The Obama campaign is circulating Huffpost's latest scoop: that Hillary Clinton had some not-nice things to say about MoveOn.org at a fundraiser in February. Well and good. It's never good to be caught on tape bashing an innovative source of energy and money for your party and then suggesting that you fundamentally disagree with them on major national security issues of the day. (MoveOn wants out of Iraq! Now!)
Here is audio of Hillary Clinton slobbering all over MoveOn when she was courting them... alas...
But doesn't MoveOn.org, which was formed in response to Republican attempts to impeach President Clinton, represent (for Obama) the type of polarized pressure group that Obama seems to decry when he talks about moving beyond the traditional encumberances of Old Politics? (General Betray Us? etc. etc.) Anyway, maybe it's not that great of a point. What makes this story interesting to me is that the last thing Hillary Clinton needs right now is another credibility question.
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As an aside, I just love the irony that MoveOn was founded for the purpose of defending Bill Clinton during impeachment.
I would say that the supposed contradiction for Obama is one that is inherent in his so-called theory of change, that of using massive, coalesced, outside, grassroots pressure to get the inside players to do the right thing on various policy questions. Ultimately, he has to rely on keeping the outsiders in a state of polarized and agitated mobilization. They aren't likely to be the most in-harmony with a unity theme.
Posted by dry_fish | April 18, 2008 7:43 PM