Democratic presidential hopefuls Hill ary Clinton and Barack Obama have gotten thumb-in-your-eye nasty over the past week, battling for every edge in today’s potentially decisive Pennsylvania primary.
They’ve even bashed each other for . . . bashing each other, instead of focusing on “the issues.”
Problem is, they are the issues.
And their tit-for-tat accusations bring valuable info to folks who need it.
Voters need to know who they’re electing – where the candidates’ sympathies lie and what kind of judgments they make. Character is key when you’re deciding who, as Clinton puts it, will answer the phone at 3 a.m.
Indeed, the mutually incriminating charges have been quite illuminating:
* Clinton has cited Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers, a ’60s radical who helped lead the Weathermen – which bombed the NYPD’s headquarters and planned attacks on the Capitol and the Pentagon. Just before the 9/11 attacks, Ayers said he didn’t regret his bomb-related past.
Though Obama downplays links to Ayers, the radical hosted a political event for Obama in the mid ’90s, and both were on the board of a group called the Woods Fund for three years.
* Obama has portrayed Clinton as a compromised Beltway insider, beholden to special interests and willing to say anything to get votes. He’s also chided many of her exaggerated claims and cited pardons that her husband gave to two Weathermen members.
If there’s some reason voters shouldn’t be aware of such claims – all of them, by the way, essentially true – we sure can’t think of any.
The fact is, the US political tradition is replete with hard hits against opponents. Such attacks inform the public not only about the candidate they target – but also about the one launching the attack.
For Clinton, targeting foes is old hat. For Obama, his gibes show he’s no different than other candidates.
But the bottom line: Harsh truths are perfectly acceptable. Voters are better off hearing them than not.
The public ought to be grateful to both candidates for the enlightening bash-fest.
And may the better basher win.