Hillary v. Obama

I think it's time for Barack and his camp, or Hillary and her camp, or preferably both, to take a step back and not say another word about any of this.

The back-and-forth between the two campaigns has largely been fodder for political insiders. Yesterday, however, David Geffen, the music and film producer who is one of the party's most prominent donors, made the fight more public. In an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Geffen said that Clinton is "the easiest to beat" of the Democratic field and skewered her unwillingness to apologize for her 2002 vote to use force in Iraq. "It's not a very big thing to say 'I made a mistake' on the war, and typical of Hillary Clinton that she can't," Geffen said.

Geffen, who was a co-host of an Obama fundraiser Tuesday night in Los Angeles, saved even sharper criticism for former president Bill Clinton, to whom he was close before a falling-out over the pardoning of financier Marc Rich at the end of Clinton's second term. "I don't think anybody believes that in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person," Geffen said in an oblique reference to questions surrounding the former president's private life.

After seeing the comments yesterday morning, the Clinton campaign immediately issued a call for Obama to disavow Geffen's remarks and return his $2,300 donation, arguing that they were contrary to Obama's pledge to run a positive campaign.
"A day after Barack Obama goes out and eschews the politics of slash-and-burn, his campaign embraces the politics of trash," said Phil Singer, Clinton's deputy communications director, referring to a speech Obama made Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Obama communications director Robert Gibbs took a markedly different course. After refusing to get in the "middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters," Gibbs pointed out that Hillary Clinton had recently praised Robert Ford, another South Carolina state senator who endorsed her and said the Democratic ticket would be in serious trouble if Obama was the nominee because of the color of his skin. Clinton distanced herself from that remark, and Ford later apologized for it.

Obama weighed in later. "It's not clear to me why I would be apologizing for someone else's remarks," he said in Iowa, where he had gone instead of the candidates forum because of a prior commitment. "My sense is that Mr. Geffen may have differences with the Clintons, but that doesn't really have anything to do with our campaign."

The first one who decides to rise above this petty bickering wins.

What's happening here is obvious. Hillary has been laying the groundwork for this presidential campaign since the day she decided to run for senate, if not before. She managed to create an air of near inevitability around her future as, at the very least, the Democratic nominee and quite possibly as president. In fact, if most Democrats and Republican political operatives will be honest, they will admit that they have for at least six years, seen Hillary as the one to beat in '08.

Then, almost out of nowhere, here comes this guy Obama. Tall, good looking, smart, with a deep resonant voice. He gives a killer speech in 2004 and people start talking about him as a possible presidential hope. Remember, these were the dark days of the swift-boating of John Kerry, accusations of flip-flopping, and a heart-breaking defeat which was not foreseen by the exit polls. Kerry was as establishment as it gets. So was Hillary. Obama, on the other hand, was a state lawmaker from Illinois with a fairy tale ascension to the United States senate.

A couple of years go by, and Hillary continues laying the foundation of her presidential campaign. Maddeningly, people are still babbling about this Obama.

November of 2006 rolls around and wonder of wonders! The Democrats take back the congress! We're dancing in the streets. We can't wait for the chance to take back the White House in 2008. The Great Republican Hope for holding on to the Oval Office, the natural heir to George W. Bush, George Felix "Macaca" Allen self-destructs as spectacularly as any poltician has in recent memory. He won't be president.

The second-tier candidates begin to fight their way to the surface. John McCain's pandering ways leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Mitt Romney gives himself whiplash flip-flopping from pro-choice to pro-life, from pro-gay rights to sancity-of-marriage right, from pro-gun control to lifetime member of the NRA. Oh, and he's a Mormon who will never, ever, ever win the support of Evangelicals. Rudy Giuliani's entire political identity was forged on a single day, and has no chance of withstanding the scrutiny of a presidential campaign. The Republican Party is a train wreck. It will be 2012 at the earliest before they can field a serious presidential contender.

So, here's Hillary, surveying the wreckage of the GOP. It's all mine, she thinks. She has the early big money locked up. She is a brand-name rock star politician. She is... HILLARY. She can hear it already: Madam President...

Only one nagging problem. This upstart, this flash-in-the-pan, this Obama... he hasn't burned out yet. He's only getting brighter. He writes another damn book. The Republicans make fun of his name, and he only comes out looking stronger. That ass Joe Biden hands him a back-handed, racially-loaded "compliment" and he slaps it back with more dignity and grace than most people would have expected. That bigger ass John Howard insults him and Obama humiliates him with a single sentence.

Now, this bastard David Geffen insults Hillary and Bill in the pages of the New York Times. Ooh, but wait! He's one of the people supporting this Obama. I'll put both of them in their places.

Slap. Slap. Slap. Slap. Enough bruises to go around for everybody.

Enough.

I mean, I get it. It's hard to go from Queen Bee to just another member of the hive, and for Obama, it must certainly be difficult to accomplish so much only to have this prima donna treat you like the new kid on the block. But enough.

It's human nature not to want to leave an insult hanging in the air, but there comes a point when it is the only option. Hillary and Obama have reached that point. This thing goes any further, and it destroys them both. The press cannot wait to turn this into a catfight. They can't let it happen. They have to shut this thing down now. The first one who shuts up wins. Then, they can get on with the business of destroying what's left of the GOP.