The Hillary Conundrum

A tad early for a media death watch, methinks.

Obama is apologizing for playing rough, says the Chicago Tribune:

"Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that it was 'a mistake' for his presidential campaign to issue documents raising questions about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's ties to India and to Indian-Americans. "The memo's 'caustic tone' and its focus on contributions by Indian-Americans to the Clinton presidential campaign were 'potentially hurtful,' Obama said in a letter posted on the Web site of South Asians for Obama."

This would be the memo that referred to Clinton as (D-Punjab).

Hmmm...Could the GOP's leading non-candidate be taking this Reagan thing too far?

"Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator who is expected to announce next month he is running for president, flew to London on Monday to meet Margaret Thatcher and deliver a foreign policy speech, his advisers tell The Politico."

Dick Polman unearths an old WashPost op-ed from October 2004:

"I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up. The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously . . . There are reasons for optimism . . . Training is on track and increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired . . . Progress has also been made in police training . . . Considerable progress is also being made in the reconstruction and refurbishing of infrastructure for Iraq's security forces . . . Iraq's security forces are developing steadily and they are in the fight. Momentum has gathered in recent months. With strong Iraqi leaders out front and with continued coalition -- and now NATO -- support, this trend will continue."

And the author? Gen. David Petraeus.

"Pretty encouraging, right? Any swing voter who read that piece might well have concluded that it would be nuts to dump Bush and elect John Kerry, what with the Iraqis so poised to take responsibility for their own security.

"Given Petraeus' rhetorical track record -- and his apparent willingness, back in 2004, to inject himself into the middle of a domestic partisan campaign -- why should we have confidence that in September he'll say anything that would deviate from the White House line?"

Americablog's John Aravosis votes no confidence in Petraeus: