One of the great questions of the Democratic campaign is who will win. No, silly! Not which candidate will win but which famous celebrity backing a candidate will win! The idea of a face- off between Bill Clinton (Clinton) and Oprah Winfrey (Obama) might even entice this TV-hater to re-up the satellite subscription, from Love Boat reruns right through to the always-gripping HSN.
The looming showdown between Clinton (who arrives here on Tuesday to campaign for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton) and Winfrey (who appears in two weeks to campaign for Sen. Barack Obama), besides marking a rare collision of talent and fame on the campaign trail, is a sign of just how competitive the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses have become, especially when it comes to attracting female voters.
...Winfrey's appearance, announced by the Obama campaign on Monday, is significant on several fronts. The talk show host had never endorsed a presidential candidate. More important, Winfrey -- ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful voices in public life, the host of the top-ranked television talk show for more than two decades with a track record of moving millions of books on her suggestion alone -- is arguably the only person capable of countering Hillary Clinton's most empathetic surrogate.
Meanwhile, Obama said something which is a teensy bit aggressive. In an interview with ABC that was slated to air Monday night, Obama made his most dismissive comments to date about Clinton's efforts to count those years as "experience."
"I think the fact of the matter is that Senator Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it," Obama said. "There is no doubt that Bill Clinton had faith in her and consulted with her on issues, in the same way that I would consult with Michelle if there were issues," Obama said. "On the other had, I don't think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I've done."
Ouch! Meanwhile, Clinton critics are questioning Hillary's claims of fiscal responsibility. This could be devastating if the people criticizing Clinton were anything other than Republicans. Well, actually they are. The criticisms come from a think tank's "Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the center-left Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute." What comes to mind is Naomi Klein's description of think tanks -- places where people are paid to think by people who sell tanks.
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