The Upside of Being Knocked Around: "Mr. Obama owes a lot to Mrs. Clinton"

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Lessons Learned
The Upside of Being Knocked Around
By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: May 11, 2008

....(A)mid the supposed carnage, it’s easy to overlook that Mr. Obama owes a lot to Mrs. Clinton, that without her challenge, he would be a much different candidate today, and not necessarily a stronger one. Reasons abound:

1. SHE MADE HIM A GIANT KILLER

No matter what happens in the fall, if Mr. Obama goes on to win the nomination, he will be remembered as the candidate who beat the Clintons....

2. SHE MADE HIM ANGRY

Mr. Obama’s relentless hope-hope-hope campaign put him in danger of being seen as soft, a 2008 version of the “wimp factor” that haunted George H. W. Bush 20 years ago (before Mr. Bush, then vice president, embarked on one of the most aggressive, some say dirty, presidential campaigns in recent memory). The term “Obambi” entered the lexicon late last year, but has barely been heard of late.

Indeed, a candidate gains a certain political street credibility by being in a fight....

3. SHE LED HIM TO THE WORKING CLASS

If Mr. Obama goes on to win the nomination, one of the signature challenges of his general election campaign will be his ability to win over the traditional Democratic blue-collar voters that have flocked to Mrs. Clinton in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. In a sense, Mrs. Clinton’s success with this constituency exposed his vulnerability with it — a vulnerability he might not have known existed to such an extent had Mrs. Clinton dropped out early and Mr. Obama breezed to the nomination....

4. THE WRIGHT FIGHT

While this doesn’t involve Mrs. Clinton directly, the long primary battle allowed the emergence, and re-emergence, of Mr. Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., to take place now, rather than later....

5. SHE HELPED DEFINE HIM

Consider Mr. Dukakis and John Kerry, both serious and sober sons of Massachusetts who enjoyed relatively easy primary races before getting beaten in their respective general elections in 1988 and 2004 by their respective George Bushes. Both could have benefited greatly from tougher early tests....

6. AND HAS THE RACE BEEN SO BAD?....

Mrs. Clinton has...been criticized for using arguments against Mr. Obama that Republicans might use in the fall. She has suggested, in so many words, that Mr. Obama is all talk, that he is not experienced, that he might not be ready to be commander in chief.

“Yeh,” (Ed Rogers, a Republican lobbyist and former aide to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush) said, “like we couldn’t have thought of that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/weekinreview/11leib.html?pagewanted=all

[tbyg52]

1. Yep. As long as she doesn't try any last-minute kneecapping

or maybe even if she does......

[Middle finga]

2. Hillary will be judged based on how Barack do this fall in the GE

If he wins she will most likely be forgiven for her dirty tactics and kind of looked at as a Martyr of some sort by making him a stronger candidate but if he loose she may get the Nader treatment from the democratic party and it's voters.

[Cha]

12. hilary is a cruel joke ..I won't

forgive her for her lyin', racist pandering. She is what she is..she was this way a LONG time before Along Came Obama.

[uponit7771]

3. silver lining

[applegrove]

4. Yup. Obama needed to be made 3D.

[Elidor]

5. Gee, I guess I owe the bullies in grade school a debt of gratitude as well

Maybe I should look them up and go have a shot and a beer with them.

[Kahuna]

6. I agree. She prepared him for the GOP attack machine. They got the majority

of their Swiftboat attacks out early. The media have flogged the so-called scandals so much they will be useless come the GE.

[Eric J in MN]

7. Obama represented the South Side of Chicago for 12 years...

...in the Illinois State Senate.

"SHE LED HIM TO THE WORKING CLASS" - there were working class people in his district.

[wileedog]

8. I think she could have done all of this without pushing McCain as much

And the recent race crap is just garbage - its not helping anyone - him, her or the party.

But was he really going to get out of a race with the Clintons without some bloodying up?

[Eric J in MN]

10. She made at least 2 points about how McCain is supposedly better than Obama

Supposed Points Made by Hillary Clinton:

McCain has a lifetime of experience and Obama just has one anti-war speech he made before the Iraq War; McCain has proven he can be Commander-in-Chief and Obama hasn't.

[anonymous171]

9. I tentatively agree.

[Cha]

11. It's All Good but he forgot how

hilary showed us what a LYIN', PANDERING, FREAKSHOW RACIST SHE IS.

Almost as Good.