Posted by
Deadpan on Sunday, March 23, 2008 10:40:50 PM
It's "divisiveness" if Barack Obama is any guide:
Former President Clinton is using divisive
tactics and unfairly trying to question Barack Obama's patriotism, a
retired general who has a prominent role in the Democrat's campaign
said Saturday.
Merrill "Tony" McPeak said he was astonished and
disappointed by recent comments Bill Clinton made while speculating
about a general election between Obama's Democratic rival, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, and Republican John McCain. [My italics]
Sorry, Tony, but this is a political campaign, not a prayer service. The whole purpose is to drawn distinctions between candidates and persuade voters to support one over another. Criticizing an opponent for "divisive tactics" is a lot like the defenders of Bill Clinton in Congress during his impeachment hearings complaining that the proceedings weren't bipartisan. This is the kind of criticism that is really reflexive, i.e. it reflects on the motives of the person making it, more than on the one being criticized, since the first party is just as much in control of the divisiveness or partisanship of the situation as the second. In short, it's a phony rhetorical fallacy and means little or nothing.
Nobody has an obligation to be unified with the other party or candidate during a campaign. Imagine, for example, the response in the media had President Bush faulted them and the Democrats for being "divisive" on the war. There is a tradition in this country that "politics stops at the water's edge," meaning that it harms the nation's ability to conduct foreign policy and particularly the morale of our armed forces during war for the home front to be disunited, acrimonious and undermining to the president's policies. I wonder if Obama has considered the "divisive" effect and the encouragement of our enemies from his criticism of the war and his vying with Hillary as to who will withdraw our troops faster from Iraq.
Candidates have to struggle to find differences between themselves in the primaries. This kind of accusation may work between Democrats, but it may make Obama's candidacy look pretty amateurish in the main campaign if/when he confronts John McCain, if McCain has any good media people.