Will the Clintons Steal Obama’s Thunder?
By Don | August 26, 2008
With Bill and Hillary Clinton speaking on successive nights at the Democratic National Convention and the hard feelings that still exist between them and the Obama camp there are indications that things won't go as smoothly for Obama as the Democrats had hoped.
From The Politico.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is over it — at least when people are watching.
Within days of losing the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, her aides said she was all business, returning to her Senate duties, telling people she would do whatever Obama asked her to do in the general election.
Bill Clinton is not over it. He’s trying, his associates say. He’s slowly getting to a better place. But his resentments from the bitter campaign battles of last winter and spring are many and diverse, and people who have spent time with him recently said they fester just below the surface.
For the next two days, a convention that belongs to Obama will be dominated by the same two people who dominated the Democratic Party for the last generation and who have come to Denver in much different roles than they wanted. She speaks Tuesday. It’s his turn Wednesday.
For the Clintons, the politics of the week are simple: Accept the cheers of the many Democrats who still support them, be lavish in their praise for Obama, make sure that if he loses no one can say it was because they were covertly rooting for that result.
But the psychology of the week is complicated. It requires them to muzzle what friends say are their deep and continuing doubts about Obama’s electability, qualifications and political character.
Any doubts they have about Obama's electability are warranted as Obama's lead in the polls has evaportaed, his choice of Washington insider Joe Biden as his running mate despite proclaiming the need for change and the lack of any substance in his speeches could lead to a dismal showing in November.
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1 Comment | Post a Comment
August 27 at 10:17 am | #1 | Link
The Obama campaign needs to send a couple of starry eyed interns over to pacify Bill.