Public Appearances
Clinton clumsy in counterattacking, but not playing the race card, says Gergen12/20/2007 With us also tonight, CNN's John King in Des Moines, in Manchester, Jennifer Donahue of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. And, in Boston, we would like to welcome the newest member of CNN, our new senior political analyst, David Gergen, who, of course, has advised presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton. Welcome. David, let's start with you. Here we are, two weeks until Iowa, a virtual tie between Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. Does it surprise you that the tacks are getting sharper and sharper with the race this close? DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not at all, because, in both parties now, we have very, very close races. And, naturally, you're going to go in this direction. And I think, with regard to Hillary Clinton, you know, the -- the complaints from the Clinton campaign are fair. First of all, Barack did start that -- you know, he fired first. And, secondly, I think they have been articling that the media has given Barack more flattering portraits than they have of Hillary Clinton. That's also fair. What's surprising, Anderson, is the way they -- the way they have gone about counterattacking. First of all, it's been clumsy, as we just heard, these various apologies for things that have gone over the line. Secondly, today, we just had two days a likability campaign. We thought we were going down that track with Hillary Clinton. We have been talking about that. And now, suddenly, you have got this reversal and she -- you have got these attacks coming out from her campaign. That's very, very surprising. And I think, finally, where this may really rebound against her is, it reminds people of the old politics. And that's exactly what Barack Obama has been campaigning against, the old-style politics, the odious attack -- attack ads, the negative attacks and all the rest. And I think that's not where she wants to be at this point. COOPER: John King, let me ask you, is this stuff just accidental, I mean, that high-level aides say something, and then have to apologize, or, in one case, even resign, or is there a pattern here? JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, critics would say there's a pattern, Anderson. And this is one of the great mysteries of politics. The Clinton campaign -- and I just checked back in with them again tonight -- insist that what Billy Shaheen said in New Hampshire about Barack Obama, possible drug use during his youth, they say that was unauthorized. What Bob Kerrey said, they said that was just Bob Kerrey speaking. And Bob Kerrey, I interviewed him the other day. He said he actually insists he meant it as a compliment. Of course, look on the blogosphere. It's not taken that way. They say these are isolated incidents, they were not authorized, they were accidents, if you will. Critics look at it and say, come on, these people have been in politics too long. They're way too smart. Some of them have been in dirty campaigns in the past. They say there's no way it can be a coincidence. That's where we are in the campaign. COOPER: Jennifer, in New Hampshire is there the perception that Hillary Clinton is being singled out unfairly? I want to read you something that "TIME" magazine's editor at large mentioned to "The Washington Post," Mark Halperin. He said: "She's just held to a different standard in every respect. The press rooted for Obama to go negative. When he did, he was applauded. When she does it, it's treated as this huge violation of propriety. It's not a level playing field." JENNIFER DONAHUE, SENIOR ADVISER FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS, NEW HAMPSHIRE INSTITUTE OF POLITICS AT SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE: Well, they're doing it in an entirely different way. When Barack Obama went negative on Hillary Clinton, he did it after Edwards did, first of all,. He grilled it and got it ready. And then Obama flipped it, and he basically did it in a way that was policy-based, issue-based. What Kerry did the other day and what happened last week on the drug issue with Shaheen, and, moreover, with Mark Penn, who then kept repeating it over and over and over, they're playing the race card. This is not some small thing where they're saying, like Gore did about Bradley in 2000, he wanted to raise the retirement age, when, in fact, he didn't. This is the race card. They're attacking his race. And I think it's really above the pale. Voters here don't like it. COOPER: David Gergen, do you agree with that? GERGEN: No, I don't, I don't think they're playing the race card at all. He happens to be black. He also happens to be a very major, dramatic candidate. (CROSSTALK) DONAHUE: You don't think that saying that -- that -- that selling drugs, and that, did he buy it, did he use them, did he sell them, has anything to do with race? GERGEN: Wait a minute. We went through a whole campaign back in 2000 in New Hampshire about George Bush and drugs, and he happened to be white. We have had various other candidates who happened to have been white, there have been questions raised about their drug usage. I do think, when you start using the word cocaine, as Mark Penn did, it does suggest it, and I think it can have some reverberations. But I think it is unfair to say that they're playing the race card. I do think they have been clumsy, but I think they're -- playing the race card suggests it's racially motivated and, in effect, it's racist. I think that's unfair to them. COOPER: John King? DONAHUE: Well, I guess -- if I could just really quickly... KING: Anderson, I'm getting e-mails -- as we're having this discussion, Anderson -- as we're having this discussion, I'm getting e-mails from Democrats. One of them suggests, go to the Web site hillaryattacksbarackobama.com. They say that is an Obama Web site. I can't tell you if that is true or not. But this is the kind of thing that happens at this point in a campaign. The Clinton campaign would also point out, very early in the campaign, an Obama press release said, "Hillary Clinton D-Punjab," making fun of the money she was raising from Indian sources that the Obama campaign was questioning. Senator Obama had to apologize for that. So, there's a lot of this from all camps in the campaign, some of it authorized, some of it not, some of it done by kids who go overboard in their first campaign, especially their first presidential campaign. But does it matter in electing a president? I don't really know. It's not much about the economy. It's not much about what you do in Iraq. (CROSSTALK) KING: But it does set the tone of the campaign. COOPER: Jennifer? DONAHUE: Anderson, can I just jump in? Because I want to hear David's perspective. I mean, would you also say, then, that Huckabee is not playing the religion card against Romney? GERGEN: No, I think he is playing the religion card. But that's -- that's said in a positive way. But I think, when you say somebody is playing a race card, you suggest that they have racist motives and they have a racist quality to them. DONAHUE: I don't -- well, I guess I don't... GERGEN: I think that's unfair to the people involved. DONAHUE: They're trying to -- but don't you think -- I don't mean that Hillary Clinton is trying to play a race card, but I think that they're bringing up the issue of fear of African-Americans in a way that is either intentional or not, but is real. (CROSSTALK) COOPER: I want David to respond, and then we got to go. GERGEN: I just don't happen to agree. I think that's unfair. Look, I think they have been clumsy. I think -- I think this is going to rebound against them. But I think it goes too far to say they're playing a race card. COOPER: John King, David Gergen, Jennifer Donahue, appreciate your comments. Thank you.
|
