The Power Of Clinton, The Invisibility Of Obama - Howard Fineman

[onehandle]

LOUISVILLE -- I see that Dr. Rand Paul has taken out after Bill Clinton, dredging up Monica Lewinsky. And I know why Paul did so. The former president was here in Kentucky yesterday and in this state, as in many others, he is a far more potent and popular foe than President Barack Obama.

On my first day working for The Huffington Post, I came back to Kentucky, where I began my career many years ago at the Courier-Journal. The people who run the University of Louisville Kentucky Author Forum wanted me to do an on-stage interview with a certain best-selling author who is also my new boss: Arianna Huffington. It was a tricky mix of professional incest and personal nostalgia, but the event worked out well and I also got a chance to play Kentucky reporter once again out in the state. I raced over to Lexington and here is the ground-level, outside-the-Beltway reality I witnessed: Like Voldemort's, Obama's is a name no one dares utter -- and that includes Clinton speaking to Democrats.

At a sunny, noontime rally on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington yesterday, the former president made a stirring, well-argued case for Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway and for Democrats generally -- without once mentioning Obama and rarely mentioning the presidency. It was as though we suddenly had only two branches of government. To be fair, almost no one else at the one-hour rally mentioned the sitting president. And Kentucky is staunch Republican territory. "We're farther ahead in the generic ballot here than ever," GOP Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told me yesterday. "President Obama was never popular here, even at his peak."

Still, the eerie invisibility of the president is a telling commentary on the Democrats' confused, divided and defensive predicament as they brace for the verdict of the voters on Election Day, Nov. 2. There was something odd -- and, if you're a Democrat, depressing -- about a former Democratic president avoiding any mention of his Democratic successor. Clinton sincerely wants to help out on the trail -- and certainly wants to avoid the accusation that he didn't try to help. But his travels have turned into a personal victory lap that often makes him -- not the candidate he's touting -- the center of attention. That was true here in Kentucky. The rally's mechanics were mostly handled by the Secret Service; more to the point, the final (and therefore top-billed) speaker wasn't Conway. It was Clinton. The Conway people didn't mind. They were glad to have him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/12/post_548_n_759798.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Erm...it IS Kentucky. As I've said before, Clinton nostalgia is due to the fact

that he is a white southerner.

[bigdarryl]

2. Fineman your an idiot they ALWAYS hated Obama it has nothing to do with the party

there just plain racist in that state.

[impik]

3. Wow, the invisibility of a black man in Kentucky!!!

Shocking!!!!

[Mass]

4. In KY, may be. Not in general.

A state which elected McConnell, Bunning, and may elect Paul! It tells you a lot about whether it matters.

[WI_DEM]

5. Well, KY has never been an Obama state, so not so surprising. These pundits

sometimes don't understand even the most simple things. Obama has been and will be on the road for dems for much of this month--he had large rallies in WI and PA with one coming up in OH. He will be to FL, MA, RI, MN, WA, CA, OR and NV in the next couple of weeks.

[flpoljunkie]

12. I do believe that Obama won the vote in both Louisville and Lexington.

[vaberella]

6. Whatever...did Fineman forget Obama's calendar of events.

Not to mention is Obama to address every single one of the candidates that are trying to hold a seat. Like the man isn't President---there's a country to run domestically and there are issues internationally.

[flamingdem]

7. Exactly, invisible my hiney! Grrr. nt

[suzie]

8. "But his travels have turned into a personal victory lap that often makes him -- not the candidate"

not the candidate he's touting -- the center of attention."

Isn't that always the point with Bill Clinton? I don't seem to recall that he had anything resembling coattails in electing other Democrats to office during his Presidency.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

9. "The Invisibility Of Obama," Fineman? Really? Every time this man talks or has a rally,

his approval numbers go up!

Clinton in Kentucky? Those voters were NEVER Obama voters. Not in the Dem primaries. Not in the general.

These so-called fucking pundits have no idea what they're talking about. I can't decide who's worse: Halperin or Fineman. They both fucking suck and have absolutely NO clue!!!

[AtomicKitten]

10. Genius I tells ya!

You are absolutely right.

:hi:

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

15. I tried to tell my father this, who coincidentially watches Tweety and Morning Hoe!

Both men obsessed with why Obama cannot relate to "working class whites." I had to remind my father that Obama could paint his skin white, straighten his hair, become a Republican and they would STILL hate him. He never had these voters. They were/are Hillary-McCain voters. I nearly threw up when Terry "McAwful" appeared on Morning Joe begging Obama to be like Bill Clinton or even Glenn Beck. Why? We all know that Obama cannot do that. Are these people that freakin' naive or willfully ignorant?

[AtomicKitten]

17. The free-flowing free advice from the peanut section seems more willfully ignorant,

but maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

I would guess most Americans don't want a good 'ol boy for president, unfortunately that doesn't seem to correlate with easing up on the "elitist" line of criticism.

[CakeGrrl]

11. What idiotic commentary

Fineman must be out of the loop on these rallies and town halls being held...you know, like in Wisconsin and stuff like that. The ones that the MSM does notice long enough to spin as the President struggling to motivate people.

Idiot.

:eyes:

[sallyseven]

14. Fineman is getting on my nerves

Shut the f up you idiot.

[SunsetDreams]

13. Kentucky? Power=Clinton, Obama=Invisible BWHAHAHAHAHA

What a trumped up article, Fineman

[jillan]

16. Why is Fineman asking Mitch McTurtle about Obama's popularity in KY, and then publishing the

turtle's response???

Hey Fineman - I don't give a crap what McConnell says about anything!

[CakeGrrl]

18. Maybe it's Fineman's contribution to "Operation Re-Hash the 2008 Primary"

Between this and the VP speculation, it sounds like someone wants to play a little divide and conquer...

[Beacool]

19. Halperin, Fineman............

:popcorn: