Old Lessons For Obama

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802467.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Old Lessons For Obama

By Colbert I. King
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page A15


In this year's contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama has been taken to school by Hillary Clinton and the Republican right wing. The New York senator and her GOP allies are giving him lessons in politics' dark side. Whether he's learning anything remains to be seen.

Obama's experience, however, should be instructive for young people drawn to politics by his candidacy, especially those thinking of following in his footsteps.

Consider what Hillary & Co. have taught thus far:

Lesson One: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

snip//

Granted, Hillary Clinton has philosophical differences with the putative Republican presidential nominee, John McCain; far-right-wingers Pat Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh; and the conservative talking heads on Fox TV. But they and Clinton have a common enemy: Obama. Their allegiance to the goal of bringing him down makes them compatriots.

To discredit Obama, Clinton plugs McCain's commander-in-chief qualifications.

She and McCain, working from similar talking points, do a tag-team number on Obama, labeling the Democratic Party front-runner "out of touch" and "elitist."

Buchanan, who proclaims that "reverse discrimination is pandemic," goes into overtime branding Obama as a left-wing zealot while praising Clinton as a paragon of Middle American virtues.

Clinton benefited from the intervention of Limbaugh, who urged Republicans in Ohio and Texas to vote for her. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton turns up on Limbaugh's show on the day of the Texas primary (he was interviewed by a guest host) to plug his wife's candidacy to Limbaugh's vast conservative audience. The Clinton-right-wing friendship is one of the most arresting developments of the campaign.

Reminder, young hopefuls: There's no telling what some folks will do to get ahead.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802467.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[NJmaverick]

1. This one line is so true and so disgustin

<<The New York senator and her GOP allies are giving him lessons in politics' dark side. >>

[madrchsod]

2. david axlerod...need i say more?