A good analysis showing that Hillary Clinton's smearing of Barack Obama over his association with former Weather Underground radical William Ayers obscures some important facts. Clinton, like Obama, is very much a mainstream, within-the-system liberal who nevertheless has associated with some radical leftists over the years, yet she is now resorting to the same tactics that have been used against her and her husband. The article is not well-sourced as presented, but we can assume that Bernstein is drawing on his deep research into Hillary Clinton's life and career.

A good piece exposing the hypocrisy underlying the Clinton guilt by association attacks upon Obama.

I've often heard that children who were abused are more likely to become abusers themselves. I didn't know the well-known rubric applied to campaign styles as well. But Bernstein has made a good case that Senator Clinton is using the very tactics that were used so hurtfully against her and her husband, against her opponent. Surprisingly, I didn't know about Senator Clinton's internship in California. I've lived her almost all my life. I'm a delegate to the state Democratic central committee. I heard her speak at the convention last year. And I know some of her key local supporters. So the fact that I have heard absolutely nothing about this gives some credence to Bernstein's claim that she has tried very hard to bury it. Which ... More »

This is a more even-handed examination this particular Clinton tactic against Obama and associations that the right has used against her in her own past than others I have read. He writes, "Like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton has (at least so far as this reporter and biographer has been able to determine) consistently rejected the ideological rigidity of the radical Left and -- especially -- the notion of revolutionary violence as a means of political change in contemporary America, despite claims to the contrary by the VRWC. Like Obama -- and John McCain for that matter -- she has valued her friendships with individuals who figured in the Left-wing and anti-war movements of the 60s and Vietnam era. And like Obama and McCain, she ... More »

This opinion piece has little journalistic merit. The author does not recognize the importance of the associations of Sen. Obama, who has no record on which he can be judged. The fact that he is associated with sleazy people like Rezko, Wright, and Ayers and Dohrn and seems incapable of denouncing their views is about all we have on which to judge him. Ayers and Dohrn have continued to preach violence in major public statements as recently as Nov. 2007. And the author does not point out that President Bush has been subjected to far personal worse attacks than the Clintons or Obama.