Obama winks a little dirty
After Clinton's self loan to her campaign,
So, he was asked the loaded question, but was more than happy for the opening. The NYTimes version adds this,
Translation: "I would never say anything bad about the Clinton's, but, please, please, you'd really help if you dug over there."
(I would guess Obama wants this pressure to highlight Bill Clinton's post-White House dealings to make the Clintons look very "connected" to Washington and foreign interests. That's one way he could get into her white "blue collar" vote.)
The Clinton campaign said they would release her records after the primary.
Asked whether he would call on the Clintons to release their tax returns, Obama stopped short of saying they should.
"I'll just say that I've released my tax returns. That's been a policy I've maintained consistently. I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from. But I'll leave it up to you guys to chase it down," he told reporters on the flight to Omaha, Neb., for a rally.
So, he was asked the loaded question, but was more than happy for the opening. The NYTimes version adds this,
“I’m not going to get into the intricacies of their finances,” Mr. Obama told reporters as he flew to a rally in Nebraska. “That’s something that you’ll have to ask them.”
Translation: "I would never say anything bad about the Clinton's, but, please, please, you'd really help if you dug over there."
(I would guess Obama wants this pressure to highlight Bill Clinton's post-White House dealings to make the Clintons look very "connected" to Washington and foreign interests. That's one way he could get into her white "blue collar" vote.)
The Clinton campaign said they would release her records after the primary.
posted by mikevotes at
7:54 AM
11 Comments:
Well, not to sound too defensive or anything, but I wouldn't call Obama's actions here "dirty." At least no "dirtier" than Hillary's whole self-financing/staff-without-pay/fund-raising-resurrection... what would you call it? Event?
This falls well within the thrust and parry of a campaign. Dirty if he intentionally and knowingly spread misinformation about his opponent.
By
-epm, at 8:13 AM
I forgot to mention. If opening up tax returns becomes a media obsession (even mildly so) I don't think Hillary just releasing her records will fly.
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-epm, at 8:15 AM
Yeah, you're right. I couldn't find the right language.
The question was obviously put to him to try and create a story, but reading the various accounts it sounds like Obama responded with a wink in his tone.
Not dirty, but suggesting that reporters should look for dirt over there isn't that clean either.
And, I think the whole point of this is to remind people of the memory of Clinton economic questions of the past.
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mikevotes, at 8:22 AM
I think this is also part of Obama's growing electaability argument.
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mikevotes, at 8:50 AM
"suggesting that reporters should look for dirt over there isn't that clean either."
Seriously, though. Like the media is slapping their collective forehead and saying "Hillary's tax returns! Main, I'd never have thought about that in a million years! Thanks from the tip 'Bama." This isn't exactly dumping oppo dirt...
I think there's a hire, white glove, expectation of the Obama campaign. Conversely, there's a lower bar of expectation for the Clinton campaign. This perception could unfairly hurt him in the punditocracy, where perception and knee-jerk reaction are the coin of the realm.
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-epm, at 8:50 AM
"I think this is also part of Obama's growing electability argument."
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying here, but if Obama demonstrates and ability to throw a few jab without resorting to meanness, then I think it helps his electability perception.
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-epm, at 8:53 AM
I agree. The media was headed there anyway.
And what I was trying to say is that Obama was trying to counter the recent Clinton claims that he's not been vetted by showing that there's alot of their recent lives that might raise eyebrows as well.
He was trying to blunt her argument.
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mikevotes, at 11:13 AM
Gotcha. Agreed.
I have a hunch that Obama has some oppo dirt on the Clintons. Just a hunch right now.
We'll see. I heard an Obama sound bite on the radio (can't find a link) where his tone and phrasing gave me the impression he knows more than he's telling.
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-epm, at 11:35 AM
I'm sure he does. Any campaign with big money would have a good oppo research staff, and you have to figure that there's something in the Post White House that looks bad (even if it isn't.)
And notice the Clinton campaign has dropped Rezco completely.
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mikevotes, at 2:08 PM
"And notice the Clinton campaign has dropped Rezco completely"
Yeah, I noticed that. I've been trying to decide if it's because she kinda went over the top with her accusations in the SC debate. I think there was blowback with the "slumlord" language and the easily-proven-bogus assertion that Obama was essentially on the level of a mob lawyer, Rezko's go-to man.
Had she gone more low key ("I don't know, but the Sun Times reported....") if it might have worked "better" for her. She was just SO over the top in the debate.
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-epm, at 3:26 PM
Actually, I though slumlord worked pretty well. It's also come out that she has some kind of secondary tie to Rezco. And maybe there's fears of someone else like Hsu.
I dunno.
By
mikevotes, at 4:31 PM
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