Now that he’s unencumbered by the White House, he’s able to speak his mind.
Obama’s ‘Smarmy, Prissy’ Slap Helped Clinton
Karl Rove told Cybercast News Service in an interview Wednesday that Sen. Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign was helped when she responded in a smiling, self-deprecating manner when asked during Saturday night’s televised debate why some voters had an issue with her “likeability” and that her rival Sen. Barack Obama only enhanced the positive impact for Clinton when he responded like “a smarmy, prissy little guy taking a slap at her.”
Rove, whom President Bush cited as “the architect” of his victorious 2004 reelection campaign, said of Clinton’s emotional moment in the coffee shop: “Now, look, I know there is a lot of controversy on this. It says something about the peoples’ concern about Hillary Clinton that we are having a debate as to whether or not that was a real moment. But I think it is a real moment. And I think a lot of people look at it, and particularly Democrats, who said, you know, I may have a concern about her. I’m really concerned about whether we’re-you know, she is calculating everything. And that was one moment where if you saw it or heard about it, it was hard not to think that was a real moment. I think those two things helped her.”
Well, I think Hillary is smarter than that. As far as I’m concerned, she saw an opening and ran with it. I’m not say that she didn’t answer honestly at first, but the moment she saw a connection happening with the people in the room (applause, the look in their eyes, etc.) she capitalized on it. She knew what was happening, and she got her money’s worth.
About Obama, the more I think of it, the more I agree that his performance during the debate was weak, in the sense that, he thought he just had to phone it in. There’s a real lesson to learn. We’ll see if he “got educated”.
Tags:
2008 Election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, New Hampshire, Oval Office, Republicans, Karl Rove