Obama Goes for the Kill in Pennsylvania, Negatively
PHILADELPHIA—Barack Obama’s final push through Pennsylvania has shown the combative, angry side of a candidate and campaign that had once been defined by its good cheer and condemnation of negative tactics. Despite the trappings of cheeriness—old-timey whistle-stop train tour, frequent professions of “love” for supporters—Obama’s closing argument was a distinctly negative one, designed to give the state’s significant percentage of undecided voters an uneasy feeling about Clinton, who is the Tuesday primary’s favorite, and to start laying the groundwork for his criticism of Republican nominee John McCain.
At a number of well-attended public appearances, Obama depicted Clinton as a divisive, disingenuous Democratic agent of the Republican attack machine—a dishonest politician willing, in her desperation, to take the party down with her.
And while Obama characterized his criticisms as reasons to reject Clinton’s negative politics, he displayed an unmistakably negative edge of his own, most notably when his campaign held a conference call with Bosnia veterans that questioned Clinton’s fitness to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
It all started innocently enough.
On Saturday morning, in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, yellow tape, secret service agents and metal detectors cordoned off the steps leading down to track 10, where Obama met the “Georgia 300,” a royal blue 1930 railcar covered in bunting and signs that said “On Track For Change.”
"Let's get on this train," said Obama. Inside there was a bed to sleep in, a wooden dresser, a small conference room, and room with flowers and a double sink. The kitchen had a stove and microwave and oil and vinegar on the shelves. Obama greeted Amtrak workers and pointed amicably at the press before they were sent unceremoniously down to the opposite car, a regular Amtrak train. He shouted to some Pittsburgh-bound day trippers waiting across the track. "Tell everyone there I said hello" and pulled the train’s whistle and exclaimed, "That is too much fun."
Throughout the day, Obama projected a sunny disposition as he campaigned in rolled-up sleeves and slacks. In Wynnewood, Mr. Obama’s first stop, the train pulled in to the lazy, carefree lyrics of Will Smith’s “Summertime” and a cheering crowd greeted the candidate with his face on their t-shirts and his name on their stickers.
Then he started talking about his opponent.
He said that she was “throwing everything at me and seeing if something sticks,” and then: “She’s taken different positions at different times on issues as fundamental as trade, or even the war, to suit the politics of the moment. And when she gets caught at it, the notion is, well, you know what, that’s just politics.”
One woman in the crowd, Lisa Barsky, 55, a psychologist from nearby Bala Cynwyd described herself as a “shifter” who had moved her support from Clinton to Obama because she considered him a greater unifying force. Still, she was a little put off by his attacks.
“I wish he wouldn’t,” she said. “He can be strong. But you don’t have to get down to somebody’s level -- you don’t have to get into the fistfight.”
Obama got back on the train car. The whistle blew and the crowd cheered. Along the track, as the train slowly rolled by, farmers waved and smiled and he smiled back.
But Obama was only getting warmed up. His attacks on Clinton sharpened.
“Her basic argument is that the slash-and burn, say-anything, do-anything, special-interest-driven politics is how it works,” he said, speaking in front of a small train station with a rusted roof. “And so she has taken more money than any other candidate, Democrat or Republican combined. She also believes that the nature of politics is that you say what the people want to hear. So maybe you say something about trade when you are campaigning with your husband eight, ten, 12 years ago and you say something different now that you are out campaigning in Ohio, Pennsylvania. Maybe you say one thing about the war when it looks like the war is popular and maybe you say something else about the war when it gets to be unpopular.”
“What’s happened is,” he continued, “Senator Clinton has internalized a lot of the strategies and tactics that have made Washington such a miserable place, where all we do is bicker and all we do is fight.”
After Obama finished speaking and signing books, Belinda Chambers, a 48-year-old information technology worker from Berwyn, angled her iPhone for a shot at the candidate as he made his way back to the train. She said she didn’t begrudge Obama for his sharper approach.
“I don’t know how he could survive in Washington without some of their tactics,” she said.
The Obama campaign says the nastier tack is a necessary one. According to one staffer, speaking on background, Obama needed to make clear the distinction between the candidates and hit Clinton on what the Obama campaign perceives as her greatest vulnerability: trustworthiness. Likewise, according to the staffer, a conference call with Bosnia veterans held by the Obama campaign was intended to raise the question of her credibility by “keeping in the bloodstream” her embarrassingly inaccurate portrayal of a 1996 visit to Bosnia, which she said had taken place under sniper fire.
(During the conference call, one veteran, Walter Stewart, argued that Clinton would not be fit as president to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, because that soldier might have been killed by sniper fire. Stewart said that the point was valid because it constituted “a point of honor.” Under pressure from the Clinton campaign, the Obama campaign eventually distanced itself from the comments.)
In Downington, Obama again called into question Clinton’s credibility. And later, in Lancaster, -- where Obama spoke in front of thousands of people overlooked by rooftop snipers surveying the crowd with binoculars – he said, “Senator Clinton is an intelligent person,” before going on to detail her lesser qualities. He concluded “I’m not interested in mimicking what the Republicans did to the Clintons for 20 years.”
The reaction was mixed.
“A couple of times I said to myself, ‘That’s not true,’” Jill Carney, 51, an undecided Democrat and college teacher from Lancaster, said of Obama’s comments about Clinton and her policies. Asked what effect his more pointed comments had, she responded, “It makes me go the other way.”
The candidate finished the day under the green-tiled dome of the Harrisburg statehouse, surrounded by thousands of onlookers, one of whom held a sign reading “Obama Will Fix Everything.”
“I don’t mind the silly-season politics,” Obama said at a certain point. He argued that the difference between his campaign and Clinton’s was, “We are not trying to feed people cynicism.”
On Sunday, as a high school gym full of Pennsylvanians waited for him to speak in Reading, one undecided voter, Vicky Achenbach, a 27-year-old grad student, said the sniping was inevitable but she hoped Obama wouldn’t go negative. “It’s a shame if he has to go there. I’m sure there’s a lot of other things he could say.”
Obama did have a lot to say. And so did the crowd.
“This is a feisty crowd -- what did y’all eat this morning?” Obama asked.
The crowd was particularly responsive to Obama’s sharp criticisms of John McCain and Hillary Clinton.
“We cannot afford a third George Bush term, and that is what John McCain is offering, a third Bush term,” said Obama. As he has done all weekend, he raced through McCain’s military service by saying “I respect John McCain, he is a real American hero,” but then proceeded to attack the Arizona senator for his position on the war in Iraq.
Eventually, he moved onto an extended criticism of Clinton.
“Senator Clinton is a smart person, she is a hard working person she is a tenacious person,” Obama said, echoing Marc Anthony’s “Brutus is an honorable man,” speech. (Obama ignored the guy in the back of the gym who called out “She lies.”)
“I think we have to change the tone of our politics,” Obama said, in the middle of his rant on Clinton. He added, “Our campaign’s not perfect. You get elbowed enough, eventually, you start throwing some elbows back.”
Achenbach, the grad student who was wary of the negative attacks before Obama spoke, apparently didn’t hear any.
“People need to know where she stands compared to where he stands,” she said after Obama’s speech. “And he did that.”
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 46.0
- 45.2
- Obama +0.8
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 55.8
- 35.8
- +20.0
- McCain
- 54.8
- 36.6
- +18.2
Why is Obama negative when he says something about Hillary. She is the one who has worked to improve her image for 20 years.Why? She is the one found untrustworthy and who has lied to us. How does one say something about her and not be accused of being negative. That is the Clinton machine at work. Attack your opponent. Make him look like the bad guy. With HIllary what you see is not what you get. She is willing to do and say anything to get elected and this is her last chance. She underestimated Obama. Don't underestimate her. For the good of our country, vote Obama. We do not need someone in the White HOuse we cannot trust or who will say or do anything and then say or do anything to look good. And the besides that we have Bill, her sidekick who also does the same thing. Usually they succeed to our detriment. Don't let them this time.
The funniest -- or saddest -- part is that this is nothing new. He's been doing this from the beginning -- at least from the Oct. MSNBC debate. But's it's only now getting noticed. He has the particular talent of launching a negative attack in the very same sentence in which he denounces negative attacks. He was right last week when he said he's "a pretty darn good politician." Only an old-style politician could get away with what he has.
General comment: criticism is allright; after all, that is what makes the world a better place in the end. But what's with the caps? People, lay off the caps, or you come off as hysterical shouters, slightly unhinged -- and no one will listen.
This so-called "negativity" on the part of Obama is quite mild compared with Bill Clinton implying Obama doesn't love America--in his "There are two candidates in this race who love this country," referring to McCain and Hillary. It is quite mild compared to Hillary saying she and McCain has passed some illusory "commander-in-chief" test, but maybe Obama hasn't. The Clinton campaign has been running on slime since before the Ohio and Texas primaries. What Obama is doing is not slime.
I only hope the American people can see through what Obama is saying and vote to protect our values. Republicans worried me at one time but never too the degree that this man worries me. Please Americans remember our values when you go to vote.
Barack Obama said he don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists. However, in fact, he took a lot of money from the spouses of lobbyists, according to CNN's fact check.
hey "Anonymous" get a life...you sound as shrill as your candidate...if you're representatve of HRC's supporters it's apparant why she's losing an nomination that was hers for the taking...if she runs a Presidency as poorly as she's run a campaign she'd be a worse president than GWB!
Sorry, but a possibly racist code phrase like "our values" makes my skin crawl. Why not come out and say what those values are? I doubt many enlightened folks would share them.
I do not see that Obama said anything not true and I am a Republican. The Clinton's have lied and cheated America for decades. You need to look no further than Arkansas during the Clinton years. The CIA and FBI were well aware that the Mena airport in Arkansas was a hub of Cocaine trade in the 80's when Bill Clinton was running the state.
Sure we think Clinton came out of nowhere. Bill was well connected with the drug trade, CIA and the Bushes during those years. Do you think him and George Sr's friendship is a newly forged relationship. Heck no they were involved in Iran Contra long before that. The Cocaine flowed in through Arkansas and the Clinton's became rich and famous.
Don't believe that. Well just go to google.com and type in Clinton cocaine Mena in the search line. You will get thousands of hits describing what the Clinton's did during the early years. The CIA and others in the know actually called Arkansas little Columbia during those years that Bill and Hilary ran the state.
The Clinton's have run their charges, Arkansas and USA, like the Mafia. They raised illegal money via drug trade and other, lied to get their way in all cases and have had anywhere from 60-95 friends and associates that have died via suicide, murder or many plane crashes. Strange but true. This is not conspiracy stuff this is the truth. Conspiracy is more like what the Clinton's tell us as their words are often not the truth.
Obama said nothing but the truth when he said they say what is needed to get elected. In other works they LIE LIE A RUG and you can take that to the bank.
I may vote for Obama this year as his ideas regarding PEACE is much better. Remember what keeps us separated from our fellow man. It's our govenrments and our religions. Take away those two factors and we are at world PEACE. Think about it.
Wake up everybody ... who cares about all this stupid
he said this ... and she did this ..
All I care about what is good for us Americans!
And times were for sure good during the Clinton
presidency. So why not get Hillary and with her Bill??
Vote in your pocket people and not with your emotions!
Why can't Obama defend himself? Hillary has done everything in her power to be negative and in every way raise doubts, however she is the dirty politician and it's Obama's turn to defend himself. Ridiculous column...totally ridiculous
Susan perhaps you should explore Hannity's documented links with a white supremacist Hal Turner before quoting Hannity as a source for unbiased news...Turner has openly called for Obama's death (because he's black)...Turner himself has confirmed his links to Hannity before Shawn got famous....
Did someone actually recommend sending something to foxnews. Hahaha.. It's a news channel for idiots who have no opinion of their own
What has been lost in all of the dust up about Pennsylvania is an important fact: This primary doesn't matter. It isn't crucial.
The realities of the race won't change whether Hillary wins by 1 vote or by 250,000 votes. She needs delegates to win this thing, and right now she is behind by 140-150.
At best, she gets maybe 15-20 of those tomorrow night, most of which Obama will easily erase by winning NC with its black vote. Hillary's campaign has effectively ended. Bubba is in for his legacy. She is in for the 5% chance Obama slips up.
It doesn't matter if Obama loses a debate. It doesn't matter if Hillary wins the 'popular vote'. It doesn't matter if she goes to the convention. Or if Michigan and Florida are 'disenfranchised'(PROTIP: They violated the rules they themselves helped adopt and did so after multiple warnings as a political power play by their governors)
Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee unless Hillary gets at least 230 of the 320 remaining super delegates (140 more of them to offset his pledged delegate lead). Or unless Michigan and Florida are reinstated by the Rules Committee in terms incredibly favorable to Clinton.
Neither is likely.
More and more people getting clear picture of Obama, they want their vote back!
Please go to:
http://www.ITakeBAckMyVote.com
to take back your vote!
First the media said Obama cannot be President since he cannot FIGHT BACK...now that he is responding to her kitchen sink strategy, he is negative?
Did Alexrod just complain yesterday that Hillary is the negative one and Obama is all innocent and pure as a puppy?
What a hypocrite! If you want to play dirty, play it. but don't send misleading message that you are the clean one when you are playing dirty too.
First....Why do Obama supporters see "racist" innuendo in anything and everything that the Clintons say? Neither Clinton has said (or inferred) anything even close.
Second... Obama has not morphed into a standard politician... Something he said he would not do... He is negative campaigning, and yet he calls it "fighting back." So why is it when Hillary goes after Obama, that she is not also "fighting back?"
Third... Hillary is grounded in reality. She is a pragmatist campaigning against an idealist.
Analysis... Obama uses a double standard... His rules keep changing to advantage him... while he has a different set of rules for his opponent. The goal posts keep changing... which is reminiscent of G.W. Bush. Is this what Obama meant by "new" politics?
Obama has truly flip-flopped and now he appears hypocritical, whereas Hillary has run a consistent campaign. Hillary has reminded Obama on a regular basis about the reality of politics and to get ready for the "rightwing machine."
Hillary has quoted Truman many times: "If you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." Bill has a good one, too...(paraphrased) "Politics is a tough game, and if you do not want to get bruised, then do not put on the uniform." Translation: Do not be such a crybaby, Obama.
First the media said Obama cannot be President since he cannot FIGHT BACK...now that he is responding to her kitchen sink strategy, he is negative?
This article is irrelevant. The fact that Obama is defending himself by using facts of his opponents behavior, is not going negative. It by no means compares to questioning the Clinton's saying he is not prepared to be Commander In Chief, when she has zero foreign policy experience of substance. It is nothing like attacking his Patriotism and the patriotism of his wife. It is nothing like trying to twist his words to sway the uneducated populace into believing he is an elitist, despite the fact that he basically is nowhere near as affluent as his two opponents. I applaud Obama for standing up for himself and finally bringing out the major flaws of Billary and that old man that has no idea where we are sending our troops to die.
Make that "Obama has NOW morphed into a standard politician."
Susan, I know u love that nitwit Hannity but do you really think he's not anti-semetic?
You're a fool who if she would have lived in Germany in the 30's would have voted for Hitler so he could stop the Communists.
Do you know what these right-wing nuts really think about Jews?
Do u think at all?
I think it is pretty sad that we have three such bad candidates this year. And what is sadder is that people think they are good candidates, and that they have been chosen by the citizens rather than the press.
Of course, you have to be so rich, and go through such hell to become president, that I can see why reasonable candidates don't run. And the press, for the most part, is so shallow and ignorant that they try to choose candidates like they'd choose Best Actors.
Our country deserves better.
But we'll muddle through somehow, and maybe we'll come out on the otherside a bit wiser...
WEEEEEEEEEEEE!
This is great! Obama and Clinton are exposing each other, and tearing each other to shreds in the process. When you base an entire political party and philosophy on catering to competing special interests, to attain and keep political power, this is what you get. Eventually your attack dogs turn on each other when it is not clear who the leader of the pack is. This fracturing strategy, meaning class warfare, and the gambit of leftist political assumptions, has always been focused on the right, and to see these distinct factions spring up within the democrat party, and focus their energy on smearing one another, it is just too perfect. I’m amazed that no one on the left ever figured that this long term strategy was going to backfire.
For my adult lifetime this sort of politics has been focused on fracturing the people, and it is even more ironic that Obama, who believes that anyone who disagrees with his happy fascism is being “divisive”, is running as some sort of modern messiah who is going to unify us all. The only possible meaning of his message is that we all have to put aside our disagreements and deeply held beliefs and simply become his disciple. For the initiates is sounds dreamy and utopian, if you disagree with Obama is sounds so dark and Orwellian that it is positively scary. Obama is not going to debate you and turn you to his way of thinking. Like the Borg, you have already lost, resistance is futile, and you will be assimilated into the perfect collective where all your worries will be gone.
It is all so incredibly absurd that belongs in some pulp sci-fi novel…
That these two charlatans could actually win an election against McCain, whom I do not like one bit, is pure fantasy. Both the nominees have campaigns based on a broad deception that is nearly impossible to maintain. The campaign season has become too long, and the media and internet to all seeing for them to neatly keep their media personas constantly and indefinitely. The breaks in the curtains we’ve seen are only the beginning. These to politicians are being laid bare by each other as they tear at the others curtain.
Pass the popcorn!
“A couple of times I said to myself, ‘That’s not true,’” Jill Carney, 51, an undecided Democrat and college teacher from Lancaster, said of Obama’s comments about Clinton and her policies. Asked what effect his more pointed comments had, she responded, “It makes me go the other way.”
That is what we all have been seeing throughout this race. Obama lies all the time about Clinton. That is why I will never vote for him. I have had all the lies I can stand coming from our current president. I have watch Obama lie daily and I am sick of it. If he is the nominee hello President McCain!
There's a whole lotta lying and a few grains of truth on both sides of this divide...
I do believe that Bill Clinton was right when he used the phrase "fairy tale" regarding Obama's own self-described destiny...The Charlatan from Chicago has no ethical or character advantage over his opponent, if we knew him as well as we know Clinton, he would seem every bit as tarnished and damaged...But that's the real key, isn't it? We DON'T know him... we don't know him at all. We only know what he has carefully allowed us to know, and what the fawing, lovestruck abd Obama-biased lemmings of the mainstream media want us to hear about, which amounts to the media and Obama steering this campaign to it;s ultimate end:
An unknown getting the nomination. I am certainly no fan of George Bush, nor of John McCain, but I am now becoming convinced that the last best hope for America is for McCain to shred Obama like yesterday's newspapers when the fall campaign opens...My voting preference: ANYBODY BUT OBAMA.
Self-defense is perfectly justified. If Clintonista are now complaining about the heat, they should get out of the kitchen. Their goddess doesn't bake cookies any way.:)
Irish for O'bama! Obama-Gore or Gore-Obama or even Obama-Pelosi '08!
Why do Obama supportes DEFEND him no matter what he does, says, is there anyone who can be honest with themselves and say "I am an Obama supporter, and I think its wrong for him to act this way." I am tired of this Bush-like loyalty that has gotten out of control. He is not perfect! He is not the Messiah, he is not the answer to all of my concerns. Enough with this annointing, and let's get a little more clear-headed and objective people!
This officially has solidifed my disgust with Obama, as he has become the biggest hypocrite in politics today, appealing to a younger generation (I'm 24 btw) who gobbles this nonsense up, because somehow inexperience and platitudes is what we need to feel better about ourselves. He may be a Washington outsider, but my, how fast he is beginning to blend in.
Senator Obama was asked fair questions about character. The questions the commentators asked, I am sure, are on the minds of many Americans. Most people in my community still have questions for Senator Obama. He is not known to the American people and many issues he still talks in circles about.
Is his father a Muslim? If he is, do Muslims in Indonesia observe him as one of them. Do radical Muslims want him to be president? Does any one know where his father's relatives are at this time?
Reverend Wright's comments are an issue. It's not just Reverend Wright's comments; it's his support of Louis Farrakhan, the Million Man March in 1995. Why would Obama attend a March for an anti Semitic, Louis Farrakhan. Why would Obama take his kids to this church? He has known this man for over 20 years and never heard a word about his Pastor Wright’s views of Americans?
William Ayers is a very big deal. For Osama to say that he was eight when Ayers bombed the Pentagon as an answer was a weak response. My community doesn't understand why he would go near a man like this? Judgment?
Obama's even not wearing a flag pin is still upsetting for the woman at the debate. Why couldn't Obama have said that he would wear it just to satisfy her and Americans? What was the big deal to wear it or not?
Elitist attitude is the worst trait that Obama demonstrates. His words were very demeaning and need not be ignored. He still stood by his remarks at the debate.
Senator Obama is not running for University President. This is an interview for the United States of America.
If Senator Clinton attended a church that was racist, supported the KKK, then put down the American people, I would certainly want to have Senator Clinton explain her views also.
Not discussing these matters would be outrageous.
The media needs to address the youth and show videos of all these topics.
Many young people are unaware of these associations of Obama
and the many contraversial issues they represent.