With less than two weeks until the election, Democrats have already begun looking for scapegoats to explain a Romney victory.
The New York Times’ Matt Bai published a blog post Wednesday titled, "How Bill Clinton May Have Hurt The Obama Campaign":
But there is one crucial way in which the 42nd president may not have served the 44th quite as well. In these final weeks before the election, Mr. Clinton’s expert advice about how to beat Mitt Romney is starting to look suspect.
You may recall that last spring, just after Mr. Romney locked up the Republican nomination, Mr. Obama’s team abruptly switched its strategy for how to define him. Up to then, the White House had been portraying Mr. Romney much as George W. Bush had gone after John Kerry in 2004 – as inauthentic and inconstant, a soulless climber who would say anything to get the job.
But it was Mr. Clinton who forcefully argued to Mr. Obama’s aides that the campaign had it wrong. The best way to go after Mr. Romney, the former president said, was to publicly grant that he was the "severe conservative" he claimed to be, and then hang that unpopular ideology around his neck.
In other words, Mr. Clinton counseled that independent voters might forgive Mr. Romney for having said whatever he had to say to win his party’s nomination, but they would be far more reluctant to vote for him if they thought they were getting the third term of George W. Bush. Ever since, the Obama campaign has been hammering Mr. Romney as too conservative, while essentially giving him a pass for having traveled a tortured path on issues like health care reform, abortion and gay rights.
It’s not hard to understand why Mr. Obama and his advisers took Mr. Clinton’s advice to heart; to disregard it would be like telling Derek Jeter, "Hey man, appreciate the input, but I think I know how to make that flip play from the hole just fine on my own." Nor is it hard to see how Mr. Clinton, given his own personal experience, may have reached his conclusion.
Clinton was far more effective at rallying the Democratic base than Obama, according to a study at Vanderbilt University.
Clinton loyalists are not going down quietly, however. They are busy (anonymously) blaming Obama's condescending, prickly attitude during the debates for the Democratic Party's dire straits.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took responsibility earlier this month for the situation in Libya. Sen. McCain accused Obama of throwing Clinton under the bus.
Now it seems to be her husband’s turn.
Bai's post does not say whether it is Valerie Jarrett, David Axelrod, or Robert Gibbs who is driving the bus.