Apr 07 2008

Mark Penn: Did he trade a lifetime’s supply of coffee for his Clinton gig?

Posted by: Neocon in 2008 Race, Foreign Policy, Hillary, Nutter Butters, Obama

Key Clinton strategist Mark Penn has stepped down (originally reported by the cable networks as a complete exit, now a demotion) from her highness’ presidential campaign, citing a conflict of interests over a free trade agreement with Columbia.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Mark Penn, the pollster and senior strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential bid, left the campaign Sunday after it was disclosed he met with representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement Clinton opposes.

“After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton Campaign,” campaign manager Maggie Williams said in a statement released Sunday. “Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.”

I think there are two important trends that we can gleam from this story.

The first is that Penn senses a sinking ship, and he is more than happy to lower his public role in Hillary’s campaign. This move helps remove some of the responsibility from his shoulders about Hillary’s eventual failure to capture the nomination at the convention. As I’ve said before, I think Hillary will do everything that she can do to get the nomination, and I’d love for her to steal it, but I think the best that we can realistically hope for is a contentious convention fight that leaves deep fractures in the Democrat Party. A politically bruised Obama wouldn’t hurt either.

Second, the Hillary campaign message has been so scattered and opportunistic in nature that her own strategists can’t even figure out where the candidate really stands. There is no way that Penn couldn’t have been aware of Clinton’s opposition to the trade agreement, so he either knew that her disagreements with the policy were completely superficial in nature or that defection from the party line was routine in the Clinton machine and it wouldn’t matter (internally). If he really didn’t realize that this conflict of interests wouldn’t be exposed, he’s naive and her failure during the primary season now makes much more sense. The “whatever you want, that’s me” strategy extends beyond Hillary. Both her highness and the Messiah have been waging a generic battle for change.

I hope this weakness of principle continues to be stressed from inside the Democrat Party after the convention, and indeed there are examples from Obama as well. Two prominent Obama foreign policy advisers have made recommendations and admissions that fly in the face of Obama’s hard rhetoric on getting out of Iraq ASAP. Also, in a slightly more related gaff, remember that Obama got in trouble because his campaign was reassuring the Canadians privately that NAFTA wouldn’t be renegotiated after he made the false claim that it might be in order to win votes in Ohio.

So what should we really take away from this? Keep that primary fight going, Dems.

For more on why this matters, check out this post from John Hood at the Corner. Hint: that free trade agreement is needed to show support for our anti-Chavez ally in the south.

Michelle Malkin has the scoop on another Obama frazzle in the making. The kooks are out in force for this guy. Let’s hope they push away middle America.

There was some time to kill as multiple tallies of the delegates and alternates were done, and when the time-killer of taking audience questions had run its course and the idea of teling jokes had been nixed, someone suggested doing the Pledge of Allegiance to pass the time. (Are you listening, right-wing bloggers? This is going to get good.)

At the mere mention of doing the pledge there were groans and boos. Then, when the district chair put the idea of doing the Pledge of Allegiance up to a vote, it was overwhelmingly voted down. One might more accurately say the idea of pledging allegiance to the flag (of which there was only one in the room, by the way, on some delegate’s hat) was shouted down.

Hugh Hewitt has more on Obama’s patriotism problems.