Pushing Political Disunity Among Democrats

Reporting from Denver

McCain is loving today. I was on deadline for a story this morning, so no doubt
you’ve already read it, because the
Politico story is all the rage:

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas — emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s. This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms. Some senior Democrats close to Obama, meanwhile, made clear in not-for-attribution comments that they were equally irked at the Clinton operation. Nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, her team continues to act like she and Bill Clinton hold leverage.

Not-for-attribution comments, backed up by.. er… nothing.

At last Marc
Ambinder has emails. So, if you want to know what really describes this
manufactured kerfuffle, here’s the perfect quote:

Why can’t BO just be nice to her??

I mean, really, how embarrassing can you get?

Once HRC endorsed Obama, the Clinton camp immediately worked to help me get
access to Obama’s people. Meanwhile, the Obama team reached out to me at the
same time, through the Clinton camp. As most know, I was the first to do hard reports on Obama, with many
tough posts all primary season. The Obama team has been nothing but accessible
and worked to give me everything I’ve asked for so far.

So, Big Tent Democrat,
whose writing I appreciate very much, is off the mark on this one. The truth
is that some HRC supporters wouldn’t listen if Obama showed up on their doorsteps
carrying an equivalent to the political clearing house check. The other truth
is that Obama has a larger field to convince than the remaining HRC supporters
who are willing to cut off Lady Liberty’s nose to spite democracy’s face.

So this “tensions boil” baloney is only managing to do one thing:
help John McCain, who continues to put out ad after ad targeting the junior
high division of HRC’s former supporters. The traditional media, with stories
like this one, is helping him do it, regardless of what Hillary says:

“I’m Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message,” Clinton tells the New York delegation of McCain’s ad that features her old criticism of Obama.