Of Messiahship and Whisper Campaigns

For every moment that the cult-of-personality surrounding Barack Obama’s presidential campaign makes one uncomfortable, his indefatigable opponent, Hillary Clinton, manages to stoop so low that any principled person would find it nearly impossible to support her.

Perhaps you agree with Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) that the government ought to require every citizen to enroll in a medical-care plan. Perhaps you feel that Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) is showing his naïveté when he suggests that the U.S. should meet with foreign heads of state hostile to this country. Perhaps you even feel that Sen. Clinton was justified in supporting the war in Iraq, given what was known at the time, and Sen. Obama’s criticism is convenient given hindsight. Perhaps you also somehow believe that Sen. Clinton is infinitely more experienced than Sen. Obama; that “experience,” by some means, comes from geographic proximity from the White House. (In which case, Sonny, the homeless guy who lives in Lafayette Park, would be the perfect running-mate!)

Still, even if you support Sen. Clinton on her policy merits, it is difficult to reconcile oneself with the way in which she has undertaken her campaign for the Democratic nomination. In Nevada, her campaign launched 30-second robocalls that used the phrase “Barack Hussein Obama” four times; this was seen as part of a larger whisper campaign to insinuate that Obama is a Muslim. In South Carolina, Sen. Clinton’s husband, President Clinton, tried to link Obama with former candidates Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who were seen as racially divisive. Sen. Clinton also announced that she would seek to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida, despite the Democratic National Committee’s decision—with which each campaign publicly agreed—to disqualify those delegates as punishment for those states moving their primaries to earlier dates. Clinton won both states, but Obama wasn’t even on the ballot in Michigan. In California, leading up to its Super Tuesday primary, controversial push-polls were used on her behalf.

Since that time, Obama has captured 11 consecutive contests, and the anxiety of the Clinton campaign in advance of tomorrow’s primaries in Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island has been demonstrated by the myriad tactics she has employed over the past few weeks. Two days after stating in a debate that she was “honored” to run against Sen. Obama, she railed against him in an Ohio event for an Obama mailing about health-care that she felt distorted her positions, raising her voice to say, “Shame on you, Barack Obama.”

Most observers agree that, if Obama captures both Ohio and Texas, the pressure for Clinton to end her campaign will be palpable in Democratic circles. Most polls show a slight Clinton lead in Ohio and a slight Obama lead in Texas. Obama will likely win Vermont, and Clinton seems to have the edge in Rhode Island. Still, even if Clinton wins both big-prize states tomorrow, most predict she will only gain as many as ten net delegates on the day, a drop in the bucket as she tries to make up a deficit of around 150 elected delegates.

Hence Clinton’s desperation. Last week, it was reported that Clinton would employ a “kitchen-sink” strategy against Obama, trying to hit him on multiple levels—some of which were legitimate, but others have not been completely above-board. On Friday, the Clinton campaign debuted an ad that asked Americans which candidate they trusted in an international crisis.

“It’s 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House, and it’s ringing. Something’s happened in the world,” a deep-voiced narrator intones, as children sleep in the dark. “Your vote will decide who answers the call. Whether it’s someone who already knows the world's leaders, knows the military. Someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It’s 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?” Clinton, answering a phone, says she approves the ad.

Obama quickly responded that Clinton already had her “red-phone” moment, and she voted to allow President Bush to commence the war in Iraq. The ad seems to have little, if any, positive impact for Clinton.

So the Clinton campaign seems to have resorted to what worked in Nevada: the whisper campaign that Sen. Obama is a Muslim. Last week, the campaign allegedly leaked a photo of Obama wearing West African clothing on a Senate trip in 2006; it is customary for visiting politicians on goodwill trips to dress in native garb. Talk linking Obama with Islam, however, had hit such a crescendo that Obama was forced to discuss his faith at an event yesterday in Toledo, Ohio.

According to the New York Post:

“I am a devout Christian,” he told voters in this key state.

“I pray to Jesus every night and try to go to church as much as I can.”

In some of his strongest comments to date, Obama, in response to a question about his religious beliefs, said he wanted to put an end to “so much confusion [that has been] deliberately perpetrated.”

Last night, on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Clinton refuted the assertion that Obama is a Muslim. Kind of.



It was reminiscent of a scene from the movie “Caddyshack”—the only scene in which Bill Murray’s slow-witted assistant greenskeeper encounters the eccentric, wealthy country-club member played by Chevy Chase.

“People say, you know, that I’m an idiot or something because all I do is cut lawns for a living,” Murray says.

“People don’t say that about you… as far as you know.”

Look: the blind, fervent devotion that Obama’s supporters show is at times uncomfortable for your humble diarist. It is difficult to see people at these rallies fainting. It reminds one of a brand of demagoguery that history has shown to be dangerous. But listen to Obama’s words. Read his books. The support he has engendered seems to have less to do with him and more to do with Americans’ desire to change our political discourse, in addition to our policies.

Then take a look at the tactics being employed by his opponent. Watch her campaign play to the fears of average Americans that Obama attended an Islamist madrassa, or that he was sworn in as a senator on the Koran. Watch her try to subvert rules to which she previously agreed.

Whether Obama can deliver on the hopes of a post-racial, post-partisan politics is up for debate, but a repudiation of Sen. Clinton’s tactics in the campaign by voters in the four states going to the polls tomorrow would be a good start.