Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Family Feud

One of the more remarkable polling details this summer is the fact that Clinton supporters are growing more resistant to the idea of voting for Barack. It was supposed to be going in the other direction. But the growing gap seems to be mirroring the attitude of the Clintons and Obamas themselves.

Politico reports that Bill Clinton is miffed at his assigned topic for his Wednesday night speech - he's supposed to talk about why Barack would be a better president than John McCain.

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas -- emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, the number of Hillary supporters who say they'll vote for McCain has gone up 11% according to the latest CNN poll.

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

In June, 75% of Clinton Democrats said they'd vote for Barack. That number has dropped to 66%.

Some senior Democrats close to Obama, meanwhile, made clear in not-for-attribution comments that they were equally irked at the Clinton operation. Nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, her team continues to act like she and Bill Clinton hold leverage.

What an incredible failure of leadership, on the part of Barack, not to have gotten this rift settled. Bad news for Barack, good news for America.

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