By Brigitte L. Nacos
More than one year before the presidential elections and
nearly six months before the first caucuses and primaries Senators Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama are, according to polls, nation-wide frontrunners for
the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination with John Edwards in third place
and in the best position to surge, if one or both of the frontrunners stumble. Moreover,
Edwards polls well in Iowaand may pass both Clinton and Obama without major mistakes on their part. But at
this point, there is a very real prospect of either a white woman or a black
man becoming the presidential candidate of one of the major political parties
for the first time. Moreover, given the record low public approval ratings for the
president and Republicans in Congress, Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are in
excellent positions to become the country’s first female or first black
president. It is ironic that these two candidates have escalated a disagreement
that started during the recent CNN/YOUTUBE debate into an unnecessarily bitter rhetorical
bout. The last thing these candidates need is a mutually destructive war of
words.
To be sure, voters are entitled to learn all about candidates’
positions and the differences between the contenders. The issue of whether to
seek direct contacts with the rulers of rogue states without preconditions is a
legitimate one and should be addressed. But the Clinton camp should have been satisfied with
the fact that most pundits declared Clinton the winner on this and moved on.
Similarly, the Obama side shouldn’t have overreacted and charged that Hillary’s
foreign policy is similar to that of the Bush administration--"Bush-Cheney Lite." Instead, this has become mass-mediated nonsense that distracts from the real issues facing the nation.
Earlier during this early phase of the election campaign I wrote about the news media’s eagerness to create conflict between Clinton and Obama at a time, when there was no real dispute. Now these two campaigns feed the media beast’s appetite for controversy. They should leave this to Republican candidates, whether Giuliani or Romney, who are relentless in going after Democrats as Mitt Romney’s fierce attacks against Obama and Clinton attest to.
Senators Clinton and Obama should harness the fighting instincts of their campaign managers and, of course, their own. If they don’t, they could spoil their real chances to make history.
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Come on: Look at each other
and smile! You may become running mates...
Couldn't agree more. It is almost bizarre that they should spar with each other like this. The only real benefit is leaving Edwards out of the picture - A benefit that accrues to them both. Curiously, I think this may be the moment when the campaigns may have "jumped the shark" in terms of campaigning by sound-bite. When a campaign is this drawn-out it might just be necessary to talk about the issues....just maybe. Horse-race journalism this extended just might be less engaging than the substance of foreign policy for the journalists and editors who still set the news agenda.
Posted by: Tom | July 27, 2007 at 08:32 AM