Big Dogs Weblog

Obama Needs to Go on the Offensive

by Big Dog on Jan 23, 2008 at 12:49 Political

B. Hussein Obama has been on the defensive since former President bill Clinton came out attacking him. Obama has been forced to defend himself against half truths often conjured up at the last minute in order to sway primary elections. The Wall Street journal indicates that Obama is getting an education in Clinton. The WSJ relates:

One of our favorite Bill Clinton anecdotes involves a confrontation he had with Bob Dole in the Oval Office after the 1996 election. Mr. Dole protested Mr. Clinton’s attack ads claiming the Republican wanted to harm Medicare, but the President merely smiled that Bubba grin and said, “You gotta do what you gotta do.” WSJ

Obama is learning the hard way that the Clintons do what they “gotta” do regardless of what it is because to them, winning is everything. Right now Obama is facing a fierce Bill Clinton who is doing what he has to do in order to distort a record and smear a fellow Democrat. Those of us on the right like to see the fighting among Democrats but are also reminded of the terror reigned on this country during the eight years Clinton was president. For Democrats, it is indeed a sad day when John Edwards appears most presidential, or as he put it, the only adult present at the debate.

It is time for Obama to do what he has to do. He has indicated he will strike back at Bill Clinton but that might not be a good strategy. Clinton is well liked among the party faithful and attacking him will continue to take the focus off the weaknesses of Hillary. Obama can attack Bill through Hillary and take the lead in addressing issues that were neglected during the Bill Clinton presidency.

Obama can make a good case when he tells the people that the Clinton co-presidents had eight years and failed to accomplish those things she vows to take care of now. Obama can tell people that the Clintons had eight years to fix Social Security and they neglected it even though Bill stated that it was broken and needed to be fixed. I believe he even thought private accounts was a good idea.

Obama can make the case that the Clintons had eight years to get health care for everyone (an item Hillary failed miserably on), eight years to make sure Medicare was efficient and provided for the elderly, and eight years to develop and implement an energy plan that reduced our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels. Eight years to do all these things and they failed to accomplish them.

When Bill Clinton was running the first time he told us all that you get two for the price of one and Hillary told us it was a co-presidency. During this campaign Hillary has taken credit for the good things that happened back then. If she takes credit for the successes it is reasonable to attribute the failures to her as well. Obama can go on the offensive and strike H. Rodham Clinton on the very issues that she says she will fix and at the same time take shots at her husband without directly confronting him. This will tell the voters that the Clintons had their eight years and failed to get it right and it is unlikely that giving them more time will change this.

Obama has had a campaign of change, a mantra adopted by Hillary as well as some of the Republicans running for office. If Obama is convinced he is the candidate of change he needs to point out the failures of the Clinton co-presidency and make sure the failures are attributed to Hillary. If this does nothing more than cause the Clintons to go on the defensive it will have been worth it. The more the Clintons are forced to defend their record the less time they have to manufacture half truths about Obama.

It is win-win for Obama because if Hillary fights the charges and says that she was not the president it will allow him to point out that she cannot take credit for anything that happened then and will negate her experience claim. If she defends the co-presidency she will be drawing more attention to those failures leaving less time for them to attack.

It is time for B. Hussein Obama to take off the gloves and start hitting hard. It is time for him to strike blows where it will hurt and that is the ever changing Clinton legacy. Blame her for the failures and make her defend why she did not get those things done back then. make her explain how she will do it now when she could not do it then. Make Bill defend their record rather than attacking his.

Obama can get dirty without attacking Bill directly and causing a rift among the Democratic base by attacking the record and attributing it to her. He will come out ahead if he takes this approach.

It is time for Obama to show he is a quick study and has gotten a quick education in Clinton politics of personal destruction. otherwise, he will have to repeat the class in four years.

Tags: attack, Clinton, education, lies, Obama