Obama, Clinton & GOP Attack Machine-By Robert Parry

[kpete]

Obama, Clinton & GOP Attack Machine

By Robert Parry
February 2, 2008


Barack Obama argues that the Democrats will have a better chance for victory in November if they have a presidential nominee who opposed the Iraq War from the start and who can contrast that judgment against John McCain’s enthusiasm for a centuries-long U.S. occupation of Iraq.

What Sen. Obama didn’t say out loud, but what Democratic voters surely recalled was the endless baiting of John Kerry for having been “for the war before he was against it,” earning a place – as George W. Bush put it – “in the flip-flop hall of fame.”

Hillary Clinton would be open to similar attacks since she voted in 2002 to give Bush the authority to invade Iraq and remained a staunch war supporter almost until the eve of Campaign 2008, when she realigned herself with the anti-war sentiments of rank-and-file Democrats.

She was for it, for it and for it – before she was finally against it.

But another factor that plays to Obama’s advantage as the prospective nominee – when compared to Hillary Clinton – is that the Right’s powerful media apparatus and the Republican attack strategies appear less successful against Democrats with strong oratorical skills and the ability to inspire enthusiasm and passion.

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Today, that eloquence edge clearly goes to Barack Obama, who has demonstrated the capacity to excite and uplift voters, even drawing comparisons with the brilliant oratory of John F. Kennedy.

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more at:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/020208.html

[Rageneau]

1. It's so sad, but Bob Parry has become a Clinton-hater.

This article doesn't show it so much, but his other recent writings do. The other day he made the common but absurd charge that the Clintons are liars. (I say 'absurd' because, despite how frequently the Clintons are accused of lying, no one to my knowledge has ever identified a single, undoubtable lie that either of them have told.)

Parry accused Bill, especially, of lying, but cited no examples of it. In truth, what he is really furious with Big Dog for is not following up and prosecuting all the many crimes of the Reagan-Bush years. Parry uncovered some of the biggest of these scandals and lost his journalism career trying to tell the truth about them. He thought Clinton would finally bring them to justice. But Clinton, pragmatist to a FAULT, decided not to start any fights with the wingnuts, in hopes of making government work. He left them alone so that they would leave hiom alone.

That's the one place wher I think Bill Clinton was being a complete idiot.