Clinton and Obama Reach Out: Can They Prevent A War?

Clinton in Kentucky

Watching the Democratic primary process lately has been compared to watching a slow moving train wreck, and then getting to watch it again a week or two later. But last night between Kentucky and Oregon results both Democratic candidates reached out to each other, and to each other’s supporters, calling for Democrats to unite once the nomination fight is over. They’ll need that unity to help dissuade the White House from starting another war.

From Senator Clinton’s Kentucky victory speech last night:(Update: TPM now has the video.)

You know, the state motto of Kentucky is, "United we stand, divided we fall," words that have a special place in our history. They inspire American revolutionaries to unite the colonies, to defy an empire, and create a new nation, to invent a new form of government, of the people, by the people, and for the people, and they bound our nation together in service and sacrifice, even in our darkest hours.

We will come together as a party, united by common values and common cause, united in service of the hopes and dreams that know no boundaries of race or creed, gender or geography. And when we do, there will be no stopping us.

We won’t just unite our party. We will unite our country and make sure America’s best years are still ahead of us.

The road here has been long, and that is partly because we’ve traveled it with one of the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office. In her thirty-five years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people, and tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky. We have had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, and her commitment and her perseverance. No matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and your daughters will come of age. [And for that we are grateful to her.] [as delivered]

Some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided, but I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction. More than anything, we need this unity and this energy in the months to come, because while our primary has been long and hard-fought, the hardest and most important part of our journey still lies ahead.

It’s vitally important the two candidates reconcile and unite the two great coalitions they have assembled. The priority now is to minimize the alienation on both sides, and we all have to be part of that effort.

______________

Unity efforts cannot begin soon enough. Those wiser than I seem convinced that cooler heads in the Pentagon will prevent the Administration from overtly attacking Iran. But this White House is not led by cooler or wiser heads, and by October they and McCain may be desperate men, willing to take greater risks to avoid likely election defeat.

Whatever may be happening behind the scenes, it is clear the public debate about that next war is happening now. It’s not just in the White House ambiguous denials of war plans but in the daily exchanges between Obama and McCain, echoed by the White House, about whether it is strong and wise to be willing to talk with adversaries like Iran or, as McCain wants to paint it, reckless and naive, even appeasement as Bush claims.

To his credit, Obama is defying the conventional wisdom that Democrats are safer talking about the economy and not challenging Republicans on national security. That conventional wisdom has always been nonsense and never more so than now: 80 percent of Americans believe we’re on the wrong track, and most know they were deceived about the Iraq threat and ill-served by a belligerent Administration too quick to demonize and too unwilling to talk.

Last night, Obama reminded Americans that the Bush/Cheney/McCain policies have been a disaster for America’s security, its international reputation and its self respect.

But this year’s Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that is the contest John McCain won. . . . The Bush Iraq policy that asks everything of our troops and nothing of Iraqi politicians is John McCain’s policy too, and so is the fear of tough and aggressive diplomacy that has left this country more isolated and less secure than at any time in recent history. . . .

Bush and McCain have already been undercut by those in their own party, including Chuck Hagel, Secretary Gates and former Secretary of State James Baker. And McCain has left himself vulnerable by seeming to argue against diplomacy when Americans are sick of war.

Democrats can take advantage of this moment if the Party’s leadership, including Senator Clinton, reinforce arguments like those Obama is making (as Clinton and others did in response to Bush’s "appeasement" remark), and make them to those supporters who claim they might vote for McCain. That is what leaders do.

Update: See Senator Kerry’s statement on the news that Israel is negotiating with Syria.

Clinton Photo by Barbara Kinney

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