Today's Washington Post includes an op-ed from Clinton Strategist Geoff Garin entitled "Fair is Fair." In it, he argues that Obama has been unfairly attacking Clinton while Clinton tries to fight fair, and the media has skewed this reality to make it "falsely" appear that Clinton is the party at fault. Yes, this was actually published.
Garin argues that Clinton is not allowed to make legitimate comparisions without being labeled "negative."
So let me get this straight.
On the one hand, it's perfectly decent for Obama to argue that only he has the virtue to bring change to Washington and that Clinton lacks the character and the commitment to do so. On the other hand, we are somehow hitting below the belt when we say that Clinton is the candidate best able to withstand the pressures of the presidency and do what's right for the American people, while leaving the decisions about Obama's preparedness to the voters.
Oh, but it gets better. Garin claims that Clinton has not made any attacks on Obama's character:
But throughout that debate, Clinton deliberately focused on the content of Obama's comments without making sweeping statements about his character.
It's an important distinction. The Obama campaign has chosen from its inception not to treat Clinton with the same respect. In fact, the Obama campaign has made an unprecedented assault on her character -- not her positions, but her character -- saying one thing about raising the tone of political discourse but acting quite differently in its treatment of Clinton
That's right, according to Garin, Clinton has merely indicated when she disagrees with Obam's positions -- such as her "disagreement" with his statements about rural voters.
And here's the poor "Saint Hillary" conclusion:
The bottom line is that one campaign really has engaged in a mean-spirited, unfair character attack on the other candidate -- but it has been Obama's campaign, not ours. You would be hard-pressed to find significant analogues from our candidate, our senior campaign officials or our advertising to the direct personal statements that the Obama campaign has made about Clinton
.
If you'd like to write to the Washington Post to let them know how you feel about their publishing of this drivel, send your letters to letters@washpost.com, be sure to inlcude your name, home address, and day and evening telephone numbers.