The result is two-fold: First, by setting Bill up to say all the things Hillary cannot, she can remain sufficiently sugar-coated to persuade voters that she is the best candidate. Second, unleashing Bill to the point of appearing as an embarrassment serves to deflect from Hillary’s own high negatives while she is left in the political rubble… free to play the martyr.
It has been suggested by more than a few pundits (Chris Matthews is first to come to mind) that Hillary essentially won her Senate seat because of Bill’s philandering. The sympathy vote, according to this thought, propelled her to victory. All across New York (and America), women lined up at voting boothes to cast their vote for the woman who had been done wrong by a powerful man who used her as nothing more than a token wife.
This sympathy vote appears to have paid off in New Hampshire. Again, women lined up for Hillary at the sight of political tears.
With the success of this political maneuvering in his sights, I believe Barack Obama has impressively learned from the Clinton playbook in regards to the Reverend Wright problem. The one negative issue that has plagued Barack Obama (more than Rezko, Ayers, patriotism, and Muslim background combined) is "the Wright problem". This nagging problem is not about to go away anytime soon. Of course, no one believes the words of Wright amount to the thoughts of Obama. Yet voters remain perplexed as to why Obama would allow himself, and his family, to endure such nihilistic psycho-babble over the course of 20 years.
The only plausible solution to this problem (in my humble opinion) is to somehow turn Rev. Wright into Darth Vadar to Barack Obama’s Luke Skywalker.
Is it a coincidence that Reverend Wright decided to hold a disastrous press conference just one week before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries? I doubt it. Of course, the next few days will reveal whether or not this news conference story has legs. These next few days will also reveal the slant the MSM chooses to take when reporting.
I predict Obama will come out of this the same way Hillary came out of New Hampshire - with political tears in his eyes.
Have I gone off the deep end with my political conspiracy theories? Have I watched one too many rounds of ‘Hardball’? You be the judge…




:)
Comment by kelley — April 29, 2008 @ 7:29 am