Opinion: Obama wins an endorsement, but at what cost?
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Barack Obama got what he wanted when he stopped by the Reno Gazette-Journal earlier this week -- today, the newspaper endorsed him as its favorite in Nevada’s Democratic presidential caucuses. But in the long term, Obama’s visit will be remembered -- perhaps to his detriment -- for comments he made as he met with the publication’s editorial board.
Obama, as we noted earlier, reflected on his managerial attributes ... or lack thereof. Hillary Clinton made sure to zing him on the matter at Tuesday night’s debate in Las Vegas. And since then, she’s continued to draw attention to the topic.
In an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, she said she was ‘taken aback when [Obama] said ... that he didn’t intend to try to manage or run the government -- that he was going to have advisors to do that. That is very reminiscent of what we’ve had for the last seven years. I intend to run the government.’
That’s a questionable spin ...
on what Obama said, but Clinton and her camp clearly see an opening that they can exploit. (Here’s the complete transcript of the fairly lengthy interview.)
A story in today’s New York Daily News contains more quotes from Clinton differentiating herself from Obama on how she sees the president’s job, including this one: ‘Being president means being both CEO and COO of one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world.’
It was also during his sit-down at the Reno paper that Obama praised Ronald Reagan’s leadership abilities. That would be bad enough for some Democrats, but he made matters worse with this line: ‘I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.’ (Here’s a YouTube clip of Obama’s musings.)
Among several progressive bloggers, the complimentary words for Reagan were not greeted kindly. (Some sample reactions are here, here and here.)
Some bloggers rushed to Obama’s defense (here and here). And Obama’s point about Reagan likely would play well with some voters in a general election campaign.
But first, of course, he’s got to get there. And his remarks in Reno may not help that cause.
-- Don Frederick