbourough(MSNBC) said today...the wheels are coming off her bus!
I've not heard the actual comments either, does it matter? Here we go again, politics as usual. Attack your opponent becasue YOU don't have what it takes to win ON YOUR OWN MERITS!
Politics as usual. Exactly what Senator Obama is and has been striving to CHANGE! Who ya gonna vote for? The ones who got us here? Or the ones with the vision TO GET US OUT!
My vote? Senator Obama, hands down...
"STAND DOWN".
He wrote an essay in kindergarten?? Wow, we knew he was brilliant, but this is incredible. How could a serious poitical campaign say something so goofy???
That darned Obama, he said he wanted to be a professional basketball player in high school! What a flip flopper!!
{insert sarcasm here..}
Hey Billary, would you like some cheese with that *whine*?? What happened to the old adage "if you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen" that you've been spouting, then you move on to say "I'm perfectly happy in the kitchen?"???
Give me a huge break. This is the wrong road for Billary to go--if she thought she'd get more supporters by "exposing" Obama's kindergarten and 3rd grade essays, then she's way off base. In fact, if Obama was writing essays in kindergarten while the rest of us were writing d's and b's backwards, then he deserves to be POTUS!!!
This is going to backfire on Clinton. Obama has not been attacking Clinton at all, in fact everyone keeps saying he's too much the gentleman and needs to go after him. He is showing that he is far above her.
Yesterday she spent her time talking about him, while he spent his time talking about a serious problem in this country - credit card debt and predatory credit card companies.
He introduced a plan for a way to help millions of Americans.
She reminded us of what life was like in the 90s when groups were formed to say 'MOVE ON' because the government was stalled.
Mike N, well stated!
Oh, yes, here's the evil Hillary, picking on poor lil' Obie! Puh-leese! He and lil' Johnny Edwards started easin' on down the low road, hand-in-hand, because after living in Iowa for two years, they had nothing of substance to offer!
Obama's "new" politics consists of: I'll say what I want about you, but if you counterattack -- such as questioning my health care plan -- I'll whine about "dirty old politics." Maybe I'll send Oprah to beat you up. It seems like Ol' Barack can dish it out, but can't take it.
This anti-Clinton obsession -- feels like I stumbled into the Chris Matthews Show!
The bottom line is that her lead is shrinking, and her attempts to regain ground align very well with dirty name dragging politics. I have not seen anything from Obama's camp that has been as awkward as the things that come out of the Hillary camp. To go as far back as kindergarten is just pathetic to begin with. I am not saying that Obama's campaign has been completely avoiding any challenging statements about Hillary's politics or her character, but there has been an obvious difference in the quality of these statements. Hillary does have a lot more to hide than Obama as well, and the difference there is also very drastic. Obama has a couple of books out that cover just about all the good and bad moments of his life. Hillary is not much of a writer, and apparently she would rather lock up every paper she has ever written rather than let any of us read them. Heaven forbid we find anything in them that might give us a reason question what she is saying today. She might want to change her mind tomorrow, so just keep that in mind.
I was hoping she would be a great candidate, but she is too much like Cheney. Secretive and selective. She lost me when she openly criticized Obama at a debate about his approach to foreign policy, calling him, or at least his ideas "niave". Then just two weeks later in an apple orchard she touts the same kind of approach as if it were her own idea! And almost taking Obamas' statement word for word. She will continue to slip in the polls, Obama will win the first two primaries, and from there you can pretty much guess the rest. The Republican's all lose in the general election because of their pro war stance, which has a national approval rating of, well it's falling everyday so I am sure you can figure that out for yourself as well.
Crap, I typed that out too quickly... "Naive".
I THINK THAT OBAMA IS OUR BEST CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT AND I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE THAT HIS CAMPAIGN IS GAINING MOMENTUM. IT'S REALLY PATHETIC TO SEE HILLARY MAKE A FOOL OUT OF HERSELF BY BRINGING UP SOMETHING THAT OBAMA SAID WHEN HE WAS A CHILD. I KNEW THAT IF SHE STARTED TO FALL IN THE POLLS THAT THE AMERICAN VOTERS WOULD FINALLY GET TO SEE THE "REAL" HILLARY CLINTON. WE CAN'T AFFORD TO HAVE A PERSON LIKE HER IN THE WHITE HOUSE...IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE.
Mike N. is right. Barack Obama has said several times, "I don't think the presidency is OWED to me (this, I suppose, is implying that Hillary thinks it's owed to her)...I never thought I'd be running for president..." This is complete crap. I don't know about as far back as kindergarten, but I DO know that Obrother has been running for president long before his two little campaign props were born. He is the most ambitious person I've ever met. For him to call out Hillary Clinton on being ambitious is the height of hypocrisy.
Hillary seriously underestimates the intelligence of the American people. Tell us what you are going to do to move our country in a positive direction and your stance on the issues and we will decide if we think you are up to the task. I think I can safely say most Americans are absolutely fed up with this petty BS which is precisely why Obama is moving ahead. His courage to tell us the TRUTH, and to focus on solving the serious problems that are facing all Americans, is what sets him apart from the tired political machine of yesterday! He has my vote.
Open your eyes and ears....Joe Biden is the smartest and best candiate on either ticket to lead our country.
For all of you who defend H in this scrum,if she's so above the fray and inherently destined to become President, why would her campaign commit such a petty blunder. Holding Obama to an essay he wrote in Kindergarten?? This is about as politically stoopid as it gets.
This isn't just silly, it's disgusting. What Hillary Clinton is basically doing is attacking a little 5 year old African American because he had a dream. This was probably when Martin Luther King was still alive and Hillary was not far from her Goldwater Girl upbringing in comfy Park Ridge, IL.
Hillary needs to apologize. This is beyond low. It's insulting to today's voters. Yes, Hillary Clinton, little boys can have dreams. It doesn't mean that Barack Obama was launching an exploratory presidential committee at the age of 5. He was not planning to run for president back then and this attack is absolutely atrocious.
Obama has repeatedly dissed Clinton for having a long term plan to be president and claimed he did not. He has also repeatedly attacked her honesty. But when the Clinton campaign points out that HE is not being honest, with quotes that clearly show he aimed for the presidency when he was in the Senate, law school, and even elementary school, the media jumps on just the kindergarten essay. Why not at least point out that Obama is not being honest about this issue? Oh right, that doesn't fit the media's storyline about Obama being a different kind of politician, on the high road, etc. Forget about informing the public, playing out silly storylines and mocking people is much more fun. That has really worked well for our country.
There is a big difference between saying "Who knows, I might even run for president some day!" when you feel you are sitting on top of the world as a model law student and deciding to move to New York at the end of your husband's term so you can get a few elections under your belt before you move back into the White House.
So as a little kid he thought he wanted to be president. I kind of doubt he was thinking about it when he was snorting coke in High School. Barack had to clean himself up and get serious about his life. He did it. He moved to a tough neighborhood after law school so he could help other people do the same. Then he got into politics.
Anybody who's running for president has to have an obscene amount of ambition. I don't blame Hillary for that, either. She is tough, and most people would have thrown in the towel after her husband was impeached. While I wouldn't mind seeing Bill give the finger to everybody who tried to throw him out as he's moving back in, I really, really, really would like to see somebody brand-new step into the Oval Office. Somebody who actually has been doing his own dishes in his home within the past five years and knows what it's like to be an American in the middle of this country today.
Blind ambition leads to closing of the ears to the poor, turning a blind eye to creeping fascism, and staying mum on past incorrect desisions when an apology would clear some doubts. Hillary is the epitome of the status quo. Thought Bush was evil? Bill and Hillary together may rank on a slighly lower scale, which is bad for us - the long-suffering peoples of this once respected nation.
Well, Clinton's comments come as no surprise to me in the least. Like a few before stated: Once her numbers started falling she was going to take out her fight'n gloves and stoop to low levels. It's a shame because Hillary IS a very intellengent person, but she's playing the same ol'political game that she's so used to.
As for Obama, though better the Hillary, he is FAR from being our best hope for a better future or better America. He lost me when he stated that we just might have to nuke Iran - he wasn't taking it off the table. Well, perhaps it was said to give the appearance that he is "tough", but I knew at that moment that he was not the candidate for me.
If you want to know who has voted the right way since Bush rolled into D.C. soooooo long ago (has it only been seven years?), take a look at Dennis Kininich's website. The media portrays him like a freak, but he is far, far, far from it. He's one of a select few politicians who was against the war from day one, he has an excellent policy of getting our servicemen/woman out of Iraq, and has a vision for American and the world which revivals JFK! He's the one who has MY vote in the primaries. I certainly won't be voting for Hillary even if she IS the democratic candidate.
I thought Americans used to proud that "every little [read: white] boy [later, much later read: " and girl"] could dream to be president." However unrealistic the notion, it was on the first page of our bragging rights as a country. Why would the Clinton campaign douse the flame of patriotism that burns in the soul of every little boy and girl according to our American mythology? Obama didn't have the right to believe he could be president? What a silly box the Clinton campaign charged into headfirst.
Now we are proud that "every little boy and girl could dream to be a millionaire...than president"?
I'm tired of candidates running against each other instead of against the war, the convenient and endless excuse of the "war on terror" and the policies of this Bush/Cheney criminal administration. Only progressives like Kucinich are facing the hard issues. I'll believe the protestations of Edwards, Dodd, Obama, Biden, and Clinton only when they demand the media give him equal time. Instead, they just pretend he is some hippie in a suit, pleased that they are not the ones being shunned. Just like American leaders compromised integrity to accommodate the inhumanity of slavery for centuries, these democratic candidates are counting on doing the same things differently than Bush...not doing different things.
HILLARY – EXPERIENCED CROOK FOR PRESIDENT
There were so many wonderful achievements: Whitewater, Cattle Futuregate, Travelgate, Gennifer Flowersgate, Filegate, Vince Fostergate, Whitewater Billing Recordsgate, Paula Jonesgate, Federal Building Campaign Phone Callsgate, Lincoln Bedroom Gate, Donations from Convicted Drug and Weapons Dealersgate, Buddhist Templegate, Lippogate, Chinagate, Lewinsky Affair, Perjury and Jobs for Lewinskygate, Willeygate, Web Hubbell Prison Phone Callgate, Selling Military Technology to the Chinesegate, Wag the Doggate, Juanita, Broaddrick Gate, Vandalgate, Lootergate, and Pardongate.
And there is that long list of staff that either committed suicide or were murdered.
Mexico for amnesty, Israel for war against Iran, and China for military secrets need Hillary-Puppet the Neo-Lib Dem; but the America People for their Constitution need Ron Paul the Libertarian.
Nothing like antiClintons reading antiClinton articles and then piling on. If anyone is ambitious it is someone who enters politics by a shoo-in campaign and without making any effort to season himself, runs for president. Hillary Clinton has worked hard for many years. Her experience in politics, no matter what the title, has made her the best candidate along with her intellect and real caring for the american people. Those of you who are looking for change are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. This is the era of the rock stars but they will be forgotten along with their contemporaries. The staying power belongs to the Motzarts, the Shakespears, and the real persons with ability to think.