Hillary Clinton's Tightrope Dance

She is putting in 16-hours days in Indiana, talking about gas prices and creating jobs but very little about Barack Obama. On Fox News, she used only one word as a dagger.

“I think," Hillary Clinton said, "he made his views clear, finally, that he disagreed, and I think that’s what he had to do.”

Since the departure of Mark Penn three weeks ago, the Clinton campaign has smartened up under the veteran strategist Geoff Garin and, with considerable political aplomb, avoided the appearance of piling on during the Jeremiah Wright to-do.

"Clinton advisers," the New York Times reports, "have not held a bash-Obama conference call for a week now--after months when they held near-daily calls with reporters to pounce on Mr. Obama about everything, including Mr. Wright."

Murray Kempton once said that editorial writers come down from the hills after the battle and shoot the wounded. Political consultants have learned to be careful about appearing to do the same.

How badly has Obama been hurt? Can Clinton catch up? Next Tuesday's voting in Indiana and North Carolina will provide answers and what seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago, that she could wrest the nomination from him, now looks possible if not probable.

At least one issue in this campaign has been settled. Words do count.

Mud and Milquetoast

For a contrast in styles of playing political catch-up, consider two candidates who have been getting Dear John letters from voters in the Presidential polls--Edwards and McCain.

Accused of “throwing mud...right out of the Republican playbook" by the Democratic front runner, John Edwards responded yesterday, “If anybody, including Senator Clinton, thinks this is mudslinging--this is milquetoast, compared to what we’re going to see next fall." On the TV talk shows, he defined his attacks as passion rather than anger.

Meanwhile, John McCain is making the case for civility. “If I’m your nominee and Senator Clinton is the nominee of the other party," he told a university audience in New Hampshire, "the country will face as clear a choice as any in recent memory.

“She will be a formidable candidate. And while our differences are many and profound, I intend this to be a respectful debate. She and I disagree over America’s direction, and it is a serious disagreement. But I don’t doubt her ability to lead this country where she thinks it should go.”

On his bus, McCain told reporters, obviously aiming at Rudy Giuliani, “I don’t think you should take shots at her, like imitating her voice. I don’t know what you gain by doing that.”

Observers of the differences in the candidates' approaches might be tempted to look for explanations in their combat experiences--McCain in the skies over Vietnam and prison camps below, Edwards (and Giuliani) arguing cases in courtrooms.

As Murray Kempton used to say, the less at stake, the more bitter the battles become.

Colin Powell: Shooting the Wounded

Murray Kempton, a great journalist of the century past, once wrote, “There is a certain kind of politician who stays safely in the hills during a battle and then comes down and shoots the wounded.”

It’s painful to apply this to Colin Powell. I admire him in so many ways, but there is no other way to describe what he is doing now. Long after his speaking out or resigning could have made a difference, he is now telling us how hard he tried to persuade George W. Bush not to invade Iraq.

“I tried to avoid this war,” Powell told the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this week. “I took him through the consequences of going into an Arab country and becoming the occupiers.”

Now it’s too late. “The civil war will ultimately be resolved by a test of arms,” he said. “It’s not going to be pretty to watch, but I don’t know any way to avoid it. It is happening now.”

All that U.S. troops can do now, according to Powell, is put “a heavier lid on this pot of boiling sectarian stew.”

The time to have told us that was when Bush’s Neo-Cons were slicing and dicing the truth about Iraq and lighting the fire.