Cross-posted at Daily Kos
This post isn’t an attack on Senator Clinton, but her campaign’s latest attack on Barack Obama is just beyond the pale.
The Clinton campaign is saying that Obama doesn’t have the experience to be President; they’re saying that both Hillary Clinton and John McCain have the experience to be President, while Barack Obama doesn’t. They’re basically saying McCain would be a better President than Obama, which is going to come back to haunt us if he ends up being our nominee.
It’s a foolish attack–plenty of great Presidents came into office without any foreign policy experience (Bill Clinton and John Kennedy come to mind) But not only is it a silly attack, it also puts us Democrats in a lose-lose situation; no matter who wins the primary, this line of attack will come back to hurt them
If Obama wins, this attack is going to become the centerpiece of McCain’s campaign; he’s going to contrast his foreign policy experience with Obama’s relative lack of experience, and he’s going to try to use terrorism, the war and fear to win votes to his side. It’s a typical Republican attack, but it’s typical because it works.
If Clinton wins, then this attack is going to backfire on her. Clinton doesn’t have very much foreign policy experience to speak of–as First Lady she held no security clearance, couldn’t attend NSA meetings or even read Presidential daily briefings on intelligence. All she has on foreign policy is one and a half terms in the Senate, which isn’t very much. If she makes this election about experience, she’s going to lose to John McCain–he has more experience than she does, and I bet you he’s going to use her own words against her.
And that’s why this attack is beyond the pale–it’s lose-lose. Some people say that these attacks aren’t bad, that they’re going to be launched by the GOP anyway, so we should face them now. There’s some validity to that, but remember that attacks like these are more damaging when they come from fellow Democrats. People expect Republicans to attack us, to go over the top and say outrageous things. But when it’s a Democrat, it gives validity to Republican attacks; it gives them political cover, being able to say “Hillary Clinton agrees with us” or “Barack Obama believes this, too.” Isn’t that why Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman are so infuriating?
Remember, this primary isn’t about picking the only candidate who can beat John McCain, because both candidates can beat John McCain. Remember this story on Daily Kos yesterday? Yeah, it’s just one poll, but right now there’s every indication that both Clinton and Obama can beat McCain. Think about how phenomenal that is–months before the election, before we’ve spread our message or scrutinized our opponent, both of our potential candidates are already beating the incumbent.
I know how easy the mental progression is–from “I like this candidate” to “My candidate can do better against John McCain” to “My candidate is the only one who can beat John McCain.” The process is helped by the escalation between the two candidates, but the conclusion is completely wrong. We don’t live in a world where only one of our candidates can win, so everything hangs on the primary; we live in a world where both of our candidates can win.
Our goal is to pick the candidate who would be the best President; none of us can deny that either Clinton or Obama would be far, far better than John McCain. So it’s okay for them to criticize and scrutinize one another. It’s okay for them to criticize each other’s health care plans, since both of their plans are better than McCain’s. And it’s okay for them to criticize each other’s economic plans, since both of their plans are better than McCain’s. And it’s okay for them to quarrel over the war–how they would end it and when–because both of them want to end it, while McCain doesn’t. But it’s not okay to launch attacks that will kneecap our candidate in the general election.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should all join hands and sing kumbaya. Politics is a blood sport, and there’s a war going on. Lives hang in the balance. Livelihoods hang in the balance. People’s jobs and health and education and futures hang in the balance. Our constitution hangs in the balance. Our country’s security hangs in the balance.
But this isn’t a war between Clinton and Obama. It’s between Democrats and Republicans. Right now, we’re deciding who our General will be, who will lead us into the next great battle. But no matter who we pick, we’re going to have to back our leader, we’re going to have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder as brothers-and-sisters-in-arms again.
And the farther we go down this destructive road, the more likely it is that people on our own side are going to throw down their weapons and walk away. If we can’t unite ourselves, if we can’t stand and fight together again, John McCain will destroy us and destroy this country. We can’t take 4 more years of Republicanism; we couldn’t take 4 more years of this back in 2004, and we’ve seen the disastrous consequences of that failed election.
So see those long knives you’re holding there? Put them away, or at lest point them in the right direction. Remember who the real enemy is, and remember what’s at stake. Remember that we have a country to fix; we have a nation to rebuild. And remember that, whenever and however the nominee is decided, we’re all going to have to shake hands and work together. We’re on the same side; we believe in the same things; we want to see this country go in the same direction. Don’t let this fight change that for an instant.
So let’s just stop it now, before there’s nothing left to stand in McCain’s way. Because this country has far too much at stake for us to lose. Far too much.
