Shortly before the Super Tuesday primaries, The New York Times endorsed the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton. Now, less than two months later, the same paper has published an editorial by Jeffery Rosen in favor of Sen. Barack Obama and his support of civil liberties.
In addition to getting help from news organizations and poll results, Clinton seems resigned to aiding Obama as well. Her recent TV ad, which is a blatant attack at Obama's experience, appeals to people's emotions instead of their reason.
A narrator in Clinton's ad says, "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing...your vote will decide who answers that call. Whether it's someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world...who do you want answering the phone?"
The obvious fear-mongering shouldn't affect voters. So far, Obama has taken the wiser stances: against the Iraq War and in favor of foreign policy realism over preemption. What's more, voters should know that Clinton doesn't have the foreign policy experience to protect "your children."
When Slate reporter John Dikerson asked about the critical moment in Clinton's foreign policy career on a conference call, one of Clinton's chief strategists, Mark Penn, responded, "I think that, A, she says she has been tested...throughout her life in so many matters. I think that she...has the experience and the strength that people see through her work on the armed services committee and her work on...military matters."
Another Clinton strategist, Lee Feinstein, responded to the Dickerson question by saying that Clinton had won the support of 27 flag officers of the armed services.
Apparently, even Clinton's staffers know that the defining moment isn't there in her "35-year" career. It's barely there in her eight-year career in the Senate, where she has been weak through and through.
Portraying her mistakes as positive experience is hardly a good strategy. Hillary Clinton is not the one you want answering the phone in the middle of the night. Six years after she makes a decision, she'll know it was a mistake.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
