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
