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I think that Obama has learned from the Bush Book of Dirty Politics quite a lot. For example, when Hillary Clinton, or someone in his campaign brought up the apparent historical fact that he had used whatever drug in his adolescence ...his response seems to have been one of counter-attack of the clinton campaign. i don't know if he counter-attacked personally, or if he had a surrogate do it. the high road and honest response (and if he gave it then that speaks something for him) might have been, in my mind, at least, something like, "Yes. I did. I tried it and experimented with it for xxxx amount of time and then decided, or went through some rehabilitation, that the stuff was not good. did not want to do it any more and it is not for me and it has not been since ...' instead, he seems to have said, or said today, "The average American believes what someone does when they were a teenager 30 years ago probably is not relevant." to me this sounds that he is letting himself off the hook pretty easily and without assuming responsibility. he seems to be discounting something, like people like me, who might want to hear him say something more relevant and substantive about that particular situation.
i am not sure who started this war between himself and the clintons. in the back of my mind he seems to have started it by doing some research into hillary's eight years in the white house... and again, he excuses his campaign's steps by making hillary responsible for his actions. he says, it was legitimate to seek information on hillary's eight years in the white house because she, "has argued that her experience as first lady is relevant." he could have said, hillary is my opponent, and as her opponent, i have every democratic god given right to do research on her.
then, he says, "i recall the clintons themselves" and, he adds, "that is just not where the country is at right now." but it seems that in his view "that is not where the country is at right now" happens to apply when it comes to himself, in other words, it is an emotional appeal to the country in which he is saying, "look at what others are doing to me..." but he gives himself a free pass to use politics of gotcha cornered kidn of stuff when he turns around in a debate and tells hillary, "and yes hillary, i'll look forward to having you advise me when i am president." that was a put down and it showed the same cockiness and arrogance of a GWB drunk with power...at least to my ears that is what it sounded like.
And then, he continues to show his arrogance when in response to questions asked of him by reporters in terms of hillary's apology to him re-his earlier drug use, he says "i am not going to characterize it" ... leaving the book open for people to make of hillary's apology whatever they want to make of it. the honest and integral thing of him would have been to have said, "yes, i felt it was." or even, "no. i didn't feel it was."
.... all of these examples remind me of the debate between george bush and al gore (i think it was the second debate...there really weren't that many (weren't there only two debates? inthe 2000 campaign? anyhow, it reminds of when al gore is saying somethign that really is truthful and factual about bush and the falseness of bush's compassionate/conservatism, and bush turns to jim lehrer the moderator and says something about al gore judging his heart ... what a bunch of malarkey. that was bush's way of getting off the hook and making an emotional appeal that got him what he wanted. lehrer stopped right the discourse of whatever it was that gore was addressing and gave bush a pass: he channelled the debate into the next question and one which was favorable to bush.
therefore, and for all of the above reasons, barack obama to me is just another bush in make-over clothing.
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