Obama Campaign Goes Negative on Edwards in Iowa

by: TomP

Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 02:17:14 AM EST

Well, this is interesting.  ABC is reporting that the Obama campaign is circulating a pamphlet attacking John Edwards.  

Circulating among Iowa labor circles, I am told, is this leaflet,which looks to be a standard opposition-research paper against formerSen. John Edwards, D-NC. The shocker? It's from Mr. Positive, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.

snip

It's a shocker because Obama chief strategist David Axelrod told ABC News that "One of the things people appreciate about (Obama) is he's not a cheap-shot artist" and this flier is full of cheap shots.

ABC News

Come around after the fold and let's talk about this interesting turn of events from a campaign we keep hearing is "surging," but feels the need to go negative against John Edwards.

There was this time.  

His campaign staffers, too, have become frustrated by the focus of the media's attention, specifically that the press has not covered Clinton in the way they expected it would. During an interview this summer, Obama's friend Valerie Jarrett said to me, unbidden, "He is a man who is devoted to his wife. There aren't going to be any skeletons in his closet in terms of his personal life at all. Period." And at a campaign event in Iowa, one of Obama's aides plopped down next to me and spoke even more bluntly. He wanted to know when reporters would begin to look into Bill Clinton's post-presidential sex life.

Ben Smith's Blog (quoting Marc Ambinder in  The Atlantic

Probably just a low level staffer.  Of course, Obama didn't know.  And senior staff likely did not know. I'm sure higher level folks would never approve researching Bill Clinton's sex life, or even suggesting that reporters do so.  Must be overzealous junior staff.  

And there was the Senator from Punjab memo:

HILLARY CLINTON (D-PUNJAB)'S PERSONAL FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL TIES TO INDIA The Clintons have reaped significant financial rewards from their relationship with the Indian community, both in their personal finances and Hillary's campaign fundraising....

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/p...

The document, which the Obama campaign tried to clandestinely distribute, was traced back after it landed in the hands of the Clinton campaign. The Clinton camp, in turn, passed it along to The Times, hoping to show that the Obama campaign, like all others, use opposition research in an attempt to define their rivals.

The headline of one of the documents, which referred to Mrs. Clinton as "D-Punjab," touched off a furor among Indian-American groups that called on Mr. Obama to apologize for the remarks.

NY Times

Just a screw-up, though.  Nothing Obama or "senior staff" ever saw.  Of course, Obama didn't know.  And senior staff likely did not know. That damn junior staff is at it again.

"It was a screw-up on the part of our research team," said Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat. "It wasn't anything I had seen or my senior staff had seen."

NY Times

And then Paul Krugman decided to criticize Barack Obama's use of right wing talking points to attack the univeral health care plans of Edwards and Clinton.  That damn junior staff was at it again.

Something's really gone off the rails when the Obama campaign decides to release an oppo document on Paul Krugman. It's not only the actual attacks that are weak (most of them rely on misinterpreting one comment, then misinterpreting the next, then pretending there's a contradiction), but, seriously, it's Paul Krugman. Arguably the most progressive voice in American media. When I argued that the campaign should take the gloves off, I really didn't expect their target, in this document and in the health care fight more generally, would be progressivism. What in hell is going on over there?

Ezra Klein

Here's a link to the oppo document:

Fact Check: ''Krugman Didn't Always Think So Poorly Of Obama's Plan''

Of course, Obama didn't know.  And senior staff likely did not know.

Chris Bowers today brought up some interesting things on Open Left:

Back during the Donnie McClurkin fiasco, it has been confirmed to me from multiple sources that the Obama campaign was preparing opposition research papers of this sort against one of the progressive bloggers who were speaking ill of him at the time.

(Update: I have edited the previous sentence for the sake of clarity and accuracy.  I know two separate things, and conflating them is a bit of speculation on my part. First, I know that about a year ago, someone was conducting oppo research on most major progressive bloggers, but I don't know who. After I heard about oppo being prepared against one blogger a couple months ago, I speculated that meant the earlier oppo was conducted by the Obama campaign as well. That is purely speculation on my part. Take it for what it is worth).  

When I heard about that, Obama temporarily dropped to last place in my personal choices on Democratic candidates. This is a campaign that appears willing to go negative against a wide range of progressive media figures should those figures step out of line and criticize Obama campaign decisions. Given that, I became personally worried that an Obama nomination would, at some point in the future, result in a public smear campaign, possibly directed by the a new White House communications department, against me and / or many of my friends and colleagues.

Chris Bowers, Open Left

Of course, Obama didn't know.  And senior staff likely did not know.  Junior staff run amuck.  Again.

And now we have today:

Circulating among Iowa labor circles, I am told, is this leaflet,which looks to be a standard opposition-research paper against former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC.  The shocker? It's from Mr. Positive, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.

snip

The cheapest shot ... that Edwards somehow has something to do with Whirlpool when the company was closing down Maytag plants in Iowa, Illinois, and Arkansas.

Why is that a cheap shot? Because the link is that Edwards worked for the controversial Fortress Hedge Fund  while it owned stock in Whirlpool as it was shutting down those plants.

But some argue a far more direct link exists between Obama and those plants shutting down.  It's not one I agree with -- I think both are silly attempts to link candidates to lost jobs -- but I think the one linking Obama to the Crown family to those lost jobs is slightly less ridiculous.

The Crown family -- Lester, Renee, James, Paula -- have been supporters, fundraisers, and bundlers for Obama.  

Lester Crown was on the board of Maytag when it decided to shut down a plant in Galesburg, Illinois, and sent those jobs to Mexico.

snip

Shortly after that merger was announced, Whirlpool shut down those plants in Iowa, Illinois, and Arkansas.

Do I think Obama is responsible for the plants shutting down? Nope.

But he should know better than to attack Edwards on the same subject.

ABC News

So was it really an Obama campaign document?  Must be a mistake, right?  Nope.

(UPDATE: The Obama campaign says this document came because a local union requested information on the differences between him and his opponents.)

ABC News

But, hey, you know it by now:

Of course, Obama didn't know.  And senior staff likely did not know.

Overzealous junior staff run amuck.  Again.

It is amazing how those junior staff mistakes always end up with negative campaign attacks on Obama's opponents.  I guess it's coincidence.

As for attacking Edwards on his support of workers, let's let organized labor talk for itself:

Steelworkers Union and Coal Miners Union endorse John Edwards.

Mark Erlich, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the New England Carpenters union, speaks to union carpenters at the Carpenters union's endorsment of John Edwards for the Democratic nomination for President in Nashua, New Hamsphire. September 8, 2007

John Edwards receives the endorsement of nearly one million members from SEIU Iowa and nine other states in Iowa City, Iowa, on October 15, 2007.

The Executive Committee of the International Union UNITE HERE has resolved to authorize the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board to support its members' efforts on behalf of the Presidential campaign of Senator John Edwards. That affiliate will commit staff, volunteers and financial resources to the Senator's campaign in Iowa starting immediately as election laws allow. It will sign on to a participation agreement already in effect in that state which includes affiliates of several other unions, including SEIU, the Carpenters, the Steelworkers and others.

UNITE HERE

There are more.  Unions with millions of workers endorse John Edwards.

Maybe the junior staff is going negative with bullshit attacks because of the Peru Unfair Trade Agrement?

"I'm disappointed by today's Senate vote to approve the Peru trade deal and expand the failed NAFTA model that has cost us more than a million jobs. The Peru trade agreement is an example of how corporate interests and their lobbyists and cronies have corrupted the Democratic Party. Like the failed free trade agreements before it, this agreement puts the interests of the big multinational corporations first, ahead of the interests of American workers and communities. By supporting this agreement, Senator Clinton and Senator Obama have sent a powerful message to workers across America that they're willing to put the profits of Wall Street over the interests of Main Street."

Edwards Statement On Senate Vote On Peru Trade Deal

For a candidate supposedly surging into a lead, that damn junior staff sure is acting like it's a close race and it must go negative against John Edwards.

Meanwhile, in contrast to negative campaigning, John Edwards is presenting a positive message of change in Iowa:

When I talk about the Two Americas, this is what I mean - the very wealthiest and most powerful have manipulated our government for their own ends. They use their wealth and their power to keep themselves wealthy and powerful at the expense of everyone else. And when they do that, they're holding America back.

"But that's about to change. You can feel it here in Iowa. Because America can't be held back. Because America belongs to us. When we face obstacles, you know what we do? We get up. We rise up. We right wrongs and we make our nation the way we want it to be. That's what's happening in this election. That's what's happening here in Iowa. That's America Rising."

America Rising

This is a postive campaign:

John Edwards speaks to a crowd in Des Moines before beginning his America Belongs to Us bus tour in Iowa on December 10, 2007

America is Rising!

I'll let Barack Obama have the last word.  Above the attack piece on Paul Krugman is this quote from Barack Obama:

"I want to campaign the same way I govern, which is to respond directly and forcefully with the truth,"

~ Barack Obama, 11/08/07

Fact Check: ''Krugman Didn't Always Think So Poorly Of Obama's Plan''