Clinton Told To Slam Obama's Roots
Hillary Rodham Clinton's top campaign strategist advised her to cast presidential rival Barack Obama as having questionable "roots to basic American values and culture" and use the theme to counter the image that his background is diverse and multicultural.
"I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values," Mark Penn wrote in a March 2007 memo to Clinton.
Clinton did not take Penn's advice, revealed by a report in the September issue of The Atlantic magazine.
The article says Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination went from front-runner status to failure for a number of reasons, from badly managed money to blistering warfare between advisers. Clinton, the candidate who said she was ready to lead on Day One of her administration, did little to quell the infighting.
Clinton grew angry during a conference call with her senior aides about how to recover from her loss in the Iowa caucuses. She found herself doing most of the post-mortem, to near-silence on the other end of the line.
"This has been a very instructive call, talking to myself," Clinton snapped, and hung up, the magazine reported.
Mostly, the disputes were over whether to go negative against Obama, a half-black, Harvard-trained lawyer with a gift for soaring rhetoric and big themes.
Penn advised going negative.
Obama's background - he grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii - was a "lack of American roots," Penn wrote. Also a weakness, he added, was the divisive rhetoric of Obama's controversial pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who cursed America during a sermon.
"Won't a single tape of Wright going off on America with Obama sitting there be a game-ender?" Penn wrote in a March 30 memo.
Penn's memos also contained prescient advice. The memo from March 2007 talked about the importance of a key voting bloc he called "the invisible Americans" - women and lower- and middle-class voters.
Those groups helped Clinton beat Obama in key states before she quit the race in June.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values," Mark Penn wrote in a March 2007 memo to Clinton.
Clinton did not take Penn's advice, revealed by a report in the September issue of The Atlantic magazine.
The article says Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination went from front-runner status to failure for a number of reasons, from badly managed money to blistering warfare between advisers. Clinton, the candidate who said she was ready to lead on Day One of her administration, did little to quell the infighting.
Clinton grew angry during a conference call with her senior aides about how to recover from her loss in the Iowa caucuses. She found herself doing most of the post-mortem, to near-silence on the other end of the line.
"This has been a very instructive call, talking to myself," Clinton snapped, and hung up, the magazine reported.
Mostly, the disputes were over whether to go negative against Obama, a half-black, Harvard-trained lawyer with a gift for soaring rhetoric and big themes.
Penn advised going negative.
Obama's background - he grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii - was a "lack of American roots," Penn wrote. Also a weakness, he added, was the divisive rhetoric of Obama's controversial pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who cursed America during a sermon.
"Won't a single tape of Wright going off on America with Obama sitting there be a game-ender?" Penn wrote in a March 30 memo.
Penn's memos also contained prescient advice. The memo from March 2007 talked about the importance of a key voting bloc he called "the invisible Americans" - women and lower- and middle-class voters.
Those groups helped Clinton beat Obama in key states before she quit the race in June.
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Posted by ktgilb1 at 08:31 AM : Aug 13, 2008
Bull *****! How about picking the person best equipped to handle the job! Did that never cross your mind?
Besides that, who wants to unify a party that conducted a primary process more in line with a Chicago gang bang rape! It''s really sad when the republican party looks more like democracy than the DNC! Their candidate was chosen by the people!
It''s not about the damned PARTY! It''s about the person! And Obscamma, who lies, scams, presents ignorant Tinkerbelle solutions, and teaches you to hate your country, and has ties to the Nation of Islam just is NOT the person I will choose to be in our White House!
I disagree with you about hillary supporters. I am a hillary supporter who now supports obama. I think the repubs have hijacked the mantle of hillary supporters on this board. The repubs are posting as hillary supporters to create disunity among the dems. It is easy to see their intention the more they post.
Hamas Donated 30k to Obama Campaign, what we know of.
Our Americans going to let such radical in office in a 911 world.
Obama is a Closet Hamas Sympathizer with Marxist Ideas.
Research People Before you Pull the Lever.
Obama will bring Change, that is for Sure.
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Posted by obama8years at 07:26 AM : Aug 13, 2008
+ report abuse
Where do you get this info? Repubs R us? that is the most idiotic rant I have ever heard. Are you that afraid of a black man in office?
Interesting that you Neocon retiles are now spouting your defense of the first amendment -- I thought the only amendment that mattered to you fascist creeps was the second.
BTW, when Cheney initiates his coup d''etat, he''ll have the NRA to thank for his failure to pull it off successfully -- we''re all armed and ready for him and his Blackwater thugs.
Posted by ktgilb1 at 07:52 AM : Aug 13, 2008
Xenophobes never evolve. They just make their offspring xenophobes to perpetuate the species.
She started with name recognition, more monay than ayone else, more endorsements than any one else to the point that the term "coronation" was bandied about widely.
She managed to lose to a virtually unknown junior senator from Illinois and ran her campaign 30 million in the red in the process.
And with this public display of ineptness there are still some who talk about what a great leader she''d be.
Incredible.....
Sorry if libs don''''t have a sense of humor. And it is Ubama. That is the correct pronounciation for the muslim name.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First off he is not Muslim, and even if he was , so what! The last time I checked, there is no religious litmus test to given to run for president. I really thought that this Country has evolved, But i guess old hatreds still burn underneath, so sad.
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I gotta wonder why all you McLiverspot Bush lovers haven''t been commenting on your pair of sissies backing down in the face of Russia after your precious Georgia got spanked?
This has to be the ultimate embarrassment for you McAgeSpot fans....HAHAHAHA!!!
As long as there are mentally unstable subhumans like you cheering along the likes of Fake War "Hero" McSame and Hillary Clinton, Obama''s victory in November is assured.
Keep posting your Fox News propaganda, like the lie that Kenya''s Odinga is Obama''s cousin -- which has been denied over and over by both Obama & Odinga -- as it just reinforces the obvious: those who are opposed to Obama are desperate, delusional, socially-maladjusted individuals who have no clue as to the tidal wave that is about to swamp them.
The rules have changed. The times have changed. Time to Barack and Roll!!