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The Obama-Clinton Issue (The NY Times Dumping on Hillary Alert)
New York Times ^ | December 18, 2007 | David Brooks

Posted on 12/18/2007 3:06:41 AM PST by Zakeet

Hillary Clinton has been a much better senator than Barack Obama. She has been a serious, substantive lawmaker who has worked effectively across party lines. Obama has some accomplishments under his belt, but many of his colleagues believe that he has not bothered to master the intricacies of legislation or the maze of Senate rules. He talks about independence, but he has never quite bucked liberal orthodoxy or party discipline.

If Clinton were running against Obama for Senate, it would be easy to choose between them.

But they are running for president, and the presidency requires a different set of qualities. Presidents are buffeted by sycophancy, criticism and betrayal. They must improvise amid a thousand fluid crises. They’re isolated and also exposed, puffed up on the outside and hollowed out within. With the presidency, character and self-knowledge matter more than even experience. There are reasons to think that, among Democrats, Obama is better prepared for this madness.

Many of the best presidents in U.S. history had their character forged before they entered politics and carried to it a degree of self-possession and tranquillity that was impervious to the Sturm und Drang of White House life.

Obama is an inner-directed man in a profession filled with insecure outer-directed ones. He was forged by the process of discovering his own identity from the scattered facts of his childhood, a process that is described in finely observed detail in “Dreams From My Father.” Once he completed that process, he has been astonishingly constant.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clinton; crazylady; democrat; election; flipflopper; obama; toomuchbotox
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But Obama does not ratchet up hostilities; he restrains them. He does not lash out at perceived enemies, but is aloof from them.

Bottom Line: Obama is a nicer person, hence more electable, hence more qualified to be president. The entire editorial is worth a read.

1 posted on 12/18/2007 3:06:42 AM PST by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet

Any of the top-tier democrats would be a disaster for the United States on a scale not seen since Jimmy Carter or worse-also Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich, of course.


2 posted on 12/18/2007 3:14:53 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Your "dirt" on Fred is about as persuasive as a Nancy Pelosi Veteran's Day Speech)
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To: Zakeet
Et tu, New York Times?

The fall, Ceasar!

3 posted on 12/18/2007 3:15:32 AM PST by gridlock ("I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" -- J. Wellington Wimpy)
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To: Zakeet
Bob Herbert is off today.

Much to Hillary!'s chagrin!

4 posted on 12/18/2007 3:17:24 AM PST by gridlock ("I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" -- J. Wellington Wimpy)
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To: Zakeet
"Obama is an inner-directed man in a profession filled with insecure outer-directed ones."

Sounds like a description of President George W. Bush. I wonder if the NYT ever praised him for that quality.

5 posted on 12/18/2007 3:22:33 AM PST by LZ_Bayonet (There's Always Something.............And there's always something worse!)
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To: Zakeet
Obama is an inner-directed man in a profession filled with insecure outer-directed ones.

LOL!

I love it when Liberals self actualize.

Actually, Obama is black, so Hillary has not been able to "out victimize" him on the campaign trail and the Slimes can't figure out what to do.

Headline tomorrow: "Women and Minorities Hardest Hit."

6 posted on 12/18/2007 3:31:53 AM PST by SkyPilot
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well, you’re certainly right about hildebeast, osama, breck girl, the menace, huckleberry, and pallbearer.


7 posted on 12/18/2007 3:33:46 AM PST by Rider on the Rain
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To: Zakeet
David Brooks --> Obama is the * bomb * --> dismisses Hildabeast for zero personality and qualifications...

Is this a back-handed endorsement for Obama from the NYT?

8 posted on 12/18/2007 3:33:54 AM PST by xtinct (I was the next door neighbor kid's imaginary friend.)
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To: Zakeet

Hard to believe the N.Y. Times lips aren’t squarely on Mrs. Clintons big butt.


9 posted on 12/18/2007 3:46:07 AM PST by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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To: Zakeet
She has been a serious, substantive lawmaker who has worked effectively across party lines.

I had trouble getting past this line.

10 posted on 12/18/2007 3:51:40 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Scrape the bottom, vote for Rodham!)
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To: Zakeet
She has been a serious, substantive lawmaker who has worked effectively across party lines

snort

11 posted on 12/18/2007 4:06:01 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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To: Fresh Wind

Same here. I recently read an article in which it was stated she really hasn’t accomplished anything worthy of mention since she became Senator.


12 posted on 12/18/2007 4:06:06 AM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists...call 'em what you will...They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: gridlock

David Brooks is the former editor of the Weekly Standard. He’s the closest thing the NY Times has to a conservative. Figures he would get in a dig on Hillary while she’s getting smacked around. I’m still trying to decide who would be easier to beat: likeability-challenged DLCer Hillary or charming true blue liberal Obama.


13 posted on 12/18/2007 4:10:36 AM PST by Callahan
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To: Zakeet

For your Health; for the Children; for the Environment; for Peace in Our Time; for the Future of the World

The choice is yours:

Hildabeast Stalin or Obama Jimmy Carter


14 posted on 12/18/2007 4:34:01 AM PST by MrBambaLaMamba (Buy 'Allah' brand urinal cakes - If you can't kill the enemy at least you can piss on their god)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
“With the presidency, character and self-knowledge matter more than even experience”. There are reasons to think that Fred Thompson is the right choice for president.
Now the article reads correctly!
15 posted on 12/18/2007 4:50:46 AM PST by primatreat ( Hold political and scientific idiots responsible by taking there money and glory away!)
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To: Zakeet

Leftist psycho babble


16 posted on 12/18/2007 4:58:54 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Moveon is not us...... Moveon is the enemy)
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To: Joe Boucher

And what makes you think that I can't force the Times to Assume the Position again? They've kissed my butt and fawned on me before. Don't worry, they will bow the knee again and resume the appropriate posture.

/Sarcasm OFF

17 posted on 12/18/2007 5:30:17 AM PST by sr4402
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To: Zakeet

Don’t believe that NYT would pick Obama vs Clinton.. I think this slight negative article for Clinton is just a ploy. So that later they can say that Clinton is a come back kid.


18 posted on 12/18/2007 5:39:31 AM PST by Strutt9
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To: LZ_Bayonet

“I wonder if the NYT ever praised him for that quality.”

No, but David Brooks has, just as he is doing here about Obama.


19 posted on 12/18/2007 5:42:23 AM PST by billhilly (I was republican when republican wasn't cool. (With an apology to Barbara Mandrell.))
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To: Zakeet
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
20 posted on 12/18/2007 6:59:16 AM PST by Bon mots
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