Hilary vs. Barack - Round 1

What are we to make of Hilary Clinton's attack on Barack Obama over what a Mr Moneybags Democratic party donor said?

For those who missed it, David Geffen, media mogul and the "G" in the Dreamworks SKG movie studio, had some less than nice observances on Bill and Hilary:

• "God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hilary Clinton? Obama is inspirational. He's not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family."]
• Everyone in politics lies, but they (the Clintons) do it with such ease. It's troubling."
• "I don't think anyone believes in the last six years, all of a sudden Bill Clinton has become a different person." (Meaning that the Republicans will have all the dirt they could ever want to use if Hilary is the Democratic nominee).

So it makes perfect sense if Hilary shoots back right? Even though Bill and Hilary were very close with Mr Geffen during their administration, she's got the right to defend herself now, doesn't she?

But what did Hilary's campaign do? Did they go to their former friend and say, "Hey - what gives? A bit grumpy because the studio is struggling?" Did they take the high road and say, "Mr Geffen is entitled to say whatever he wants, but we're about winning this election, not reliving the past"?

No...

They shot off a nasty memo to all the press demanding that Barack Obama apologize for what Mr Geffen said since he helped with a fundraiser for Barack. What???????????????

Obama's campaign quickly shot back that just the other day Hilary lavished praise on a State Senator in South Carolina who has decided to endorse her. Interestingly, this State Senator said Obama's nomination would drag down the Democratic party because he is black.

Here's my theory on Hilary's overreaction. She's afraid. She has dreamed of being president for decades and in so doing has gotten the reputation for being manipulative, ambitious and mean-spirited (behind closed doors). She knows it's this election or never, and just when it seems like the time is right, here comes this upstart rocketing up in the polls with practically no experience but a lot of charisma. The regular politicians (and I count Hilary as one) think the answer is to sling mud in order to bring your opponent down to your level. That's the way the game is played - it's not about what kind of campaign you wage, it's about winning.

But I think Barack knows that finally the correct (and winning) response is not to sling mud back. He quickly came out and said, "The nation will remain at a standstill if we continue to engage in small and divisive politics and tit for tat. Our country is at the crossroads and it's not as if we don't know what the solutions are. What's missing is the inability of our leaders to develop consensus."

If Barack can live up to these words, the long neglected center (but majority) of the country has it's candidate. And there's nothing that the Republicans - or Hilary - can say to stop it.