George Bush’s “Appeasement” Gift to Barack Obama (UPDATED)
May 16th, 2008
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
It isn’t even Christmas yet, and President George Bush has already given Democratic Presidential front-runner Senator Barack Obama a wonderful Christmas gift.
Gift wrapped even.
And, according to reports, Obama will send a strongly worded “thank you” (but not using those exact words) later today.
As we noted in yesterday’s posts, when President Bush used a setting in Israel — the kind of foreign-soil setting Republicans long said should never be used by American politicians for political denunciations of other American politicians — to basically accuse Senator Barack Obama of wanting to appease terrorists, it was the most thoughtful gift Bush could have given him. The White House originally contended it was all in Obama’s mind that Bush was referring to him, but by the end of the day it was clear officials made a point of telling reporters they were not denying that if the shoe fits…
The problem was: Bush had thrown out a similar shoe about Democrats on Tuesday to CNN, so all the talk from Bush defenders that it was Democratic paranoia or posturing didn’t make sense — except to a can of Jolly Green Giant string beans sitting on a shelf at a supermarket.
Now MSNBC’s First Read team of political experts has weighed in and they MUST be reading TMV. Because they, too, feel Bush gave Obama the perfect gift and Hillary Clinton a sock full of coal:
When President Bush — thousands of miles away in Israel — decided to fire his thinly veiled shot at Obama yesterday, it was a giant gift to the Illinois senator and his campaign. Why? One, it essentially kept Clinton on the sidelines just two days after her big West Virginia victory. Two, Obama’s opponent was no longer Clinton or McCain, but the man with the 27% job-approval rating. And three, it rallied Democrats to Obama’s side.
Bush HAS proven that he is a “uniter not a divider” — in terms of Democratic party unity…
Even neutral Dems, like Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel and Harry Reid, quickly leapt to Obama’s defense. Some Democrats might be deeply divided right now. Pro-choice women are angry at NARAL’s endorsement of Obama; Clinton supporters are upset that Obama is looking like the eventual nominee; and some African Americans are unhappy with the Clintons. But what’s the best way to unify them all? Give them an excuse to turn their attention to Bush.
The good thing about it for Democrats — and the bad thing about it for John McCain who sees the media oxygen sucked out from his breathing space — is that the story is FAR from over yet:
And this will all play out another day — and will likely extend into the weekend — as Obama will respond this afternoon to Bush at his rally with Tom Daschle in South Dakota, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. Obama will react to both what he considers Bush’s politicization of foreign policy and the substance of Bush’s attack.
A recent poll showed that McCain is hurt more by being seen as an extension of Bush than Obama is hurt due to his association with his imflammatory-talking former pastor. If Obama is seen as battling and being demonized by the most unpopular President in American history — a President who acts as if he is President of a political faction rather than of all Americans — it won’t help McCain.
Question: Has Bush become to John McCain what Bill Clinton became in South Carolina to the Hillary Clinton campaign?
If so, McCain could have as much trouble controlling Bush’s comments as Hillary has in controlling Bill’s…
Stay tuned for Obama’s heavily-covered “thank you” to Mr. Bush later in the day………..
UPDATE: Be sure to read Dick Poleman’s MUST READ HERE about how Bush sandbagged McCain’s speech yesterday and could be an ongoing problem (as noted in our post above). Polman details the LARGE number of Republican policymakers and GOP figures who have also suggested opening a dialogue with Iran,
He also notes what we’ve noted: the White House later confirmed that Bush’s comments were aimed at Obama without using Obama’s actual name.
FOOTNOTE: There is indeed a difference between appeasement and dialogue. If you haven’t already, watch Chris Matthews HERE.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 9:15 am and is filed under Democratic Party, Terrorism, Bill Clinton, Elections, Hamas, Bush Administration, Demonization, Negative Campaigning, Newsweek Blogitics, Republican Party, John McCain, Barack Obama, War On Terror, Iran, Polls, 2008 Elections, Democrats, George W. Bush, Israel, Hillary Clinton, Republicans, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
