Forward Into The Past
The Washington Post reports that an increasingly desperate Hillary Clinton campaign has, after months of resistance, suddenly embraced Bill Clinton and is actively promoting the idea that theirs was a "co-presidency."
Both Clintons are making the case that theirs was a co-presidency — an echo of Bill Clinton's controversial statement during the 1992 campaign that voters would get "two for the price of one" if they elected him. At times, the former president has seemed to cast the current race as a referendum on his administration.
Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), the Democratic front-runner nationally but facing strong challenges in Iowa and New Hampshire from Obama, has shifted her emphasis repeatedly over the past few months as the senator from Illinois made inroads in the two states. She has tried to show a more "human" side, and on Friday brought along her daughter, Chelsea, and her mother to events here titled "The Hillary I Know."
She has tried to co-opt the message of change from Obama, declaring that she has been "working for change" her entire life. Over the past week, she injected the phrase "new beginning" into her stump speech.
But the unchanging core of Clinton's message is her experience, and in recent days she has presented the election as a binary choice: between a competent, experienced Clinton and novices such as Obama. "That's the kind of logic that got us George Bush in the first place," she said this week in Iowa.
And the main basis for her assertion is the time she spent as first lady. Bill Clinton is hitting the theme hard as the voting in Iowa and New Hampshire draws closer, pointing back to the 1990s, citing his record as his wife's, referring to the work "we" did in office and, for the most part, brushing past or ignoring the tumult of those years.
So does that mean all the scandals are co-scandals as well? All the bitterly hyperpartisan hackery should be jointly blamed on Hillary and Bill? You can read the rest of this new "back to the future" themed article, but for many of us, that is exactly what bothers us about the Clintons.
Other Links to this Post
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New Campaign Strategy: BOTH Clintons Now Claiming Co-Presidency In 90’s; Hinting At Same In ‘09 — Saturday, 22 December , 2007 @ 1:34 pm
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The Moderate Voice — Saturday, 22 December , 2007 @ 4:47 pm
By Sam L., Saturday, 22 December , 2007 @ 9:14 am
Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton/Clinton? Sounds like a soap opera. Though nobody’s been shot on-stage (Vince Foster way off-stage), there have been affairs and plenty of amnesia. Lies and tears and all the rest.
Competent? See campaign reports.
By Doug Ross, Saturday, 22 December , 2007 @ 11:30 am
Well, the Barrett Report and Travelgate definitely involved Hillary, so… yep, theirs was a co-presidency. And that being the case, they’ve reached their term limits.
By Gaius, Saturday, 22 December , 2007 @ 3:12 pm
Over the top, Ted. I’m deleting that one.