Clarion Content

Hillary Clinton's victories in the Democratic primaries this week, convincingly in Ohio and by a nose in Texas, all but assured John McCain the presidency. The Clarion makes this bold statement with an eye to what is going to happen in the coming weeks. We have already seen hints of it in the last few days. Negative campaigning will dominate. Claws have been bared.

The Clinton camp is a by any means necessary group of warriors. Early this week, Clinton's people were talking about finding a way to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan even though, no other candidates campaigned there and the Democratic party chairman said it absolutely cannot happen.

Whatever it takes to win, it will be done, because the Clintons have longed believed that the outcome is far more important than the means. H. Clinton demonstrated this time and time again in her days in the White House. What did it matter if policy goals were accomplished? These modus operandi have resurfaced this week. Clinton has once again taken the gloves off. Go on the attack is the mantra. Damn the facts, full speed ahead.

She and Bill tried this strategy once already this presidential primary season in South Carolina. It backfired horribly. Bill accused Obama of being a token candidate, another "Jesse Jackson." Bill claimed that he was really the first black president. He derided Obama's visionary rhetoric. In South Carolina, this strategy was an utter failure and produced a massive backlash that got Clinton trounced. However, the demographics in South Carolina were different. A heavily black electorate, said with their votes, "Oh no. We will stand for no such demeaning and degrading politics. We have been there and done that, thank you, no."

Sadly the lesson in Ohio and Texas this week was that the rest of the country is much more ready and open to the politics of attack. Leading into those primaries Clinton was running negative ads portraying Obama as weak on national security, asking who will answer the "hotline" phone in the middle of the night if it rings. Typical of these kinds of campaign ads, there is little to no connection to reality. This ad conjures Soviet Era Cold War themes and fears, but the Soviet Union is no more and the Cold War is over.

Hillary Clinton had a crucial national security test and cravenly caved to the will of George Bush the II. She voted for Iraq and has spent years rationalizing why she doesn't have to apologize for said vote. (Incidentally why did she vote for Iraq? Because, like her husband, she is a poll driven creature with few core values other than whatever it takes and just win. The polls said the American people favored Iraq so Hillary Clinton favored Iraq, as that position has shifted, so has her position.)

Now Obama's people are raising the spectre of Whitewater as his campaign, lesson learned, starts to go negative for the first time. His attacks are quickly building, accusing Hillary Clinton of a McCain-esque foreign policy. One of Obama's aids, responding to a Team Clinton comparison of Obama and Ken Starr, referred to Clinton as a monster to a Scottish newspaper. This aide is now resigning.

Nobody will benefit more from the two leading Democratic candidates attacking each other than McCain. He can remain above the fray, portray himself as a statesmen, all the while his opponents perceived weaknesses are being debated by the American electorate.

Labels: 2008's President, Politics