Legal Commentary

Karl Rove's Strategy for Beating Clinton and Obama

By Jeralyn

Karl Rove has a preview of attacks we can expect Republicans to make against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, once either gets the Democratic nomination for President. On Obama:

“He got elected three years ago, and he [has] spent almost the entire time running for president,” Rove said.

Rove added that Obama has only passed one piece of legislation during his time in the U.S. Senate, and during his time in Illinois state Senate, Obama had “an unusual habit” of voting “present” instead of yes or no.

On Hillary:

On Clinton, Rove said the senator talks about fiscal responsibility but has introduced “$800 billion in new spending and the campaign is less than half over.”

Rove said that “the woman” wants to repeal all of Bush’s tax cuts, and that she can be targeted for voting against “troop funding” in the form of her votes against the Iraq war supplementals.

More...

Additional attacks: Obama is "too liberal," Hillary flip-flopped on drivers' licenses for the undocumented and neither will protect us from terrorists.

As to how the Republicans can win, Rove takes a page right out of the Democrats' play book:

He said the candidates had to first “create a sustaining narrative about themselves.” Then he said the candidate should “immediately engage” on the “kitchen table issues,” like healthcare, education, jobs and the economy.

Third, Rove said the GOP nominee has to show that he is serious about campaigning “aggressively in places where Republicans don’t usually campaign.” Rove said that includes among black, Latino, Asian and union voters.

My translation: Voters want a President with Democratic values and any Republican hoping to be President needs to be a Republican in name only. Unless our nominee shoots himself or herself in the foot during the campaign, Democrats are on track for winning the White House.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 17, 2008 (boomark / email).