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Mudville »
Mar 9, 2008 10:00 PM | last updated Mar 9, 2008 10:31 PM
Alec Baldwin in Glenngary Glen Ross: Have you got the brass, Barack?
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NewsvineDoes Barack Obama have the brass?
In David Mamet's movie Glenngary Glen Ross, there's a scene where a completely odious character played by Alec Baldwin tells a bunch of salesmen the facts of life.
"I'm here from downtown," he tells them. And all of them are fired unless they start closing deals. "It takes balls to sell real estate."
In her own way, Hillary Clinton is playing that role for Barack Obama. He couldn't close sales in Texas and Ohio and and now she's mocking him. McCain's got brass. She's got brass, she says. And Barack? Well, he once gave a nice speech and that's it.
Here's what she said:
I think you'll be able to imagine many things Sen. McCain will be able to say. He's never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Sen. Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.
Sputtering in anger after the recent primaries, Obama advisor Samantha Power called Clinton "a monster" who will say or do anything. Power resigned from her volunteer role, a casualty of the Clinton attack machine, now humming at full throttle.
How Clinton equates her qualifications to be commander in chief with McCain's is a puzzle — as Maureen Dowd might say, was it standing tough against Bin Laden or against Bill? But no matter, Hillary Clinton is drawing a contrast at Obama's expense.
Politics is not about fairness. It's about gaining power to do things. Obama is right about wanting to change American politics, but if he's not tough enough to stand up to Hillary Clinton's machine, he's not ready for the job. She's doing him and us a favor by testing him.
It's not a popular thing to say, but we need a measure of ruthlessness in our presidents, as well as other qualities such as wisdom, intellectual curiosity, integrity, and vision.
Clinton has that ruthless streak — it's the flip side of talk of her tenacity and strength. If there's a belief she'll stop at nothing to win the White House, that's something to put Obama on edge and to swing super-delegates. Let Obama's campaign talk about playing by the rules. You can't claim Florida! No fair! But this isn't third-grade soccer. She counts it as a victory. Let him say no to Florida voters. And while he's at it, wasn't she gracious to say he'd make a nice No. 2 on her ticket?
So as much as I like Obama, I like how Clinton is testing him. It's not sufficient for him to say he's from Chicago. Much of his childhood was spent on the beaches of Hawaii and the streets of Jakarta, Indonesia. He's got to show steel.
The comparison of Obama with John F. Kennedy is instructive. Kennedy emerged from the 1960 campaign looking youthful and elegant. He had an attractive wife and children. He gave fine speeches about generational change. But Nikita Kruschev judged him weak and untested. We got the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviets made a similar judgment about Jimmy Carter. Tanks rolled into Afghanistan.
Obama is our best hope for transforming America's standing abroad, but he must emerge from this campaign looking tough enough. Is he convincing when he says he'd launch an attack on al Qaeda inside Pakistan without approval of the Pakistani government? Put aside the wisdom of that notion. Would people believe a threat from President Obama?
Our endless, costly, crazy presidential-selection process has one undeniable benefit. It puts candidates through hell, where struggle reveals strength of character. McCain certainly showed toughness in his comeback.
Obama supporters might call Clinton mean. Or desperate. Or a shrewd candidate maneuvering for advantage. She brought the word from downtown.
- O. Casey Corr writes the Mudville blog for Crosscut. He is a Seattle-based writer who previously worked for The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer and now works at Seattle University as director of strategic communications. He worked as a senior advisor to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, ran for Seattle City Council in 2005, and recently taught business journalism at the University of Washington. You can e-mail him at casey.corr@crosscut.com.
Hillary won by a VERY slight margin, NOT a landslide. And Texas looks to be a push with the caucus count. So she won 2 out of the last 15? BFD. And to do that she had to resort to Jerry Springer Show style antics. She scared the people she could, she lied about NAFTA (thank you, Clintons & Bushs, for that economy raping gem), and she convinced a few that Obama is scary. She had help in Ohio where Republicans voted for her at the urging of their muckraking hero, Rush Limbaugh - no one can bring the Republicans together like the Clintons.
We've chosen class, we've chosen substance over Jerry Springer style shrieking and mudslinging. The Clintons are an embarrassment. Do you wonder just a little why she and Bill won't release their tax returns? Why they STILL won't release documents from YEARS ago? Because they have plenty to hide.
Hillary trails in the popular vote. Hillary trails in delegates. Hillary knows her ONLY chance for entry at the White House is if Barack invites her in as his running mate, and that is laughable. Possibly even political suicide, since it appears she will stop at nothing to be Commander in Chief.
There are those who muse that the Clintons might be able to convince enough Superdelegates to override the popular vote. Sorry, that won't happen either.
You can try to glorify Hillary's poor behavior if you wish, but most of us see it clearly for what it truly is - desperation... and it smells nasty.
Obama has already won - do the math. Hillary and Bill have ruined any decency their legacy once entertained, and Obama will trounce McCain in the General election - in spite of the Clintons.
And we will move forward to better things in things in this country at long last. The Bush/Clinton/Bush dynasty is over. America will be returned to Americans, instead of the corporate interests that have tried to strangle every last ounce of lifeblood from her.
Hillary is not a "hero" for lying, she is merely a liar. She is not the people's choice for scaring people, she is merely a fearmonger. It's even more enjoyable that the sleeping child from Hillary's Red Phone terror spot will soon be voting age and is a strong Obama supporter. The joke is on Hillary once more.
Hillary can forget trying to get Obama to choose her as his running mate, he'd sooner pick a bag of scorpions. Soon the Clintons will go back to New York, back to the pork Hillary has fought for, back to Bill's Dubai deals, back to the state that apparently wants them. But they won't be leading our country again, we won't have new phrases coined on their embarrassing behavior, they won't be pardoning crooks, they won't be making deals that sell-out the American worker, and they won't be what they once had the chance to be - trusted servants leading America to better tomorrow - because they blew that already.
Obama is clearly the people's choice. The people of this nation are done being silenced and lied to, and they are ready to regain the America they have worked hard to build and protect. This isn't the Jerry Springer Show and Hillary's phony mud wrestling tactics won't work - as Wyoming has just stated.
The voters have spoken in record numbers, change is what they want. Americans are the ones who brought the real brass, the real vote for change, and they've chosen Obama.
The Clintons will have to come out of denial sooner or later. The sooner the better. If they have any brass at all, they'll show it by leaving the scene ASAP, before they further embarrass themselves and the party they claim to belong to. THAT would show some brass.
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