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Over the course of writing my earlier post about Obama's tendency to claim the moral high road while doing the politically opportunistic thing, I began to wonder whether his ability to pull off such a grand political fraud stems from the fact that he had Hillary Clinton as an opponent. At the start of the presidential race, people didn't know much about Obama, but the Clintons had been on the national stage for 16 years, and had a well-earned reputation for being among the most conniving and calculating political operators we've ever seen. A lot of people (especially in the media) reflexively took Obama's side in many of the major controversies during the primary season, giving the benefit of the doubt to the fresh face who always talked about changing politics, over the political couple who they knew would stop at nothing to return to the White House. The Obama myth, thus, was largely built on the fact that he had Hillary Clinton as his foil. It is now up to McCain, who has gained a reputation as somebody who is more concerned with doing what he thinks is right rather than what is politically unpopular, to undo that myth.

topics:
Hillary Clinton, Oil