Even more "old politics" from Barack

An article/post in The Boston Globe by Foon Rhee entitled "Obama goes on offensive" tells us of the latest "offensive" by Barack in his new-found passion for ultra-negative "old politics." Instead of trying to convince us of how he will be a great leader for America, he focuses on trying to tear down his opponent. The article/post tells us that "Barack Obama's campaign, after a week of largely playing defense over his spiritual mentor's sermons, is going on the offense with a vengeance this morning with a memo accusing Hillary Clinton of "a history of misleading voters."" In all honesty, Hillary has been in the public eye for sixteen years now. For Barack to claim that the American public doesn't know very much about her and need to be reminded by him is quite an insult to the American public.

The simple fact is that Hillary has tackled a lot of controversial issues, many of which involve a lot of nuance and compromise. In a country split 50/50 on many issues, compromise and nuance are essential. Some people see only the negative side of that willingness to compromise, but the simple truth is that is what governing a divided house is all about. If Barack sincerely believes that all of America and all of Washington is suddenly going to toe his line, and maybe he does believe that, then he is going to have a lot of disappointment in his future.

Hillary has done an exemplary job of trying to bridge the many divides in America. Certainly not perfect, but certainly a lot better than Barack, his campaign, and his supporters (his cult) would lead you to believe.

An article on ABC News entitled "Obama Campaign Claims Clinton Has 'Character Gap' - Campaign Promising 'New Politics' Assails Rival as Untrustworthy, Duplicitous" also highlights the extreme negative turn that Barack's campaign has taken, telling us that he "Assails Rival" and that "The campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., delivered one of its harshest, most negative attacks yet today, asserting that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is lacking in character and regularly misleads voters."

The article quotes Barack's campaign manager as saying "The central assertions in her candidacy have proven to be false." That of course is not a credible statement in any way. And if that is what Barack really believes, then that is a very black mark on his own character.

Where is his "new politics", or is this it? I thought that by new he meant better, rather than an intensification of "old politics." All of this extreme tone of negativity and hostility from his campaign is unlikely to increase his own standing in the eyes of the public. It is as if he has suddenly decided that he is out to make Newt Gingrich look calm, reflective, and mild-mannered.

Trying to put Hillary on the defensive and make here look like the victim, will ultimately only help Hillary and hurt Barack.

If I could give only one simple, positive piece of advice to Barack it would be that he should be very careful not to raise anything from Hillary's past, for the simple reason that the majority of the public has already seen and heard it all before and would prefer not to hear about it all again and much more likely to let it just go in one ear and out the other (and the same goes for the media), and most importantly, she has the sharpened political skills to take anything that he brings up against her and turn it around and turn it into a positive to use against him. Yeah, she also has the history and ability to go negative against him when cornered, but it is her skill at building her past into a positive that is the most risky to Barack.

In short, Barack, go back! Go back to being positive and filled with hope and willingness to change things for the better. Maybe you won't win the presidency, but at least you will retain whatever sense of integrity and dignity you still have. And, in truth, that may be the only way for him to win. Giving up on a playbook that was working simply does not seem like a very good move.

Pointing out Hillary's mistakes and character flaws only makes her more human (and hence appealing), and gives her a great opening to spin them in a positive way.

-- Jack Krupansky