Mark Penn, clueless

The Politico is reporting that Mark Penn, chief strategist of the Clinton campaign, advised the campaign to portray Obama as "foreign." 

“I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values.”

The country has relatively little sense of this being a "time of war."  This is not 1944.  Besides, most of the people aren't where Penn thinks they are, not any more.  Who is "American" anyway?  And who presumes to decide that question?

“Let’s explicitly own ‘American’ in our programs, the speeches and the values. He (Obama) doesn’t.  Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let’s use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let’s add flag symbols to the backgrounds.”

In other words, run like Ronald Reagan, in the Democratic Party--like that's going to work.

Comments

[Dan Hays]

Yep, Mark Penn was the millstone around Hillary's neck, in my assessment of her primary campaign. But what continues to amaze me is that DC is chock-full of clueless consultants like Penn who get way more respect and money than they deserve from otherwise savvy people like Hillary.

[Hypatia]

Well, Hillary hired him.

I'm not defending Penn, but I'm also not inclined to listen too much to this post- campaign backbiting and finger pointing and I question how much we really learn from it. Defeat is an orphan, or however the saying goes.

A few months ago Penn gave an interview to Lisa DePaulo for GQ - or maybe it was Esquire - that was self serving but otherwise pretty reasonable.

[Dan Hays]

You might find Josh Green's article in the Atlantic a fascinating read. He somehow got campaign staffers to hand over emails and memos that reveal a very troubled and turbulent inner circle.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200809/hillary-clinton-campaign
The memos themselves are at http://www.theatlantic.com/clinton

[Hypatia]

He 'somehow got them to hand over' the memos? That's funny.

[John Petty]

My new issue should be in the mailbox when I get home. (I'm out of town for a couple of days--hence, the light blogging schedule.)

[Hypatia]

I would add that the Penn story pretty much kills the Obama supporters' meme of Ruthless Clinton(s) Who Will Stop at Nothing. She wouldn't do it, but the GOP assuredly will.

[John Petty]

Yes, that was an example of the Obama campaign promoting what was originally a right-wing attack.