The web and political community
are, predictably,
buzzing about Robert Novak's column this morning that
the Clinton forces have scandalous information about Barack Obama and
have decided not to use it.
We'll leave it to others the question of the
propriety of going with a story where the author doesn't reveal the
basic
information underlying it (and from the wording of the story may not
even have it). What's intriguing is why someone close to Clinton --
either institutionally or personally -- would want this revealed,
particularly now.
That's because it's hard to see how the story
ultimately helps Hillary. Right now, she's the odds-on favorite to win
the nomination. To be an effective candidate, she's going to have to
unite the party behind her. Now, no matter what happens, she's going to
have a lot of Obama supporters very displeased with her. If there's
nothing there, she obviously looks bad. And even if there is and the Obama effort
is damaged, are former Obama supporters likely to flock to the
scandal-mongerer or to John Edwards?
That's why this whole thing right now is an odd mystery.
SUBSEQUENT POST -- ONE HOUR LATER: Obama has responded to the story,
attacking Clinton and saying he won't be swift boated. He called on
Clinton to " either make public any and all information referred to
in the item, or concede the truth: that there is none.” Again, as we
noted above, this is not a story that in any way is going to help
Clinton in the long run and could, in the right circumstances, give
Obama a terrific issue. It comes at a terrible time for Clinton because
it derails the wave of favorable publicity she was still receiving from
Thursday's debate. So what gives?
AND YET ANOTHER POST LATER: JOE KLEIN ON THE JOURNALISTIC ETHICS OF NOVAK'S COLUMN:
It's here and Joe is not a happy camper.
It will be interesting to see if we hear again from Novak. Klein is right,
by the way, that both the Obama and the Clinton campaigns have been
damaged by this, at least over this weekend.
The question now is whether the story has legs or disappears.
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