A novice chess player’s greatest moment, perhaps, is learning the art of the "discovered attack." It’s a powerful move that uncovers a threat by simply moving a piece in front of it. What makes this a very potent move is that the piece moved can go off to attack another piece, leaving the opponent unable to deal with a simultaneous attack. It is a two-part move: first, the double attack, second, the takedown. Whichever piece your opponent defends or moves, the other is unavoidably lost. In a sense, it’s sort of the chess world’s equivalent of basketball’s "pick and roll."
Hillary Clinton has set up an ingenious discovered attack. You might think this is about Obama fending off a simultaneous attack from both the Clinton and McCain camps. It’s not.
This is about NAFTA and what I, who appreciates a great chess match, must admit is a brilliant tactic. The gold standard "gotcha" in recent politics is the flip-flop, or the "he/she was for it before he/she was against it" moment. Perhaps the classic illustration was John Kerry’s 2004 deer-in-headlights moment at Marshall University, when he said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."
Well, the award for best discovered attack at play during this primary season goes to Sen. Hillary Clinton. Her play on NAFTA has Obama in a zugzwang of attack ads and negativity so that he played into her hand. She never flip-flopped on NAFTA: she sent out simultaneous, conflicting positions on the matter such that no matter which was attacked she could claim the other.
Before I delve into the NAFTA matter, you have to replay the move that proceeded. It was health care. At the heart of it is the definition of "Universal." Now, since many Americans are not inclined to research the definition of Universal Health Care (guess before this, I wasn’t so keen either), the logical presumption is that "Universal" means that it’s somehow automatic and applied to everybody equally across the board, when in fact it exists in a
number of forms.
So, without defining the true meaning of "universal," the Obama campaign, knowing its plan was indeed universal and knowing that Clinton also knew this ...
In the Goffstown, N.H. debate, Sen. Clinton said she was "thrilled that universal health care is back on the national agenda. ... The important thing is not the plan. We're all talking about pretty much the same things."
... so, they moved. The campaign had been loathe to make the first move on Clinton, knowing the response they could anticipate, but, heck, now that the other team went first, shouldn’t we? Thus, Wisconsin, sadly, became the test bed of negativity and blanketed with televised attack ads from both camps. (With apologies to Wisconsin.)
The opposition attacks continued into Texas and Ohio, with Obama’s troops responding in kind. Bad move. You never, ever get sucked into playing YOUR OPPONENT’S game.
NEXT PLAY NATO: Let's walk you through the moves inside this strategy.
FIRST MOVE: Clinton's 1996 run-up to U.S. Senate bid, Garment District, New York
CROWLEY: The Obama campaign concedes Clinton never said that NAFTA was a -- quote -- "boon to the economy," but he argues the larger picture.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Clinton, as part of the Clinton administration, supported NAFTA. In her book, she called it one of the administration's successes.
CROWLEY: Keeping them both honest, she has said consistently through the campaign that she has problems with NAFTA and wants to reevaluate all trade deals. It's also true that, in the past, she spoke favorably about it, once in '96 while touring New York's Garment District.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 1996)
CLINTON: Oh, I think that everybody is in favor of free and fair trade and I think that NAFTA is proving its worth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SECOND MOVE: March 26, 2000, Working Families Party
What happened to NAFTA I think was we inherited an agreement that we didn’t get everything we should have got out of it in my opinion. I think the NAFTA agreement was flawed. The problem is we have to go back and figure out how we are going to fix that.
THIRD MOVE: June 9, 2003, "Living History," by Hillary Clinton
"Creating a free trade zone in North America—the largest free trade zone in the world—would expand U.S. exports, create jobs and ensure that our economy was reaping the benefits, not the burdens, of globalization. Although unpopular with labor unions, expanding trade opportunities was an important administration goal. The question was whether the White House could focus its energies on two legislative campaigns at once. I argued that we could and that postponing health care would further weaken its chances."
FOURTH MOVE: November 15,2007, Las Vegas Democratic Debate
NAFTA was a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver on what we had hoped it would, and that's why I call for trade timeout. When I am president, I'm going to evaluate every trade agreement.
FINAL MOVE: February 13, 2008, Obama campaign sends mailers, Ohio
"Hillary Clinton believed NAFTA was a 'boon' to our economy; Bad trade deals like NAFTA hit Ohio harder than most states. Only Barack Obama consistently opposed NAFTA."
Check. Now, defend that, says your opponent.