WHIFFLE BALL. Slate�s John Dickerson gets it completely backwards on the question of who won the Obama-Clinton scuffle this week. His verdict? Clinton won. His reasoning? Clinton called for Obama to apologize for remarks made by liberal media mogul David Geffen and, because Obama responded (though refusing to apologize), she one-upped him. Huh?
Let�s review: A rich, high-profile non-candidate donor who is a former Clinton ally but not a formal member of Team Obama, makes some very damaging, on-the-record remarks about Clinton to the columnist ideally suited to broadcast such grievance, the New York Times� Maureen Dowd. Those remarks and that column generate next-day, major media stories which, in unison, raise questions about whether Clinton and her husband have lost their Hollywood luster. The Clinton campaign responds, somewhat huffily, by referring to Geffen (incorrectly) as affiliated with her opponent�s campaign, and asking Obama to apology on Geffen�s behalf. This, by Dickerson�s logic, does not constitute the Clinton team taking Geffen�s bait. However, when Obama -- who, again, is not a donor but Clinton�s actual opponent -- responds to Clinton�s de facto bait-taking and, no less, one-ups Clinton by reminding the media, for the second time in weeks, that she has formally aligned herself with a black South Carolina state legislator Robert Ford, who said Obama�s candidacy would endanger the Democrats� 2008 general election chances because Obama is black, thereby potentially causing damage to her among a constituency she is depending upon. Then, for good measure, he scoffs at Clinton�s request to offer some lame-ass apology on Geffen�s behalf. Dickerson takes that to be evidence that Obama was goaded.
Dickerson seems not to understand the nature of goading. A fighter in the ring can, of course, be goaded by his opponent into over-reaching and, thus, making a mistake. But a fighter who allows somebody sitting in the audience -- even if they have front-row seats, as Geffen surely does -- to distract them has, by definition, been goaded. As Daily Kos diarist Pontificator remarked, �Damn: That one�s gonna leave a mark.� Finally, the bogus parallels Dickerson tries to draw to the earlier scuffle over Ford�s remarks are wrong, too: Ford�s remarks were damaging to Clinton and so were Geffen�s. (Geffen did not say Clinton is potentially hazardous to the Democrats because she�s unelectable as a woman; indeed, his point is that she�s a hazard because she�s eminently electable.) Obama delivered a splendid left-right combo to Clinton�s chin while she was peering through the ropes at Geffen, yet Dickerson saw Obama whiff. Somebody whiffed, that�s for sure.
--Tom Schaller
