Crossing the Threshold

Deep down, you knew it would happen. Though every conceivable indicator signaled an easy presidential victory for the Democrats, or maybe because of that fact, a niggling little voice started piping up in our collective minds: they will find a way to lose.

Remember back when it was the Democrats who were overwhelmingly happy with their choices in the race for the nomination? Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Richardson, Clinton, Obama, take your pick. Any of them would prove a vast improvement over the current occupant of the White House. A spirited contest would only help prime the eventual nominee for the general election. The larger point was that the Democrats were united, where as the Republicans had turned on themselves. Adding insult to injury, low GOP fund-raising numbers, and a slew of retiring members of Congress, were the fruits of a fractured coalition.

What a difference 8 weeks makes. The Animal Farm-like turn was on full display yesterday when Clinton campaign surrogates accused Obama of Ken Starr tactics. In response, an Obama aide called Clinton "a monster" (and later apologized).
Hillary herself , however, provided the real news offering the following salvo:

"...I think it's imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold," the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant's bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington. "I believe that I've done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you'll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy."

She went on to heap praise upon the Republican nominee, a man who has courted religious bigots, would not hasten a pull out from Iraq, would try to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, has no intention of reforming health care, is pro-life, and on and on.

Calling McCain the presumptive GOP nominee a good friend and a "distinguished man with a great history of service to our country," Clinton said, "Both of us will be on that stage having crossed that threshold. That is a critical criterion for the next Democratic nominee to deal with."

Like 25% of her supporters who now say they'd rather vote for McCain than Obama, Clinton apparently believes the Republican nominee is more qualified to be president than her rival. That's a nifty trick. Divert attention from your own qualifications by comparing those of the the other two guys. What are the specific "critical criterion" that have elevated Clinton, but kept Obama behind? Josh Marshall, a man who has diligently kept his cards hidden as to which Democrat he personally prefers, elaborates on this bogus distinction:

She's starting her second term in the US Senate, where, yes, she serves on the Armed Forces committee. Beside that she's never held elective office and she has little executive experience. I think she can argue that she'd make a strong commander-in-cheif. But she's pushing a metric by which she's little distinguishable from Barack Obama. I'm honestly surprised she's not drawing chuckles on this one.

Even Clinton's friends at MyDD are scratching collective head on these remarks. Here's Todd Beeton:

I still truly believe that Hillary Clinton would in no way want John McCain to be president over Barack Obama if Obama were to win the nomination, but her strategy of constantly pointing to comparisons between her and McCain and touting her friendship with him is a truly bizarre, if not potentially damaging to an Obama presidency in the fall were he to become the nominee, Democratic primary election strategy.

Here's video from the news conference:



Camp Obama responded to Clinton's remarks, and cast a few stones of their own, labeling Hillary as "McCain Lite.":

"For seven years she aligned herself with Sen. McCain in putting all our eggs in General Musharaf's basket," Craig [Greg, an Obama Advisor] said. "And she aligned herself with Sen. McCain when they both criticized Barack Obama for taking action against al Qaeda leadership, which has taken safe havens in Pakistan. She aligned herself with Sen. McCain in supporting the Kyl-Lieberamn resolution," which many Democrats fear raises the specter of war with Iran.

Neither campaign's remarks are helpful to the ultimate goal of a Democratic president. They provide tailor-made advertisements for John McCain against whichever of the two goes on to win the nomination. And it promises to get a whole lot worse. The battle for Pennsylvania will not be pretty. Rejoice Republicans, Christmas, yet again, has come early for you this year.