Quite a piece on Rovian tactics in this election- and not by the side you'd expect it from. The last quote quite startled me, because I hadn't thought about it. HRC would not have the campaign to herself in a 2012 scenario. (Which I have a hard time with because I think the backlash from a Democratic loss in 2008 would preempt any consideration of HRC, except in her own mind, of a bid in 2012)
Caveat: This is pretty much a pro-Obama site.
James Moore -- Texas Expert on Rove -- Discusses Political Surrogates, Rovian Tactics, and Win at All Cost Campaigns in 2008
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/101.....
"James Moore: I don't think there's any doubt that it's planned. I also believe that they do sort of deny by saying, look, this is the first time that gender and race have been front and center in a campaign like this. People are trying to find ways to deal with it effectively, both in a pro and con manner. So even if you detect a pattern, which I do, and even if you believe that it is an organized effort to keep reminding people of race, there is also a very handy excuse for them to say: look, people are speaking freely for themselves. We're confronting race for the first time in a campaign of this nature, for the highest office in the land and possibly the world. And this is not orchestrated.
When that many people are saying that many things, it is an issue where they see an advantage. It's like they're saying, there are people out there for whom race is an issue, but it shouldn't be, but they are reminding them it's an issue in a very subconscious way. This does not happen by accident. I think it's fair to say that they are not just playing the "race card," but they're trying to combine race and fear.
This is the thing that probably pushed me over the edge with the Clintons. I like them both. I think he was a fine president. I think if he hadn't had his moment of teenage behavior, as I suggested, he might have been a great president. And I think she would make a fine president. But when they made race an issue, they lost me.
Then a short time after that, I heard Senator Obama say: I think it's time we talk to our enemies as well as our friends. When Hillary came out with the 3 a.m. ad, I was done with her. Before that, I was willing to say, I'm in the middle here. I don't know what I'm going to do. But that's where I was lost.
I think it's that way for other people, because the pattern you've described is a pattern of using race as a fear thing. And it's another form of fear if they're trying to suggest to white people, that if you have a black man, and you know his grandfather was Muslim, you just have no idea what might happen. Not only is he black, but "he's a Muslim." We've never been in this position before, and especially not with a man who has as little experience as he does. Why do you trust it? That's what they're suggesting. They're also suggesting that if you put this guy in this position, is he going to be sympathetic with Muslims. Because he said let's talk to our enemies? And he has Islam in his background. And is he prepared to fight the people who are part of his ancestry as hard as they need to be fought? I generally have to say I've been disgusted"
.....
"BuzzFlash: My question is this. Does she really care if Obama wins in November? When she raised McCain that way, maybe they didn't think it all though, but, she could have a chance in four years, we don't know. I'm asking you to speculate. You're the type of guy who says: I can't read into her head. But aren't politicians often that cynical?
James Moore: Oh, sure, they all are. And she's Hillary. She is a Clinton. So she's already examined all of these eventualities and I am sure that she's already pondering this stuff. And you're right. She will certainly give lip service to it if she is on the ticket with him. And she may make some speeches, and she may be out there talking with him. But what she's already thinking about is: if I lose this thing, what's next for me?
Frankly, my suspicion is that she would hope that he loses. She would go back to the U.S. Senate, and she would convince Harry Reid to step aside, which might not be very hard. And she would become the Senate Majority Leader. Then she would be on television for the subsequent four years, and position herself to once more be the nominee at the end of the first McCain administration, to run again.
I think that you also have to consider the prospect, if that happens, that Senator Obama is quite young. And just because you run once and lose one, that doesn't mean you're out of it. We could get an entire horrible replay of this whole thing four years from now.
BuzzFlash: Oh, God save us. Well, Jim Moore, thank you again, as always.
James Moore: It's always good talking to you. Take care. "