Clinton, Obama Lash Out
Campaigns Heat Up in Race to Clench Democratic Nomination in US
Still neck-and-neck, Clinton and Obama get fierce with personal politics. But is this the right attack? Obama should start acting like the president he wants to become.
It’s back to cat-and-dog fighting politics in the U.S. Democratic primary elections. Since Barack Obama’s winning streak was halted Tuesday by Hillary Clinton’s victories in Texas and Ohio, his campaign is stepping up the ante against the New York Senator.
In the week before the Texas and Ohio primaries, the Clinton campaign launched a barrage of attacks on Obama, questioning his ability to become the next commander-in-chief and leader of the country’s faltering economy. She even launched a television ad to this affect, with an anonymous narrator implying Obama was not “tested” enough to be trusted to protect the sleeping children depicted in the ad from lurking American enemies. And it seems to have worked: Clinton won over voters who did not make up their minds until three days before the primaries.
So now Obama has promised to return the favor, attacking Clinton’s foreign policy and transparency, even demanding that she release her personal tax returns. Clinton’s aides have responded with allegations that Obama is another Kenneth Starr, the prosecutor who in 1998 launched the investigation of former President Bill Clinton – Hillary’s husband – that led to his impeachment for perjury regarding his involvement with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obama’s aides retort that such accusations are “absurd.”
And so it goes on and on…
But rather than getting sucked into the never-ending mud-slinging war that the Clinton campaign has embodied, Obama should resist personal politics. When Clinton questions his ability to lead the country and its economy – a fair question, given his relative lack of experience – he should answer her calls. It’s no secret that the two candidates’ policies share several similarities. But where they do differ, Obama frequently shows greater economic savvy. It is Obama who has outlined a more inclusive tax plan, creating a Universal Mortgage Credit that would benefit low-income households that don’t itemize taxes and a “Making Work Pay” tax cut that would effectively eliminate income tax for an estimated 10 million Americans. During a time when the housing market crash is evolving into a full-blown recession, a tax plan that stimulates consumer spending is much needed.
And it’s Obama who addresses the need to reform the 2005 Bankruptcy Act, highlighting the need to allow families to renegotiate the terms of loans for houses under bankruptcy, reimburse people who were forced to file bankruptcy because of medical expenses and protect pensions under bankrupt companies.
Obama has proven he does not need years and years on Capitol Hill to understand the needs of Americans or to create policies to address those needs. And he doesn’t need to attack Clinton to beat her. This is a race determined by arithmetic, and Obama has a solid lead over Clinton regarding primary delegates. Despite her victories in Texas and Ohio and likely victory in Pennsylvania, she is still at the disadvantage; even if Clinton wins every remaining primary election by 10 points, Obama will still be more than 80 delegates ahead of her.
Primary delegates are not enough to earn either candidate the 2,025 simple majority needed to clench the nomination. The trick now, then, is to win the votes of the 796 superdelegates. Polls show that two thirds of Americans believe that superdelegates should vote for the candidate with the popular support. But who has the popular support? If Obama wants to come out on top, he needs to fight Clinton with attacks on her policies, not her tax returns. He needs to start demonstrating the change he has been preaching by acting like a different kind of President of the United States.
