The warts in the Obama campaign start to show
June 17th, 2007 by ashish
Obama has always promised a different kind of campaign, different from the others. The campaign sought to be different in terms of promising actual solutions, fresh air and away from all negative campaigns. Well, looks like either Obama or people on his staff seems to have lost that spirit, or maybe they have realized that there is considerable scope for negativism in the campaign. Hence, the decision to release a campaign memo critical of Hillary’s Clinton links with wealthy Indian-Americans. The memo attacked both Hillary and Bill, and also tried to turn attention to outsourcing, trying to attack the jobs offered in the high-tech area.
This memo also galvanized the Indian-American community, some of whose high-profile leaders are contributors to the Democratic and Republican parties in terms of fund-raising and political action. Also, such actions can suddenly turn an election upside down, if it causes people to suddenly start doubting whether the entire campaign about being a breath of fresh air is actually all hot air. In the last Senate election, a supposed slur by a winning senator Allen caused his campaign to literally go down the tubes, losing in the end. If you refer to what Obama’s campaign note said:
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s campaign manager yesterday expressed “regret” about parts of a campaign document questioning rival Hillary Clinton’s ties to India. The memo, provided to the Daily News by the Clinton campaign this week, carried the headline “Hillary Clinton’s Personal Financial and Political Ties” and mockingly described her political affiliation as (D-Punjab).
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe yesterday issued a statement about the document, calling Obama “a longtime friend of the Indian-American community” who has many supporters in the group. The bipartisan United States India Political Action Committee, which trumpeted its role in the 2004 creation of the Senate India Caucus - with Sen. Clinton as a co-chair - called Obama to task yesterday.
It is plain lucky for Obama that he just had to beat a quick retreat with maybe not too much loss, imagine the uproar if he made some comment on the stronger politically active communities such as Jewish-American, or African-American. He would never have been able to live down such comments.
In addition, the Democratic party counts the Indian-American community as a friend, providing some support and friends, and such actions would cause pressure against the Obama campaign.
