This Clinton attack on Obama could boomerang

[BeyondGeography]

From The Swamp:

==When a political candidate opens a line of attack against an opponent, it's usually wise to avoid the kind of criticism that will be viewed by many observers as the pot-calling-the-kettle-black, the sort of finger-pointing that can easily be turned back on the finger pointer.

That would seem to be the case with the renewed effort by Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign to dirty up Sen. Barack Obama by accusing him of wanting to be president ever since he was just out of the womb and not being honest about it. The Clinton campaign issued a press release Sunday that included this:


In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said."

In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.’ "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said."

Yes, you can believe your eyes. The Clinton people are citing a kindergarten essay by Obama as evidence against him in a presidential campaign. Good thing he was born before widespread pre-natal ultrasounds. Who knows how they might've used that against him?==

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/12/the_clinton_pot_calls_the_obam.html

[Inuca]

1. I... I.... I... don't know what to say...

ridiculous does not begin to describe it....

[Renew Deal]

2. Ask a classroom full of third graders how many want to be president.

I bet most hands will go up.

[cali]

3. most tone deaf attack. ever. n/t

[ellacott]

4. A comment on one of the sites that reported this said

If they could reach back further they would accuse Obama of kicking his mother when he was in the womb.

[maddiejoan]

5. Apparently Obama can't take a joke.

If anyone thinks this was anything but a glib joke, they need to take a puff on a joint and chill out.

[ellacott]

8. Funny n/t

[Inuca]

10. Joke?!?!

This was not banter. It was in a PRESS RELEASE.

[maddiejoan]

13. You're allowed to make wry observations --

--in a press release.

Do you really think that's a true attack?

Really? You really think that's meant to be anything but a haha moment?

[BeyondGeography]

15. If so, dumb haha

because the media is using it to skewer her.

[maddiejoan]

18. Maybe.

But I'm betting it resonates as true for Obama.

Nobody thinks he just woke up one day as a 45 year old and just decided he'd give the Presidency a shot.

[BeyondGeography]

19. Nobody is going to debate this point, because no one cares

Clinton needs to find a substantive policy argument (and it's not going to be health care; been there, tried that) in order to put him on the defensive and turn the momentum around.

[maddiejoan]

20. How can she argue policy with Obama.

His policies shift in the wind every time he opens his mouth.

[Inuca]

17. What can I say? I hope you are right

because otherwise it is beyond pathetic. We'll see how it plays...

[Tellurian]

6. If Obama is cheating by busing in thousands of people including students...CHEATING to WIN

comes to mind..

[Inuca]

12. Cheating?!?!

Everyting I have seen indicates that it is perfectly legal. Why should he do nothing about the disadvantage that he was handed when the caucus date was changed? Not that ratioal arguments seem to have any effect on your obnoxous posts....

[Tellurian]

24. Uncover your ears...I said, "He's cheating.. by abusing the Law!"

[Scriptor Ignotus]

28. abusing the law

by doing everything legally. gotcha.

[Inuca]

37. Thanks for the concern for my ears

Check the meaning of CHEATING in a dictionary.

[GreenArrow]

7. from the Onion, right?

Make way for John Edwards.

[Tellurian]

9. Nope, msnbc has a blurb...This is just the beginning..

They are calling it the "ILLINOIS CAUCUS"

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/03/493315.aspx

[GreenArrow]

11. I knew it wasn't from the Onion;

I just thought the Clinton campaign would have better sense.

[LeFleur1]

14. Why?

Re: What I Want to Be When I Grow Up.
This just proves that the candidates should fire those damn fools who run their campaigns. Then they should stand and deliver their messages to the people. Stop this stupid type of campaigning. If they really knew what people think, they wouldn't do this kind of ridiculous nonsense. It makes them look like morans. :)

[Inuca]

16. No, THEY are not calling it anything

they just refer to the title of the Yepsen article. On the other the blurb also says

Didn't Paul Simon, Dick Gephardt, and Walter Mondale all have similar efforts in '84 and '88? All three were from adjacent states. That said, this piece is going to grow in legend. This is the type of stuff the Clinton-supporting blogs will run wild with

Which is exactly what you are doing, the "running wild" part.

[TwilightGardener]

21. He wrote an essay, in a new foreign language, in kindergarten. Wow.

[Alamom]

22. Harvard Classmates knew it. (over the age of 6)

And then there's ambition -- a given in any presidential candidate, but worth pointing out because Obama works hard to dispel the image of having sought his superstar status. "It's not about me, it's about you," he likes to tell his crowds. But according to those who know him, he has been talking about the presidency for more than a decade. "It was clear to me from the day I met him that he was thinking about politics," says Harvard Law School classmate Christine Spurell.


"There's a central conundrum about him," says another Harvard classmate, Brad Berenson. "On the one hand, he's this laid-back guy from Hawaii. On the other hand, he's vaulted himself into the race for president of the United States. And that doesn't happen by accident."




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080802038_pf.html

[Tellurian]

23. Obama's Harvard classmate's know he does this with guile and premeditation..

[Usrename]

26. ROFLMAO!

Can't stop laughing..

[JackORoses]

30. are you Hillarites seriously criticizing Obama for being ambitious?

Your Queen is one of the most ambitious people on the planet.

She literally molded a man into a President to use him as a pole vault for her own candidacy.

Talk about lust for power....

[sufrommich]

31. Obama is being criticized for being a hypocrite.

"She literally molded a man into a President to use him as a pole vault for her own candidacy."

What,exactly,is the point of just making shit like this up?

[JackORoses]

35. i guess you aren't familiar with the 20 year plan

the Clintons are more of a Political Partnership than a marriage

[sufrommich]

36. And you know the ins and outs of their marriage

how,exactly?

"the Clintons are more of a Political Partnership than a marriage".

[ellisonz]

33. ...

:rofl:

[killbotfactory]

25. There she goes, folks

jumping the shark.

[Mythsaje]

27. That's impressive...

He wrote an essay back in 3rd Grade and, despite all the handicaps a black man has in this country, managed to get within shooting range? Good for him.

And shame on those who'd try to use it to condemn him.

[hisownpetard]

29. Woo-hoo!

[rinsd]

32. What a shock, Obama is an ambitious politician.

It would be nice if he didn't pretend otherwise.

Same with Edwards who acts like he heard some religious call.

[Sandaasu]

34. I'm liking Obama more after hearing of this, myself.

I'd rather have someone as president who has been dreaming of it since he was a child, with the right kind of idea of what he should be doing in that role planted in him from that early age, rather than someone who decided to do it alter in life, more likely for personal gain.

[Carrieyazel]

38. It will boomerang. She does not win with a strategy like this.

Her "I'm inevitable" strategy is failing, and this is her only alternative. She can't realistically run as the change candidate, the candidate with bold, concise ideas etc., so this is it.