Editor: Mark Schone
Updated: Today
Topic:

Barack Obama

Friday, Nov 16, 2007 13:17 PST

Politics ain't beanbag

After the vigorous Vegas debate, Nancy Pelosi stands up for campaign combat.
By Walter Shapiro

WASHINGTON -- While the Republican presidential race reached its mean season somewhere around Memorial Day, the Democrats held their fire, aside from a few tracer bullets, until the Halloween Eve fracas in Philly when John Edwards lambasted Hillary Clinton for "double talk." The epithets continued during Thursday night's Vegas Vendetta when the steely Clinton accused the always-smiling Edwards of "throwing mud," while hope-monger Barack Obama likened the former first lady's sleight-of-hand with numbers to the statistical techniques of (horrors!) "Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani."

Small wonder that Friday marked the beginning of the inevitable cluck-cluck, if-you-can't-say-something-nice recriminations over the tone of the Democratic debates. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer complained on "Political Capital With Al Hunt" that this Democratic bloodletting "will hurt the party." Hoyer, who began his political career in the rough-and-tumble circus that is the Maryland Legislature, suggested that the White House contenders should instead "focus on the very significant disagreements we have with the Bush administration." (The quotes come from an advance transcript released by Bloomberg Television.)

About the time that Hoyer was taping his smile-button sermon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was meeting with a group of left-of-center journalists. In response to my question about the brickbats in the Vegas debate, Pelosi took a refreshing let's-be-adults stance, saying, "You want to run for president -- you jump into that arena and you give and you get. And you have to be ready for it. As I say around here, 'You throw a punch, you better get ready to take one.'"

Ever since Ted Kennedy carried his fight against Jimmy Carter to the floor of the 1980 convention, the Democrats have been more conflict adverse than a teacher's manual for a progressive nursery school. It is ludicrous to believe -- as Hoyer all but suggests -- that the Republicans somehow need Democratic fisticuffs to develop 2008 election issues. The GOP did pretty well with the character-assassinating Swift Boat ads, even though John Kerry's war record was never even mildly criticized by his 2004 Democratic rivals.

A speak-no-evil policy in the primaries often tends to be self-defeating in the general election. Al Gore, for example, might have learned to be a more adept candidate in 2000 if Bill Bradley had not been such a feckless opponent in Iowa and New Hampshire. In contrast, Bill Clinton benefited from the long 1992 primary campaign in which he used Jerry Brown as a sparring partner. Pelosi made an analogous point when she repeated one of her favorite maxims for fledgling legislators: "The best preparation for combat is combat."

Barack Obama in the news

Loading...

Recommended Reads

BOOKS

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Obama's first book, a memoir focused on personal issues of race, identity, and community.
By Barack Obama

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Obama's second book, in which he shares his personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people.
By Barack Obama

10 reasons there's a bright future for journalism
An optimistic take on what's coming, both for news outlets and news consumers.
By Mark Glaser, Salon

Obama: From Promise to Power
In this compelling book, a Chicago Tribune reporter draws on interviews with Obama, his family, friends, and rivals, as well as his own extensive coverage since Obama's days in the Illinois Senate, to offer a nuanced look at a man of idealism and ambition intent on making history.
By David Mendell

SPEECHES

July 28, 2004: Obama's first national prime-time speech
In this speech, Barack Obama urges America to remember its unity, pledging that "out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come."

August 28, 2008: Obama's acceptance of the Democratic Party's presidential nomination
In this speech, Obama lays into John McCain, describing him as "anything but independent."

November 5th, 2008: Obama's victory speech
In this speech, Obama tells his ecstatic supporters, and the entire nation, that "change has come to America."

January 20, 2009: Obama's inaugural address
The new president calls upon the nation to face its challenges head on, with determination, strength and a commitment to ensuring the delivery of freedom to future generations.

SALON STORIES

How would Barack Obama handle foreign policy?
The presidential contender on dealing with Iran, fighting AIDS in Africa and restoring America's standing in the world.
By Walter Shapiro, Salon

Chicago is Barack Obama's kind of town
The city has a unique history of launching the careers of powerful black politicians -- which is part of the reason Obama moved there.
By Edward McClelland, Salon

American revolutionary
In his acceptance speech, Barack Obama stood up for Democratic values, took the fight to McCain -- and proved that the United States is still capable of reinventing itself.
By Walter Shapiro, Salon

Barack Obama's epic win
The culmination of a brilliant campaign, Obama's unequivocal defeat of John McCain marks a political and generational transformation.
By Walter Shapiro, Salon

Barack Obama, honeymoon killer?
The Clintonites in his Cabinet, forgiveness for Lieberman, the creeping signs of centrism -- progressives aren't ready to panic, yet.
By Mike Madden, Salon

"A new era of responsibility"
Mixing straight talk about dire times with lofty rhetoric about hope and determination, Obama repudiates Bush and vows to get to work.
By Mike Madden, Salon

OTHER STORIES

The Conciliator
Where is Barack Obama coming from?
By Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker

Time's "Person of the Year" coverage of Obama
A strangely fascinating database of Obama-formation, including everything from "6 Degrees of Obama" to a collection of Obama-themed art from Flickr.
Time

The presidency of Barack Obama
This New York Times megapage is the last word on Barack Obama, including everything from his personal biography to his current political stance on detainees and Africa.
The New York Times

Currently in Salon