Uh, oh, brace yourself for another possible firestorm over a politician’s comments. File this one in the When Will They Ever Learn Department:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton went on the attack against President Bush in a speech Sunday, accusing him of damaging the economy by overspending while giving tax cuts to the rich.
The Democrat from New York also accused Bush of depriving U.S. soldiers of equipment needed to fight the war in Iraq and cutting funding for scientific research during the inaugural Aspen Ideas Festival, organized by the Aspen Institute nonpartisan think tank.
“I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Newman is in charge in Washington,” Clinton said referring to the freckle-faced Mad Magazine character. She drew a laugh from crowd when she described Bush’s attitude toward tough issues with Newman’s catchphrase: “What, me worry?”
Clinton, who spoke on the same stage that her husband former President Bill Clinton occupied two days before, didn’t mention the presidential election in 2008 during her wide-ranging speech. She echoed her husband’s calls for the United States to remain in Iraq until peace can be maintained by the Iraqi people, saying the mission was part of the “long struggle against terrorism” by the U.S.
“The threat of terrorism is as close as our daily commute,” said Clinton, adding that people around the world admired the “famous resilience” of the British in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks.
Of course, it is NOT the first time Bush has been compared to Mad Magazine’s trade marked gap-toothed teen. The liberal magazine The Nation ran the cartoon below on its cover when Bush was first elected five years ago (details here). So this is not that new. One website ran a whole page comparing Bush to Newman.
The danger is that politicians seem to forget that they’re in the age of instant communications — and instant feedback. A quip that is SURE to get a great laugh from partisans, a scream to pump up a pep rally of backers, is a great sound byte, will surely get more coverage that an idea of how to better fund the military or alleviate poverty in some cities. A zinger probably won’t change many minds, although in HC’s case a peppery comment helps combat a feeling you sometimes get that she can be quite boring. Aside from entertainment value, her zinger will be cheered many on the Democratic left.
But a smart comment? Not really, unless the idea was to get a quip that’d have “legs” and help further solidify her status as a key Democratic front runner.
Blogger Betsy Newmark points out that when the first President Bush called Bill Clinton and Al Gore a couple of bozos there was a big hue and cry from Democrats:”Classy, huh? When the media trumpets Hillary’s brilliant moves to the middle, will they remember these moments catering to the Dean-wing of the party?”
Red meat quotes such as Clinton’s get a politico some additional free exposure, although depending on how it plays out, not always in the way they wish. The Clinton comparison of Bush to Alfred has been out there for so many years it may not spark Political Hurricane Hillary. But her quote will be played and quoted. It will please partisans, anger GOP opponents, and probably be ignored by those who don’t belong to any political party — who in many cases feel all politicians of both parties are bozos.
UPDATE: And now — you guessed it — the Republican National Committee is on the warpath quite seriously over these comments. So we can surmise: a)if a Republican makes a similar comment about HC they will denounce it, since they simply do NOT tolerate this kind of flip remark b)if a Republican makes a similar comment about HC Democrats will let it pass since they’re not upset about the remark. Our view? If was a fairly lame comment, really too original (see The Nation cover above and the link), won’t win her any votes and won’t lose her any votes and doesn’t advance the cause of issue-oriented dialogue.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.