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Hillary Clinton said in her concession speech today that she will support Barack Obama on the campaign trail, but tops among the issues where she will find praise for Obama challenging is foreign policy, the area in which the divisions between the two Democrats have been the most stark. Republicans have already begun an effort to haunt Obama with Clinton's remarks during the primary race, and, notably, many of her criticisms they highlighted were on foreign policy -- both because of those divisions and because that's the area where Republicans want to attack Obama, too.
Of course, remarks during heated primary fights have not proven decisive or even particularly influential in subsequent general election battles. It was George H.W. Bush who saddled Ronald Reagan's economic policies with the label "voodoo economics." Scathing though it was, Reagan opponents could not use the term to stop him in 1980. And Bush ended up as Reagan's vice president, the same place Clinton reportedly is angling for with Obama. But at least for the near-term, any time Clinton talks about Obama's foreign policy, reporters are likely to highlight areas where she has criticized Obama in the past and praised John McCain over him. Republicans will try to keep those Clinton criticisms at the forefront.
While the two often staked similar policy stances, they also often fought sharply over each others' records. Although they feuded over their respective past positions on Iraq, their policies going forward were quite alike. On Iran, the two candidates used strikingly different rhetoric despite positions that were very similar at their most basic -- with the exception of whether and how they would meet with leaders of that country and other enemies, but where Obama's position is harder to read these days. On free trade, the two candidates had heated exchanges over who had previously offered the most support for NAFTA. Clinton's criticisms of Obama on those points will be used by GOP opponents to cast him as a flip-flopper on Iraq and free trade, and squishy on Iran and other dictators, for starters.
Clinton and Obama will be able to finesse those feuds to a certain degree, given their basic agreement. The remark that will surely be thrown into their faces the most, though, are comments along these lines from Clinton during the primary campaign: "In this election we need a nominee who can pass the commander-in-chief test. Someone ready on day it defend our country and keep our families safe. We need a president who passes that test. The first and most solemn duty of the president of the United States is to protect and defend our nation. And when there is a crisis and when the phone rings whether it’s 3:00 p.m. or 3:00 a.m. In the White House, there is no time for speeches and on the job training. Senator McCain will bring a time of experience to the campaign. I will bring a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference. I think since we now know Senator McCain will be the nominee for the party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander in chief threshold. I believe that I have done that and certainly Senator McCain has done that. You will have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy.”
Clinton's remarks today did not touch on Obama's foreign policy in any meaningful way, briefly mentioning the need to get troops out of Iraq, the urgency of conquering global warming, how the world would be different on foreign policy if Democrats had been in charge of late, and a general declaration that Obama has proven he is capable of being president. Carl Bernstein, a Clinton biographer, said on CNN today that Clinton will have to get around to explaining why Obama is suddenly qualified. That will take not just finesse, but an almost total reversal. |
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