Petrelis Files

Union Leader: Bill Clinton Blames

Primary Calendar for Obama Surge

I know the Clintons are desperate to salvage Hillary hugely faltering effort for a third term in the White House, but is it wise of the former president to blame his wife's looming big loss today on the primary calendar?

What I detect in Bill's thinking here is an insult New Hampshire voters, and that after much exposure to Hillary and her campaign, voters are not flocking to Sen. Barack Obama because they like him and his positions, they're doing so because of favorable press coverage of him since he won Iowa. Bill's really going out of his way to denigrate the intelligence of voters.

It doesn't appear as though Bill believes New Hampshire voters are smart enough to make up their minds about who to vote for unless they have plenty of time between the first caucus and primary.

I think what he's really saying is that the Clinton campaign needed more time to go negative on their chief opponent and the condensed primary calendar just did not give them that opportunity.

Could the real problem for the Clintons be their operatives and campaign simply were woefully unprepared for a very competitive election and they're blaming voters (!) for rejecting Hillary? Twisted logic to be sure, but that is the Clintons' way of doing things.

Hey Bill, here's a radical notion you should start to cotton to: No third Clinton term.

Last point: I'm not convinced the Obama momentum between Iowa and New Hampshire would necessarily have been broken by a longer stretch between the voting in those states, even if the Clintons had had the time to slime him.

From the Union Leader:

CLAREMONT – Former President Bill Clinton said the timing of the New Hampshire primary is to blame if his wife, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, doesn't beat Illinois Senator Barack Obama in their quest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Asked by a voter in Claremont how the Clinton camp planned to propel itself past Obama, Clinton said, "The answer is there might not be enough time, because New Hampshire made a decision that I didn't agree with."

He said the state gave up much of its political sway by holding its primary so close to last Thursday's Iowa caucus. With more time, he said, more voters would begin to question the substance behind the Obama campaign.

"The point is the momentum is broken when people get to think for themselves and not get caught up in the press hysteria," he said. [...]