From The Hotline Latest Edition for Friday, April 18,2008

OBAMA

Time To Turn The Channel

Fri. Apr. 18, 2008


Appearing "intent to quell any political fallout" from the Dem debate, Barack Obama "delivered a mocking critique" 4/17 in Raleigh, NC. Obama told a town hall crowd the debate exemplified what needs to change about Washington. Obama: "I think we set a new record because it took us 45 minutes before we even started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people."

Obama said, "That was the roll-out of the Republican campaign against me in November. That is what they will do." More: "I have to say Senator Clinton looked in her element. She was taking every opportunity to get a dig in there. You know, that's all right. That's her right. That's her right to kind of twist the knife a little bit" (Zeleny, "The Caucus," New York Times, 4/17).

More Obama: "That's why she's only airing negative attacks on TV in Pennsylvania like most places. I understand that because that's the textbook Washington game. That's how our politics has been taught to be played. That's the lesson that she learned when the Republicans were doing that same thing to her back in the 1990s." Obama said he understands WH candidates have to expect that, saying, "you've just gotta kinda let it..." as he "mimed brushing dirt off his shoulders."

But, Obama said in response to a question about how he would keep from being "pummeled" in such a way as the nominee, "I won't have this much restraint with the Republicans" (Anburajan, NBC/National Journal, 4/17).

Asked by another audience member if he would agree to a debate in NC before the 5/6 primary, Obama "sounded less than enthusiastic, suggesting the sessions had become time consuming and repetitive." Obama also said if he can win NC, "I think we can wrap up this nomination" (Murray, "The Trail," WashingtonPost.com, 4/17).

Obama "and his team appeared taken aback by some of the negative reviews of his performance" in Philly 4/16 (Murray/Bacon, Washington Post, 4/18). But it then "sought to capitalize on the debate" by sending out a furndraising email titled "Gotcha," soliciting $25 donations (Fouhy, AP, 4/17).

A Stormy Day In The Neighborhood

Obama "was pressed forcefully" during the debate "about his relationship" with ex-Weather Underground member William Ayers, with whom Obama sat on the board of the Woods Fund in Chicago. Obama "sought to keep his distance" from Ayers, and "it turns out" Ayers isn't "a fan of how he has been characterized in the press recently, either." Ayers writes on his blog, "I'm often quoted saying that I have 'no regrets.' This is not true." Ayers said though he sometimes argues "I don't think I did enough" to try and stop the Vietnam War, this is "then edited: he has no regrets for setting bombs and thinks there should be more bombings."

Ayers also "defines terrorism" as "the use of threat of random violence to intimidate, frighten, or coerce a population toward some political end." Ayers writes, "I never advocated terrorism, never participated in it, never defended it" (Franke-Ruta, "The Trail," WashingtonPost.com, 4/17).

Meanwhile, several major papers ran articles on Obama's connection to Ayers, going into the history of Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, both of whom are now professors and "widely respected community figures" in the "liberal enclave" of Hyde Park in Chicago, where Obama also lives. Obama and Ayers "met a dozen times" on the Woods Fund board over three years, and Ayers "introduced Obama during a political event at his home" during Obama's state Senate bid. Ayers has also contributed $200 to Obama's WH bid (Drogin/Morain, Los Angles Times, 4/18).

Here's how the Ayers coverage was framed:

• The Ayers story "could be the 'swift boat' of this campaign." Clinton camp "operatives have complained that reporters have done little to examine the relationship" (Cooper, Wall Street Journal, 4/18).

• "Some of the old" Dem "fault lines were visible again" as Obama "sought to distance himself" from Ayers (Los Angeles Times, 4/18).

• Ayers is now "considered so mainstream" in Chicago that Mayor Richard Daley "issued a statement" praising him as a "valued member of the Chicago community" (Slevin, Washington Post, 4/18). "Neighbors, friends and colleagues who know Ayers and the work he has done" on education reform "joined his defense" (Jensen/Mitchum/Owen, Chicago Tribune, 4/17).

Mess With Our Man, Media, And We'll Mess You Up

Some of the post-debate chatter centered on the debate itself, and Obama's spin on it:

• Boston Globe's Weiss writes, "It was hard yesterday to tell which got more scrutiny: the link between Obama and Ayers, or the link between" ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who asked Obama about Ayers, and FNC's Sean Hannity (4/18).

• "First Read" notes, "This may only be a taste of how the ObamaNation would react to a Clinton nomination." ABC "was under siege yesterday" from Obama supporters. "If MoveOn is motivated to do a petition campaign against the media over a debate, imagine what Clinton delegates and undecided superdelegates" -- and GOPers in the general -- "would face" (4/18).

• Wall Street Journal editorializes, "Obama had an off-night, so his media choir wants to shoot the questioners. We thought the debate was one of the best yet, precisely because it probed the evasive rhetoric we'd heard from both" candidates, particularly on taxes (4/18).

• National Journal's Douglass: "If you are the candidate who feels aggrieved by how the moderators handled you, the one thing you cannot do is blame the press for the questions they ask. That never works as a tactic" ("NewsHour," PBS, 4/17).

• Dem strategist Bob Shrum: "I thought Obama was a little off his game, but he was helped by the controversy about the moderators" ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 4/18).

• NBC's Todd, on why Obama complained about the debate format 4/17 in NC: "Well, look, I think it's called making lemonade out of lemons. I mean, you don't talk about the format of the debate if you think you won a debate, [or] after a debate's happened. So clearly, they know that they didn't do well and that it may have hurt them with some superdelegates" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 4/17).

• DLC chair/'06 TN SEN nominee/ex-Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D): "If I were advising him in the campaign this morning and the last several hours or last two days, one would be to put it behind you. There's no need to get out and be critical of the press, critical of the questions" ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 4/18).

For more reviews on the moderators, see today's MEDIA MONITOR story.

Oh Please, It's Time To Pony Up

Other reviews focused on Obama's lackluster performance:

• Fortune's Easton: "He acted so rattled by these questions, and his body language showed that he was so rattled, because he hasn't had to answer tough questions" ("Special Report," FNC, 4/17).

• Newt Gingrich: "If you're going to run for president, you have to expect that it's going to be scrutinized very, very intensely. You're asking people to loan you four years of the most powerful political governmental job in the world, and every president we've ever had has had that kind of treatment, including George Washington. So I think it doesn't do very well to whine about it" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 4/17).

• Ex-WH adviser David Gergen: "I think there are a whole lot of people who do not like this kind of politics, do not like all the jabs. And I think that's working in his favor. ... We've heard her whining before. If we're on about whining, you know, we've heard both sides of ... the complaints about the press and how they've been anti-Senator Clinton. ... I mean, the questions were clearly aimed to test him. He needs to be tested, you know. I think that's fair game" ("AC 360," CNN, 4/17).

• Dem strategist Peter Fenn: "I think the whole point is, don't complain too much. You go into it. ... He knows it's a tough game. He realizes it. I think he's going to give the elbows just like he does in basketball" ("Situation Room," CNN, 4/17).

• MSNBC's Gregory: "This is Obama's time of testing, and he has to deal with distraction, perception and events beyond his control. How he deals with all of this will determine whether or not he can close the deal and capture this nomination" ("Race for the WH," 4/17).

• MSNBC's Scarborough: "The honeymoon is over. Now Barack Obama is another politician getting beaten up. And when he gets beaten up, what does he do? He attacks the messenger. He sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton did a month ago when she kept going after moderators of these debates. You don't do that unless you're taking on water. Barack Obama's biggest problem is, and this is something that superdelegates are worried about in the Democratic Party tonight, the fact that he had his weakest debate this political season, according to The New York Times, last night. He should be in mid season form, he's not even close. He was testy, he was defensive, and he looked agitated by the fact that he was having to answer some tough questions that Republicans are going to make him answer from Denver all the way through November. He had better get used to it" ("Race for the WH," 4/17).

• Washington Post's Capehart: "We see debate performances like the other night where it becomes clear that, you know, the god that we see in this political environment isn't infallible" ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 4/18).

• Newsweek's Fineman, on Obama: "I think it's highly unlikely that he's going to do another [debate], because ... he's into the general election now. He doesn't need another workout session with Hillary Clinton. And I'm sure that's how he views it" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 4/17).

It's Not Your America-Hating Lapel, It's You

Meanwhile, for flag pin question-asker Nash McCabe, "it's not really about the flag pin." In Clinton, McCabe "sees someone who has struggled for years" and "earned the right to be" POTUS. In Obama, "she sees someone who rose like a rocket, always has a smooth explanation for everything" and "makes it all look too easy." McCabe: "That's what upsets me about Barack Obama. He takes everything so nonchalantly" (Talev, McClatchy, 4/17).

Friendship Doesn't Conquer All

Ex-Labor See. Robert Reich, a friend of both Hillary and Bill Clinton "for four decades," intends to endorse Obama "on his blog" this p.m.

While "it's been clear to anyone paying attention that Reich favors Obama," Reich said "had planned to refrain from offering an official backing for Obama out of respect for Hillary." Reich: "She's an old friend. I've known her 40 years. I was absolutely dead set against getting into the whole endorsement thing. I've struggled with it. I've not wanted to do it. Out of loyalty to her, I just felt it would be inappropriate."

Asked what changed, Reich said, "I saw the ads" Clinton has been running in PA, "and I was appalled, frankly. ... I've come to the point, after seeing those ads, where I can't in good conscience not say out loud what I believe about who should be president. Those ads are nothing but Republicanism. They're lending legitimacy to a Republican message that's wrong to begin with, and they harken back to the past 20 years of demagoguery on guns and religion. It's old politics at its worst — and old Republican politics, not even old Democratic politics. It's just so deeply cynical."

Reich's "feeling seems to be spreading more broadly in the party with every passing day" (Heilemann, "Daily Intel," New York Magazine, 4/18).

Watch Your Mailer

Obama's camp is sending out mailers in PA "directly taking on" Clinton's position on trade. The mailer "tiptoes the line between position contrast and general attack," and includes the "since-discredited line" that Clinton once called NAFTA a "boon" to the economy. This may "sully" the Obama camp's "attempts to paint Clinton" as the only candidate to "go negative" (Stein, "Huffington Post," 4/17).

Obama kicks off a five-day PA "On Track For Change" train tour with events today in Erie, Williamsport and Philly. Obama heads to Wynnewood, Paoli, Downingtown, Lancaster and Harrisburg 4/19 (release, 4/18).

Also in the primary states:

• A "caravan of Kennedys," including Ethel, Rory and Max campaigned for Obama 4/17 in Scranton (Scranton Times Tribune, 4/18).

• Obama told Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) "that he plans to campaigning in the state" ahead of its 6/3 primary (Peshlakai, Pierre Capitol Journal, 4/17).

• Obama supporters will rally in Salem, OR, 4/19 "as part of a nationwide show of support" for Obama prior to PA (Wong, Salem Statesman Journal, 4/18).

History Comes Alive, Endorses Obama

Ex-Dep. AG William Ruckelshaus (R), who resigned along with AG Elliot Richardson "rather than carry out Richard Nixon's order that they fire" Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, has endorsed Obama (Kornacki, "The Politicker," New York Observer, 4/17).

Everyone Loves A Man In Uniform, Except When He's A Terrorist

Following a Chicago Sun-Times report, Obama sent a letter to the TSA expressing "serious concerns" over "TSA uniforms being left out in the open at O'Hare Airport." Obama: "As you know, terrorists have attempted to impersonate law enforcement and other security officials in order to gather intelligence, conduct counter-surveillance, and even carry out attacks. Considering the extraordinary security threats our nation faces every day, reports suggesting that uniforms could possibly be accessed are wholly unacceptable" (Wiseniewski, Chicago Sun-Times, 4/17).

Airing Of Non-Debate-Related Grievances

"Bitter"-gate got more media play, along with lobbyists and guns:

• Philadelphia Inquirer's Ferris writes, the "bitter" remarks mark "the end of the promise Obama offered" of a new kid of politics. Here's "politics as usual" for Dems, "a consistent drumbeat of disrespect, bordering on pathological disdain, for anyone who dares disagree" on "wedge issues" (4/18).

• Time's Tumulty writes, "What raises the stakes is the crucial role that white working-class voters play in just about every conceivable" Dem "scenario for winning in the fall" (Time.com, 4/17).

• New York Times' Krugman writes, Obama's "comments combined assertions about economics, sociology and voting behavior. In each case, his assertion was mostly if not entirely wrong." And "let's hope" once he's "no longer running against" Clinton, he'll "stop denigrating the very good economic record of the only" Dem admin "most Americans remember" (4/18).

• Kennebec Journal's Reisert writes, "Obama's problem is not elitism; it's hypocrisy" (4/18).

• USA Today editorializes, "Obama may like voters to think he'd cross the street rather than deal with a lobbyist, but nine of his campaign staffers are former lobbyists, and some of his informal advisers are current lobbyists" (4/18).

• New York Sun's Berman writes, "some" IL gun control advocates recall Obama as a "friend" who was a "solid vote" infavor of "increased restrictions on firearm sales, but they said he was never forced to vote on an all-out ban on handguns" (4/18).

Bring The Popcorn

National Journal's Anburajan writes about Obama videographer/field production dir. Arun Chaudhary, who "criscrosses the country" making films "that seek to pull supporters into the contest by letting them peer through his lens." Chaudhary "and his bosses believe their videos speak mostly to the converted, and in that light their work becomes an online organizing tool." Chaudhary also "believes he has stepped into" a "different era of filmmaking," a more creative one "he dreamed of as a young student" (4/19 issue).

You're My Satellite

Obama appeared on the "Colbert Report" last night. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards were also on the show. See the DEM FIELD story for more and check out today's "Play of the Day."

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