Time for Hill to get her hands dirty
Time for the Clinton campaign to douse The Bern.
The socialist senator and his devoted followers aren’t going anywhere. And Hillary Clinton isn’t suddenly going to start inspiring voters.
The only way for Clinton’s camp to slow the Bernie Sanders juggernaut now is to get their hands a little dirty — without leaving any fingerprints, of course.
The Sanders campaign has always expected their Democratic rival to go negative, but probably not this soon.
“Those attacks will come inevitably and when they do come we’re going to have to deal with them,” Sanders’ top strategist Tad Devine told Boston Herald Radio.
It’s a gamble for Clinton to go on the attack, but necessary because of a combination of her terrible campaign and Sanders’ surprising ascension to liberal superstar.
The groundbreaking Franklin Pierce/Boston Herald poll of New Hampshire Democrats showing Sanders leading Clinton for the first time should dispel any chance that the former first lady will get through the primaries unscathed.
The caution and complacency have to go. Clinton’s in a tough battle to avert an embarrassing defeat in the Granite State’s leadoff primary, and her campaign needs an injection of urgency and aggressiveness.
That means doing more than outlining a sketchy plan to address the student loan crisis or passing off tough media questions to her aides. It means running a real competitive campaign, including negative, sorry — comparative ads to point out Sanders’ flaws.
Clinton doesn’t have to do it herself. That’s what super PACs are for. The attacks won’t peel away voters on the far left, but she can go after independents and more moderate Democrats who right now are flirting with Bernie.
And Sanders clearly has vulnerabilities that if exposed, would scare off many New Hampshire voters who pull a Democratic ballot.
Like the fact he calls himself a socialist. That may sound cool to college kids, but most people associate it with the old Soviet Union.
Sanders embraces the concept of “redistribution of wealth,” which is basically the government taking money from richer people to supposedly give to the middle class. He hasn’t ruled out a 90 percent tax rate for top earners.
Then there’s his grand plan to obliterate the big banks, and have government completely take over your health care. Are you comfortable with that? And having Sanders protect us from terrorists?
Sanders’ strategy to deal with the coming barrage of scrutiny and ads is simple: Don’t change anything.
“The mistake we cannot make is to fall in the pattern of being just another politician. ... If we do that I think this race is over,” Devine said.
The risk for Clinton is that any attacks from her supporters or super PACs will look desperate, and make Sanders followers even more energized.
But Clinton cannot do nothing. That’s not working.