Big Dogs Weblog

Hillary Deceived and Blew Chance

by Big Dog on Feb 27, 2008 at 22:06 Political

In last night’s debate Hillary Clinton said she would release her tax returns if she is nominated “or sooner” and said she was working on it but she has been busy. She also stated that she would hope that papers of her First Lady tenure would be released quickly. Her husband has them and she also indicated that the Bush people would look at them first and hoped they would act quickly. It now appears as if she will not release her tax returns until at least April and there is no indication about her returns from last year, the ones that have been requested fro some time now. As for her papers, the White House says they have not seen them because Bill Clinton is holding them up. It is politics as usual around the Clinton camp.

As for blowing it, Hillary had a great chance to take the high road last night and she missed the opportunity by playing petty games. There was a question about the praise that Louis Farrakhan gave to Senator Obama over the weekend. Obama indicated that he denounced what Farrakhan has said in the past about Jews and that he [Obama] has not sought out Farrakhan’s endorsement. Hillary asked to respond and she talked about when a group endorsed her in her first Senate run. She stated that they were antisemitic and she rejected their endorsement. At this point I thought she was going to praise Obama for his denouncement of Farrakhan. This would have been the high road and would have shown her as a thoughtful leader.

Instead, she told Obama that it was not enough to denounce the man’s words, she had to reject! The difference is, she was endorsed and rejected it, he was not endorsed and has not asked to be. This made her seem petty and weak. To his credit, he deflected the whole thing and made her look like a fool. He said if it will make you feel better I will reject and denounce. If she had left it alone the onus would have been on him and people might have wondered why he was not rejecting something (that he really did not have to) or if she had taken the high road she might have looked presidential. The pettiness made her look inept and the way he handled it made him look cool and in charge. He looked more presidential.

I also question her Saturday Night Live reference. I saw the show and I they made fun of the way the media has gone ga ga over Obama. She might have worked that line in at a better time or left it out completely. It did not fit in well and it made her look like a whiner.

I think that the debate was Hillary’s swan song. I will never count her out because the Clintons are ruthless politicians and they know how to get ugly and win. She might hang close enough to make the convention a bar burner but she did not give people a warm and fuzzy feeling last night. Obama looked as if he had matured into the part and she looked like an amateur politician.

I do not like the idea of either of them in the White House and I think Hillary would be easier to beat given her high negatives. I must say though that I like seeing her go down in flames though her defeat might mean bad times ahead for America should Obama become president.

I also believe that Barack Obama’s message of hope has begun to get to me. I actually think I am beginning to grasp that message of hope, as in:

I hope these two don’t debate again, I am getting tired of seeing them.

Tags: antisemitic, Clinton, debate, deception, Obama