Hillary and Bill have hijacked the Denver convention, making it into a carbon copy of what it would have looked like had she won until the last possible moment. By the time Obama gets up to speak and put his stamp on the convention, Hillary will have had one prime time night all to herself. Bill will have pre-empted a second night. Hillary will have had all the nominating and seconding speeches she wants. And the roll call of the states would record, in graphic detail, how the voters of state after state rejected Obama’s candidacy in the primaries. Only then, after three and a half days of all Clinton all the time will the convention then, finally, turn to its nominee and allow him to have an hour in the sun!
Now, Morris goes onto point out that Hillary will speak one day, Bill will speak another, and Obama even allowed Hillary's delegates to count. Worse than that, in the view of Morris, is that Hillary did this with ABSOLUTELY NO LEVERAGE. It's what Morris says next that will likely be quoted by conservatives like myself ad nauseum...
This Clintonian tour de force raises a key question about Barack Obama: Is he strong enough to be president or can he be pushed around? His failure to stand up to the Clintons makes one wonder how effective he will be against bin Laden, Iran, Chavez, or Putin.
...
His weakness, if the face of the Clinton demands coupled with his refusal to debate McCain in the town forum meetings raise the question of whether he is tough when the teleprompter is turned off. Why is he afraid or unwilling to do tough interviews? It is not enough for him to say that he is the front runner and ask why he should risk such confrontations. In case he hasn’t noticed, he’s not the front runner. The tracking polls all suggest a tied race where taking certain risks would be reasonable, unless his handlers worry about his vulnerability in difficult or extemporaneous situations.
Is an unscripted Obama a pushover? Will foreign leaders conclude that he is not up to the job, just as Khrushchev did with JFK at his 1961 Vienna summit that presaged the Cuban Missile crisis? If he does so poorly in negotiating with the Clintons, how will he do with the Russians?
Now, it is rather provocative to say that Barack Obama would fold like a lawn chair to the likes of Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez because, in the name of party unity, he caved to Clinton. Of course, Morris raises an interesting concern. Foreign policy negotiations are extremely sophisticated. Barack Obama has absolutely zero experience in it. If he can't negotiated the best deal for himself during his own nominating convention, how will he negotiate with Putin and Chavez.
Fortunately, in my opinion, if Morris is right, we will never have to worry. If, in fact, Morris is right, and Obama has turned this into the Clinton convention, then that will deflated Obama when he should get a bounce. If the Democratic Convention really does become Clinton centric, then it will be an utter disaster for Barack Obama. If it is, he will lose momentum, votes, and ultimately the election.
Of course, if Morris is being overly provocative, then we won't see such a disaster. I guess the last week in August will tell the tale.
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