Good News for Hillary: Obama Goes After Bill

I'm not a big fan of Bill Clinton's involvement in Hillary's campaign. Obviously, the former president is still popular with most Democrats, helps raise the big bucks, and has a lot of oratorical skills. But Bill Clinton's time has passed. Since his heart attack, he looks awful--like a former playboy who's lucky to be married to someone as good-looking as Hillary. Likewise, his undisciplined, shoot from the hip style is all too often a distraction to Hillary's campaign. Frankly, I thought his reference to Obama's anti-war record as a "fairy tale" was an embarrassment.

Along that line, I'm glad to see that Obama is going to call Bill out about his inaccurate statements. From Drudge (via Kos diarist Poblano)

EXCLUSIVE: OBAMA RIPS INTO BILL CLINTON MONDAY DURING ABC INTERVIEW WITH 'GOOD MORNING AMERICA' HOST ROBIN ROBERTS... SAYS HE FEELS LIKE HE RUNNING AGAINST BOTH CLINTONS... Bill 'has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling. He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts. Whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas. This has become a habit and one of the things that we're gonnna have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate'... DEVELOPING....

I don't think confronting Bill Clinton is going to help Obama much. It's too much "insider politics" between the heavyweights for anyone but political junkies to care.

But it might do Hillary some good. Perhaps Bill will start watching what he says before he becomes even less of an advantage to Hillary than he is now.

In general, I don't think that either Hillary or Obama has a clear edge. Hillary does better among older voters, women, whites, Hispanics, and relatively poorer Democrats; Obama among younger voters, men, and the more prosperous. In general (South Carolina being an exception), there are larger numbers of Democrats in the Hillary categories. Hillary is also positioned to do well in big states like Florida, New York, and California.

But none of this is very solid and the picture is actually more clear with the Republicans. It's easy to imagine Hillary's position weakening if she has another debate flub or if Obama finds another compelling line of attack. Hillary's campaign can't rely on their New Hampshire/Iowa strategies to hold the line in Florida and the Feb.5 states. She needs to come up with compelling themes of her own if she wants to cash in on her fragile advantage. One thing she could do is seek to cash in on her baby boomer heritage and emphasize that one of the differences between her and Obama is that she played an active role in the last big effort of young people to change the world while Obama grew up in more cautious and conservative times. Perhaps, she's the better person to push for big change than Obama.