Pink Floyd Versus Hillary Clinton

Pink Floyd elucidates some of the problems with Hillary Clinton's accusations against Barack Obama at her strange press conference yesterday.

h/t to Kevin C. Murphy at Ghost in the Machine. Kudos to jedreport for the video.



Obama himself responded to her attacks. This from MSNBC's FirstRead:

Saying that the mailers had been out for weeks, Obama suggested that Clinton’s fiery reply this morning may be a political stunt rather than a genuine reaction. “I am puzzled by the sudden change in tone. Unless these were just brought to her attention, it makes me think that there’s something tactical about her getting so exercised this morning."

He added: “And unlike some of the attacks that have been leveled about me that have been debunked by news organizations, these are accurate. Sen. Clinton, as part of the Clinton Administration, supported NAFTA. In her book, she called it one of the Administration’s successes. And we point that out in a state that has been devastated by trade and has been deeply concerned about the position of candidates on trade.”

UPDATE: Here's a clip of Obama responding yesterday during a speech in Akron, Ohio.

Just doing a little digging around on LexisNexis, I found a November 15, 1993 article from Business Wire entitled, "National Association of Women Business Owners endorses the North American Free Trade Agreement," which details Hillary Clinton's White House meeting with the organization to discuss NAFTA. Hard to imagine Clinton speaking out against it, considering NAWBO endorsed the plan a few days later.

On Nov. 10, 1993, Aldape and a large contingent of NAWBO members, met with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and other members of the Cabinet at the White House for a briefing on the NAFTA. The First Lady underscored the importance of the support of women leaders in an issue of such importance to the nation, and the importance of their being part of the debate. On behalf of NAWBO, Aldape presented the First Lady with an NAWBO pin.

We might know more about this meeting and other Hillary Clinton efforts on behalf of NAFTA during the critical push by the administration in the autumn of 1993, but her White House records from that time period, including her closed-door work on Health Care reform, are still being kept from the public. (See this Los Angles Times article from last August: "Hillary Clinton White House records still locked up. Achivists say former first lady's documents can't be released until after the '08 election despite promises of transparency.")

More interesting to me than the attacks, which are just more of Clinton's desperation tactics like the ridiculous plagiarism issue, was her demeanor during the press conference yesterday. The stark difference between her supposedly "warm" and conciliatory moment at the end of the debate on Thursday night and her raging countenance yesterday exemplifies some of the internal divisions within her campaign over how to deal with Brack Obama - play nice or go dirty. Personally, I think it makes her and her campaign staff all look schizophrenic and unstable.

Could yesterday's press conference be her Howard Dean moment?

And, really, Karl Rove? This coming from the Clintons? But I'll let others go into more detail on that regard.

Liam has had enough. The man is always much more rational and even-keeled than I am when it comes to politics, so I take his rage to be a sign of something. Not sure what, but I know it has to be important.

Kevin at Ghost in the Machine chronicles several of the ways in which the Clinton campaign has dipped into the Karl Rove playbook.