Yesterday, we talked about how the Democratic presidential race was poised to enter a new phase — with the race for the nomination down to the top two, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will start making the case that they can beat Republicans in general, and John McCain in specific, in a general election.
I consider this a very positive development. Entering this phase of the contest will help Obama and Clinton focus their message in a helpful way — highlighting what’s wrong with the McCain/GOP agenda, and how best to beat it in November.
We got our first real taste of this new phase early on last night.
Q: Senator Obama, one other thing both of your health insurance proposals have in common is they would cost billions of dollars in new spending, and both of you have proposed raising taxes on a lot of Americans to pay for that and for other proposals. Well, now, you know what’s going to happen this fall in the general election campaign: The Republicans are going to call you tax-and-spend liberal Democrats, and that’s a charge that’s been effective in the past. How are you going to counter that charge?
OBAMA: Well, first of all, I don’t think the Republicans are going to be in a real strong position to argue fiscal responsibility when they’ve added 4 (trillion dollars) or $5 trillion worth of national debt. (Cheers, applause.) You know, I am happy to have that argument.
If John McCain, for example, is the nominee, I respect that John McCain in the first two rounds of Bush tax cuts said it is irresponsible; that we have never before cut taxes at the same time as we are going into war. And somewhere along the line the Straight Talk Express lost some wheels — (laughter) — and now he is in favor of extending Bush tax cuts that went to some of the wealthiest Americans, who don’t need them and were not even asking for them.
Bingo. According to the transcript, it was the first of six references Obama made to the Arizona senator. For her part, Clinton made nine references to Republicans.
For all the talk about how much more polite last night’s debate was, the truth is, Dems can get along just fine when they focus the attention on going after the GOP instead of one another.
Time and again, it seemed as if Clinton and Obama recognized the utility of this strategy. When Wolf Blitzer asked about the substantive differences Clinton sees between herself and Obama, she said:
“[T]he differences between Barack and I pale in comparison to the differences that we have with the Republicans. And I want to say that, first and foremost, because it’s really a stark difference…. [T]he Republicans were in California debating yesterday, they are more of the same. Neither of us, just by looking at us, you can tell, we are not more of the same. We will change our country.”
Asked about the fact that neither Dem has ever run a business, Clinton said:
“Well, I would, with all due respect, say that the United States government is much more than a business. It is a trust. It is the most complicated organization but it is not out to make a profit. It is out to help the American people. It is about to stand up for our values and to do what we should, at home and around the world, to keep faith with who we are as a country.
“And with all due respect, we have a president who basically ran as the CEO/MBA president. Look what we got. I am not too happy about the results.”
Asked about withdrawal timetables in Iraq, Obama said:
“I think it is important for us to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in. And so I have said very clearly I will end this war. We will not have a permanent occupation and we will not have permanent bases in Iraq. (Applause.) When John McCain suggests that we might be there a hundred years, that I think indicates a profound lack of understanding that we’ve got a whole host of global threats out there. […]
It was part of the reason that I think it was such a profound strategic error for us to go into this war in the first place and that’s one of the reasons why I think I will the Democrat who will be most effective in going up against a John McCain — or any other Republican, because they all want basically a continuation of George Bush’s policies — because I will offer a clear contrast as somebody who never supported this war, thought it was a bad idea. I don’t want to just end the war, but I want to end the mind-set that got us into war in the first place. That’s the kind of leadership I intend to provide as president of the United States.
See? Isn’t going after Republicans better than going after other Dems?
More of this, please.