Hillary’s Bushisms

Over the last month the Hillary Clinton campaign has done a good job at losing my support forever. As Clinton’s presidential prospects have diminished, her campaign has turned increasingly ugly. With each passing day, she has spoken increasingly of Obama’s supposed shortcomings of character in an attempt to make Obama look untrustworthy and unelectable. Yet just a couple of months ago, Clinton and Obama promised to leave mudslinging out of their race.

Obviously, as Clinton has fared poorly she’s changed the rules. Her campaign spread photos of Obama in Africa, where he dressed in traditional African clothing during a meeting with elders of a tribe. Clinton’s campaigners hoped that the photos would stoke a xenophobic streak in Obama’s supporters, and turn the virtue of Obama's show of cultural respect into a liability.

This is the same approach George W. Bush took in the 2000 and 2004 elections, when he spread doubt about the war hero status of McCain and Kerry. Bush undermined Kerry’s heroism as a riverboat captain in Vietnam, while talking around accusations that he'd used family contacts to go AWOL from his own service in the Texas Air National Guard.

Hillary’s attacks have yet to reach the magnitude of those launched by Bush, but their character is similar. Over the last few months she’s altered her message to emphasize that she's the candidate of change, matching Obama's focus. But through her actions, Clinton has shown that she plays the dirty politics of her immediate predecessor.