The local newspaper calls it “tepid praise.” I’d call it trash talk. . .and it comes from supposedly friendly territory: New Hampshire Democrats
According to Belknap County Democratic Chair, Lynn Chong, Hillary Clinton is inexperienced, saddled with baggage from her husband’s affairs, Whitewater, and a failed attempt to reform health care. In a Laconia Citizen article, Chong says that Hillary has served “just one full term in the Senate and was a member of the 109th ‘do-nothing Congress.'” Chong also questions whether Hillary will “do the people’s business” as she has promised or be “too preoccupied with her presidential bid” to change U.S. policy in Iraq.
Calling the Iraq war the “elephant in the room,” another prominent local Democrat, state representative Beth Arsenault, claims that Hillary has been “a little too far out in front in backing it and too late behind in opposing it.” Arsenault also faults Hillary for trying to walk down the middle of the road politically, a strategy that “worked for Bill Clinton” but not for his wife.
Earlier today when I tried to imagine how Rush Limbaugh might greet Hillary’s announcement, what Chong and Arsenault had to say is exactly what came to mind. This is my neighborhood and it is traditionally a conservative, Republican stronghold. But the Iraq war has changed everything here. Last year they kicked out Jeb Bradley from Congress and put in a little-known liberal to take his place.
In an ironic twist, for local Democrats the problem with Hillary is not that she is too liberal but that she is not liberal enough. Of course, New Hampshire Democrats have not had the best track record of late when it comes to picking presidential candidates. That, and a tendency to self-immolate, makes today’s commentary from party leaders not too surprising.
Welcome back to New Hampshire Hillary!
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I have never come out against Hillary. I think I did one interview where I discussed the challenges each candidate faced and mentioned Hillary and Edwards’ support of the war and Obama’s lack of experience. I admire all of the Democratic candidates and have tried to help all of their campaigns here in Laconia. I did just decide to endorse Obama, but I told all of the campaigns that I would help them in any way I could.
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I appreciate your comments, Rep. Arsenault. We are neighbors and we are both Democrats, so this is a touchy area for both of us.
In fact, your comments to the Citizen were far more critical than your comment here suggests. At the time you said, and I quote from the Citizen article:
“It is precisely because of her position on the war that State Rep. Beth Arsenault of Laconia said she can’t support Clinton who, in her opinion, has been a little too far out in front in backing it and too late behind in opposing it.
Clinton, said Arsenault, who is a former chair of the Belknap County Democratic Committee, has been “too far to the middle of the road and I think that worked for Bill Clinton,” but not for his wife.
“Unless something goes very, very right [in Iraq], it’s going to be the elephant in the room, so to speak,” said Arsenault.
Clinton, she added, “is too divisive” among voters in terms of some of the “baggage” that she brings to the presidential race, “and there are such strong negatives. She was really one of the strongest supporters of the war and she was one of the last ones to see the light on it.”
Clearly, you are entitled to your feelings about Senator Clinton, but I think as a fellow Democrat your initial reaction to the press could have been far more welcoming and warm. You did not have to endorse Hillary, but a comment along the lines of “We welcome Senator Clinton to the Democratic primary and look forward to learning more about her position on the issues,” would have been far more appropriate, especially on the day she announced her candidacy. Instead, you and Lynn Chong immediately pounced on Hillary. It was not smart politics and it was not fair. You should have at least given her a chance to make her case. You did not.
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