Clinton and Obama: Who’s more negative?
Barack Obama's staff accused Hillary Clinton of running a "100 percent negative" campaign ahead of the crucial Pennsylvania primary, said Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic online. Actually, only 50 percent of her campaign commercials are attack ads.
What happened
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stepped up their attacks against each other as Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary approached. Obama said that Clinton changed her positions to suit the tastes of voters. Clinton said it was Obama—not she, as critics said—who was stooping to negative campaigning, including criticism of her health-care plan that she said amounted to an attack on universal health care. “That’s what Republicans do,” Clinton said. (Los Angeles Times, free registration) “Look, our campaign’s not perfect,” Obama said. “There’ve been times where, you know, if you get elbowed enough, eventually you start elbowing back.” (The New York Times, free registration)
What the commentators said
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Obama’s staff accused Clinton of running a “100 percent negative” campaign, said Marc Ambinder in his blog at The Atlantic. Across Pennsylvania, half of Clinton’s paid ads have been negative—most of them focusing on Obama’s “bitter/cling” comments. The rest have been positive, so, as a point of fact, “they’re not running an entirely negative campaign.”
Obama has been denouncing “tit-for-tat politics” as he travels around Pennsylvania, said John Dickerson in Slate. But that takes “chutzpah,” given that while the candidate has been denouncing “distractions” his staff has been going to great lengths to maximize the damage from “Clinton's fantastical story about her breakneck race to shelter under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia.”
The campaign sure has “spiraled deeper into the mud pit,” said Michael McAuliff in the New York Daily News. It started when Clinton “relentlessly” pounded Obama for saying that small-town Americans cling to guns and religion out of economic bitterness. It’s all fairly easy to understand, really. Obama had been rising in the polls in Pennsylvania, and Clinton needs a “blow-out” win there to keep her slim hopes alive.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Big Tech's answer for AI-driven job loss: universal basic income
In The Spotlight A new study reveals the strengths and limitations
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'I will not be silent' on Gaza, says Kamala Harris
Speed Read In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Harris supported Israel's right to defend itself while expressing a desire to end Palestinian suffering
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
'How long can TikTok dominate as a social network?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published