Obama: Hillary Clinton's Even More Polarizing Foil (Die Welt, Germany)
"President
Obama will best serve Clinton by acting as a foil - as a contrast. By
comparison with Obama, the potentially polarizing Clinton becomes a wholesome
alternative for a wide variety of voters. … Meanwhile, her party's leftist
idealists and their supporters will seriously not want to stand on the
sidelines when a woman could become president - and right after an
African-American."
The wife of former
U.S. President Bill Clinton is determined: Hillary wants to move back to the
White House. Barack Obama will help her, perhaps even as a secret bogeyman.
when Barack Obama took up the
difficult battle for reelection two years ago, his most important ally was
former President Bill Clinton. Clinton was booked for so many appearances that
it sometimes appeared as though strategists thought he was more convincing than
the actual candidate.
The day before the election, Obama's predecessor was
completely hoarse and could manage no more than whisper into a microphone:
"As you can tell, I've even sacrificed my voice for the president."
Now that Clinton's wife Hillary has entered the battle for the White House,
Obama may provide her with similarly invaluable service – by keeping quiet. In
fact, the president would be most helpful to the candidate if he would remain
silent from now on.
He will best serve Clinton by acting as a foil - as a
contrast. By comparison with Obama, the potentially polarizing Clinton becomes
a wholesome alternative for a wide variety of voters.
Obama's Eloquence
Barack Obama is the president who has too often believed
that giving a moving speech meant that the most important work had been done.
Like no other politician he relied on what we call "vision" - the euphoria
that ideas can inspire and the energies they may unleash. But Obama is just as
unique for representing the depression that follows when enthusiasm is
insufficiently fueled by reality.
Posted By Worldmeets.US,
Hillary Run Reinforces 'Quasi-Feudal System' in America (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)
When grand designs like health care reform languish in
legislative committees; when core moral issues like the closing of Guantánamo
are first qualified and then dismantled; and when all the heroic withdrawals
from the Middle East leave only barbarism behind, that is when one realizes
that reality cannot be transported by a speech. Why wouldn't one long
for a president who thinks about what she says and whether she'll be able to
deliver?
Hillary Clinton is thought capable of mastering the art of
the possible, as Bismarck described the essence of politics. She radiates this
precisely because she doesn't rely on emotion. Nor would she be able to. Her
many critics call her cool, calculating and suspicious.
Clinton's Chance
This is one of her greatest weaknesses. However, in
comparison with Obama, her attitude seems only reasonable. With her
pro-business stance and commitment to a more proactive security policy, she may
pick up voters who have lost their taste for Obama's emotional muddle.
Meanwhile, her party's leftist idealists and their
supporters will seriously not want to stand on the sidelines when a woman could
become president – and right after an African-American. That is why Hillary
Clinton has a handle on voter coalitions that came about thanks to Obama and
Obama alone.
