Clinton: 'Obama can't win'
Posted: Thursday, April 03, 2008 9:17 AM by Mark Murray
“Obama can’t win.” That’s the cover of the New York Post, as said by… Hillary Clinton to Bill Richardson. “While lobbying for his endorsement, Hillary Rodham Clinton flatly told New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that Barack Obama could not win the presidency if he got the Democratic nomination. ‘He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win,’ she said, according to a report by ABC News.” and
There is definitely two versions of what the Clintons remember vs. what Bill Richardson remembers when it comes to his decision to endorse Obama. Bill Clinton believes Richardson promised he would not endorse. Pahl Shipley, a spokesman for Richardson, said his boss never promised to endorse Hillary Clinton. ‘He never told the president or anybody else, for that matter,’ Shipley said. ‘The governor respectfully disagrees with the president.’”
The Washington Post: “In hushed tones, sometimes with palpable sadness in her voice, Clinton tells dark, difficult anecdotes picked up on the campaign trail. They often relate to health matters, culled from her conversations with voters, and are designed to illustrate a policy point. Presidential candidates across the decades, from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton to George W. Bush, have honed the art of picking out stories to bolster a policy position in particularly human terms. Former senator John Edwards (N.C.), who left the Democratic race this year, often cited the stories of people he defended as a trial lawyer. For all of his grandeur, Obama can turn serious as well; at least once, in an effort to demonstrate how fleeting life can be, he detoured from his speech to tell the story of a woman he had recently met who, moments later, found out that her child had been killed in a car accident.”
For Clinton, the approach seems to bring together her best skills, especially her ability to listen to voters she meets. In speeches that sometimes wear on and sometimes derail into deadening policy, sharing bleak stories can focus the audience's attention.”
Clinton's unveiling of a new 3:00 am TV ad on the economy and hitting McCain sparked a back-and-forth with the Republican, just what Clinton's camp wanted. McCain's response was online. "Within hours, the McCain campaign released an advertisement on the Internet. It starts with images of the Clinton advertisement, with the narrator then commenting, ‘Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama just said they’d solve the problem by raising your taxes — more money out of your pockets.’”
“The advertisements highlighted how the two parties’ candidates have developed starkly different approaches to the housing meltdown, with Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton calling for billions of dollars in aid for distressed homeowners and Mr. McCain warning against costly federal intervention. Mr. McCain’s rapid response recalled a similar advertisement by the Obama campaign in response to Mrs. Clinton’s original red-phone advertisement, which questioned Mr. Obama’s readiness to be president."
The Los Angeles Times does a fact-check of sorts on Clinton's Iraq policy promises. "Clinton has touted her role in the congressional effort to force President Bush to bring the troops home. ‘I've been working day in and day out in the Senate to provide leadership to end this war,’ Clinton recently told an audience at George Washington University, contrasting her experience with that of rival Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.’ … But since Democrats took control of Congress, Clinton has done relatively little to advance legislation to force the Bush administration to withdraw from Iraq, according to congressional records and lawmakers and staff members who have worked on the issue.”
”Instead, Clinton largely remained on the sidelines of the congressional debate, her legislation ignored as the Senate focused on measures developed by lawmakers who were more central to the legislative drive to end the war.”
USA Today’s editorial page does something it rarely does: It hits a candidate pretty hard. Today, it calls on Bill Clinton to release the names of donors to his foundations. "[G]iven Clinton's unusual circumstances, gifts to his foundation could rightly be seen as a back door into the good graces of someone who could be a key adviser to the next president. The stakes are simply too high not to have principles of open government take precedence over common fundraising practices."
Per NBC’s John Boxley, Clinton will be on the “Ellen” for a taping today; the show will air Monday. This taping will take place following her appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
