New Clinton campaign memo destroys Obama's attacks about Iran

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=3691

This week Senator Obama criticized Senator Clinton’s vote to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

Senator Obama was silent on the measure when it was considered on the floor. Despite serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee, he wasn’t involved in Senate negotiations or discussions over the bill’s language. (See: Huffington Post) He didn’t speak out against it before it was voted on – he didn’t even return from the campaign trail to vote. He didn’t speak out against it at a nationally televised debate that night or defend himself from an attack during the debate on his missed vote. In fact, he waited more than nine hours after the vote was over to issue a statement about it.

If Senator Obama believed the measure was as dangerous as he says, wouldn’t he have had some obligation to stand up, speak out, and fight against it?

So perhaps something else is at work: politics.

As Senator Obama’s closest ally in the Senate, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, said, "If I thought there was any way it could be used as a pretense to launch an invasion of Iran I would have voted no."

As Senator Obama abandons the politics of hope in favor of attack politics, Senator Clinton remains focused on her vision for America – the kind of vision that today is attracting the key endorsement of civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis.

and he's getting bad advice.

He handed her a genuinely powerful counterargument, and made himself look like a wimp.

Well crap. Sometimes (e.g., the "Why aren't you wearing your flag pin" moment), Obama seems like the one guy in the public arena who's willing to talk sense to horseshit. Other times, not so much. I want to like him more than I do.

she destroys the "black" candidate, Obama, by mentioning her endorsement by the "black" Congressman John Lewis. And what's with the mention of "civil rights hero"? Iran isn't a civil rights issue -- It wouldn't be because both men are black, would it? Glad she's not playing politics. Nor the race card either.

Geez...

But I do question the use of that line in the press release. I think that might have been a bit of a blow below the belt, but it still is a fact that she did get his endorsement and does have some appeal in this scenario.

As one who was firmly in the Obama camp at the early stages of the campaign, I came to realize that Obama is not ready for the "prime-time". While I despised that argument early on, there's a lot of truth to it after watching him stumble along aimlessly on the campaign trail riding on the momentum of his "rock star" status without much substance to back it up. After his non-vote and silence on the issue, I could no longer support him as my candidate of choice. Too bad really, because he has a lot of potential. Perhaps next time he will get better advisor's and be ready to take on a real role of leadership.

Now, I'm not on the Hillary bandwagon but at least she actually voted and has to stand on the record. Skipping the vote because he somehow thought that if he was silent he could pander to both sides of the issue was the penultimate mistake on his part and shows me that he is more about playing politics than being a leader and offering real hope and change. (again, not an endorsement of Hillary, but at least she can be taken to task about her vote)