Land of Opportunity

Howard Wolfson is right. Gordon Fischer’s blog post about Bill Clinton’s comments insinuating Barack Obama isn’t patriotic — stating that there is now a “stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica’s blue dress” — was disgusting. It was also tacky, gratuitous and stupid politics.

Thanks to Mr. Fischer, an Obama supporter and former director of the Iowa Democratic Party, the Clinton campaign got to change the subject after stinging news of an Obama endorsement by Bill Richardson.

No matter that James Carville had compared Richardson to Judas, who sold out for 40 pieces of silver. Wolfson praised Carville as “the most brilliant political mind of the last 20 years,” and then said, “If I had said it, I would apologize, because I am representing the campaign.”

Translation: Carville isn’t representing the campaign so the campaign benefits from the remark but doesn’t have to apologize for it. Fischer — unlike Bill Shaheen, who was a national co-chairman for Clinton when he made remarks about Obama using drugs — isn’t representing the Obama campaign. But Fischer got Obama in trouble, the kind of trouble Carville doesn’t get Hillary into — are you with me yet?

As Sam Youngman reported in The Hill this week, the Clinton campaign is outraged and oh so disappointed. Spokesman Phil Singer declared to reporters, “It’s now clear the Obama campaign is fueled by insults and slander.” Wolfson chimed in during the same conference call that the Obama campaign’s negative turn “is a message designed not to build him up but to tear Sen. Clinton down … That’s not the kind of politics we were promised by Sen. Obama.”

Call it petty, call it spin. The Clinton camp sees everything as an opportunity and is raising money as you read this on the broken promises of the Obama campaign, which was supposed to play nice. They make lemonade from lemons, old banana peels and other garbage. The Obama team should learn how.

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