http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/01/bickering-is-hillary-clintons.htmlBickering is Hillary Clinton's Friend
By David Corn | January 22, 2008 5:02 PM
The conventional take is that neither Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton came out well during Monday night's joint-slam of a debate. And on Tuesday, the cat-fight continued, with HRC belittling Obama and claiming he "was looking for a fight" because of his recent primary losses. As he did on Monday night, John Edwards called on the leading contenders to knock it off.
Bicker, bicker, bicker. It does make the face-off between Obama and Clinton look petty. And that is to Clinton's advantage.
She's once again in the lead. In New Hampshire and Nevada, she beat back Obama's politics of hope. Trench warfare has served her well. As I noted recently, Obama's challenge is to bond with voters in the upcoming primaries and to connect them to his unconventional and transformative brand of politics. It's one helluva tough assignment--especially given the size of the playing field for Supersaturated Tuesday on February 5. Clinton merely has to succeed in her conventional task: selling herself as the better-qualified candidate. If Obama gets tied up in schoolyard-style back-and-forth with Clinton, he will become bogged down. He will not soar. He needs to. She does not.
On Sunday, Obama delivered a triumphant speech at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta. (Watch it here; read it here.) Forget the budget deficit or the trade deficit, he said, the nation has a "a moral deficit...an empathy deficit." He explained; "I'm talking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brothers keeper; we are our sister's keep; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny."
He defended the importance of inspiring rhetoric:
That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words--words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner.
He led with words, but he also led with deeds. He also led by example. He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.
It was Obama at his best. And it was the sort of material upon which he should be judged as a presidential candidate--far more important than the nanny-nah-nah exchanges between him and Clinton.
So if Clinton can keep Obama engaged in spitball-slinging, she will be doing herself a favor. He is the candidate who needs the space to make an unconventional case. Clutter is her friend. A mudwrestle helps her, not him. Don't be surprised if the Clinton camp keeps squabbling alive.