Same old dirty politics
Mrs Clinton's troubles Oakley Sunglasseshave also reminded people of what they most disliked about the politics of the Clinton-Bush era. “She's run what Washington would call a textbook campaign,” Mr Obama argues. “But the problem is the textbook itself.” This is self-serving: all campaigns employ the dark arts of polls,
story-planting and character assassination, and Mr Obama is no exception. But Mrs Clinton is vulnerable to the charge that she uses them more than most. She is surrounded by veteran pollsters and lobbyists from her husband's administration. She seems to delight in political warfare—“Now the fun part starts,” she stupidly declared about her battle with Mr Obama. And her campaign seems addicted to spin. Mr Clinton did his wife no favours when he recently declared, despite evidence to the contrary, that he had opposedAir Max 2011 the Iraq war from the start.
Mrs Clinton's style inevitably raises questions about her character. Discuss her with voters and the same words keep cropping up—“disciplined”, “robotic”, “cold”, “scripted”, “calculating” (if childhoods are to be invoked, even her mother once said that “she just does everything she has to do to get along and get ahead”). Large numbers of voters regard her as slippery and untrustworthy. This inevitably raises questions about her electability. Mrs Burberry UK Clinton sometimes manages to lose in head-to-head polls against leading Republicans, Air Max despite a tidal wave of anti-Republican sentiment. A recent Gallup poll showed that, with 47% of people favourably disposed to her and 50% unfavourably disposed, she had the highest “negatives” of any candidate in the race, Democratic or Republican. Those negatives are particularly high in swing states such as Colorado.
None of this means that the former first lady's goose is cooked. Mrs Clinton is still well ahead in national polls and in the often overlooked early state of Nevada. Americans do not necessarily feel that they need to like their presidents. Discount Oakley SunglassesRichard Nixon won a resounding victory in 1972. Nearly as many Americans disliked Bill Clinton as liked him when he ran for the White House. And the (just about) Republican front- runner, Rudy Giuliani, is hardly a likeable chap. Ed Koch once wrote a book about his fellow mayor simply entitled “Giuliani: Nasty Man”.
But Mrs Clinton's problems are slowly shifting the calculus at the heart of the Democratic race. Hitherto most Democrats have calculated, or perhaps been resigned to thinking, that she is the safest bet. The young Mr Burberry Outlet Obama might deliver a spectacular victory, but he might equally well flame out spectacularly. Mrs Clinton may always have high negatives but, in an anti-Republican year, she would be wily and experienced enough to take on the Republican machine and eke out a victory in the electoral college. The past few weeks have made Mr Obama look a bit less risky—and Mrs Clinton a lot less safe.
A different Kirchner is in charge, but many of the policies remain the same |
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