I heard something on the news about Hillary that irritated me.
It definitely irritates my wife as well. But I'm at a slightly different place. For me that was a part of a pattern.
Before this primary campaign, I thought the Clinton campaign crew, specifically the ones who worked for her (not ones from Bill's shop), were the best in the business. I didn't see any serious competition for that.
But I've changed my mind on two scores--the Clinton crew has not performed well in this campaign and the Obama crew has performed remarkably well.
On the first point, I thought those series of comments about Michigan and Florida are part of a very bad spin machine which puts out spin that is so much removed from the consensual view of the facts (which is the professional way to do it) that it becomes its own ridicule. A bit harsh but there it is. Lots of data points on that conclusion.
As for the Obama campaign, I was deeply surprised by their organizational strengths in Iowa. And nothing I've seen since changes my mind. In addition, their spin, where I can accurately judge it, has been closer to the consensual view of the facts. And, finally, I thought their response to the Wright business has been as well done as possible. They had Obama up on cable news on last Friday night (in fact, all over it) as the first round was starting. They kept after it over the weekend. And then set him up for a major speech on Tuesday.
I've read comments that the Obama campaign is much more open to journalists than the Clinton campaign. A couple of anecdotes on that score. Anderson Cooper had Obama on his show with sprinkles of interviews, for the full two hours last night. They had asked Clinton's campaign but no luck. And an LATimes piece from last week on getting access to the campaign offices. The Obama campaign said no sweat, come on in. The Clinton campaign contemplated the request for a bit, then said ok but you can only go to these places. And the writer was guided through the office and watched carefully.
This is all independent of judgments about Obama's own performance. I liked it; some may dislike it. But the organization of his campaign is hard to fault.
Having said all that, should she become the Dem candidate in the fall, I will certainly vote for her. How enthusiastically will depend on just how legitimate I think the process is by which she would win it. Not certain about that yet. |
