Bush's speech brings Obama and Clinton together -- but apart

Now that the harsh rhetoric of the South Carolina Democratic primary is behind them and Bill Clinton has moved on to burn the political landscape somewhere else, and Barack Obama whupped Hillary Clinton more than two to one in the Palmetto State and then got the endorsement of JFK's brother and daughter and the brother's son, Patrick, the two remaining Democratic senators competing to live in the White House are still not pals.

Politics makes for strange, uh, bedfellows, but by the looks of things, don't expect a Democratic ticket pairing of these two anytime soon.

Body language or whatever, they clearly do not like each other. Some say the coolness began last winter when Obama surprised Clinton by changing the mind she thought he'd made up and deciding to run against her for their party's nomination. Until then, the nomination had seemed hers to inherit.

And nowhere was that personal chilliness more evident than at President Bush's State of the Union speech this evening, a political theater piece that ...

brings members of both houses and virtually all the District's other high-falutin' folks dangerously together for an hour or two in one place. Suddenly, people who lob daily grenades of mean words at each other are crowding the aisle to shake the unpopular president's hand and get his autograph on their speech invitations.

Bush has addressed a joint session of Congress nine times, seven of them State of the Union addresses. But tonight, before Bush had said one of the 5,764 words in his longest State of the Union speech (174 words longer than last year's), he had shaken House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand three times.

None of that for Clinton and Obama. The Times' Noam Levey had his eyes on Clinton and Obama before the speech. They passed close to each other and exchanged neither word nor glance -- nor handshake. Obama caught up with his new best friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy, patted him on the back and not accidentally sat next to him for the entire session for all the cameras to see, often exchanging animated conversation.

Clinton, clad in scarlet, did shake Kennedy's hand, but Obama turned away for that.

During the speech, which requires members of the president's party to applaud and stand up numerous times, while the opposition sits sullenly in place, Clinton looked like she was listening to one of her own stump speeches for the 200th time. She did applaud when Bush said the Iraq surge was working. Clinton sat near Sen. Joe Biden, who recently gave up his own presidential quest with a twinge of bitterness. Neither looked very pleased.

When the president said his tax cuts should be made permanent or else they'd be an $1,800 tax increase on millions of Americans, Clinton didn't applaud again. When Bush said democracy around the world leads to a better life, Massachusetts' other Sen. John Kerry, who once had plans to give his own State of the Union speech, found the energy to applaud.

But when Bush talked about less government involvement in healthcare, none of the Democrats expressed appreciation with their hands.

Still, after his 52-minute, 56-second remarks as the president made his way through the crowd of legislators, he shook the hand of Kennedy, his partner for the No Child Left Behind education reform. And Obama also maneuvered himself to shake Bush's hand. They exchanged smiles and, in the true Texas style of governors greeting legislators, Bush said, "Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Clinton was already leaving.

And what, you might ask, about Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential wannabe with an invite to the joint session? Well, he was far away, still campaigning through the evening for Tuesday's crucial Republican primary in Florida, trying to become the next person to give a State of the Union speech to a joint session.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Jason Helfer]

Since Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton clearly can not stand each other I was left wondering if there is any chance that the party's eventual nominee will choose a running mate from the crowd left standing or will they go with a fresh face? I was also thinking that given how cool the two democratic contenders are towards each other, would one of them undermine the other while one was still in the senate and the other one was in the Oval Office?

[Bryan]

Obama has said he is a uniter, but look at how he acted in the House today when Ted Kennedy reached out to shake hand with Hillary Clinton. He TURNED AWAY. That is not an act of a uniter. Obama, you such a big liar.

[ken]

Ted Kennedy endorses Barack Obama, Check out the video. Wow!

http://www.seferm.com/news/us/governementelection/elections.asp

[Greta]

C'mon, nothing serious happened here. They did not shake hands so what. The press is playing hard to fuel rumours of friction. Beware, the media wants to sell money, and the juiciest story would be that Obama and Clinton not talking to each other e.t.c. We should start protesting to this. Media is holding USA hostage. Even the race issue, the Clintons introduced it, the media fuelled it and spread it like a disease. Even now they are still analysing votes by race! This is wrong!! USA is not about race or colour of the state. USA is USA. Not Latinos vs Blacks or Blacks vs White or Latinos vs White. I expect the so called civil rights activists whether white, latino or black to object to this offensive divisive politics. I hear silence from Dolores Huerta, Andrew Young and all other civil rights activists and I wonder whether they support these divisions. ENOUGHIII

[Joseph]

This article is a little too politically correct isn't it? If Obama was present first and turnned away when Hillary came towards him to shake Edward Kennedy's hand, then clearly he's the one who should be blamed and deemed childish - not both candidates. Hillary takes a lot of heat from the media and Barack seems to be the media's darling. If the situation was reversed, I'm sure the media would have no problem throwing Hillary under the bus for this one.

[Ann]

It would be entirely unreasonable to expect Obama to shake Hillary's hand after the underhanded (in my opinion) and racially-tinged tactics that she and Bill Clinton have used to try and undermine him. Absolutely Obama is a uniter and his turning away from Hillary Clinton doesn't negate that in the least and it certainly doesn't make him a liar. To even suggest that is ludicrous and it only shows that some are really reaching to find ways to criticize him. The Clintons' tactics have been condemned by many Democrats and even pundits so it's not just Obama's perspective. If anything, he has responded in a diginified fashion at a time when many others would not have.

[bacaangel]

The reason why it looked like Obama did not acknowledge Clinton is because Obama, being the Polite man that he is, was just trying to move out of their away and give Hillary and Ted some space -- some quiet time -- trying not be intrusive or try to rub salt into the wound by looking on, which some might think would be gloating. By being polite, it is being translated as rudeness -- damn if you do and damn if don't!

[cbk]

The MCCAIN WAY
ATTACK REPUBLICANS
A Top 10 List…
Defending His Amnesty Bill, Sen. McCain Lost His Temper And “Screamed, ‘F*ck You!’ At Texas Sen. John Cornyn” (R-TX). “Presidential hopeful John McCain - who has been dogged for years by questions about his volcanic temper - erupted in an angry, profanity-laced tirade at a fellow Republican senator, sources told The Post yesterday. In a heated dispute over immigration-law overhaul, McCain screamed, ‘F— you!’ at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who had been raising concerns about the legislation. ‘This is chickens—stuff,’ McCain snapped at Cornyn, according to several people in the room off the Senate floor Thursday. ‘You’ve always been against this bill, and you’re just trying to derail it.’” (Charles Hurt, “Raising McCain,” New York Post, 5/19/07)
In 2000, Sen. McCain Ran An Attack Ad Comparing Then-Gov. George W. Bush To Bill Clinton. SEN. MCCAIN: “I guess it was bound to happen. Governor Bush’s campaign is getting desperate, with a negative ad about me. The fact is, I’ll use the surplus money to fix Social Security, cut your taxes and pay down the debt. Governor Bush uses all of the surplus for tax cuts, with not one new penny for Social Security or the debt. His ad twists the truth like Clinton. We’re all pretty tired of that. As president, I’ll be conservative and always tell you the truth. No matter what.” (McCain 2000, Campaign Ad, 2/9/00; www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoXkCprdL4)
Sen. McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) An “A**hole”, Causing A Fellow GOP Senator To Say, “I Didn’t Want This Guy Anywhere Near A Trigger.” “Why can’t McCain win the votes of his own colleagues? To explain, a Republican senator tells this story: at a GOP meeting last fall, McCain erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman, Pete Domenici, saying, ‘Only an a–hole would put together a budget like this.’ Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: ‘I wouldn’t call you an a–hole unless you really were an a–hole.’ The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. ‘I decided,’ the senator told Newsweek, ‘I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.’” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00)
Sen. McCain Had A Heated Exchange With Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) And Called Him A “F*cking Jerk.” “Senators are not used to having their intelligence or integrity challenged by another senator. ‘Are you calling me stupid?’ Sen. Chuck Grassley once inquired during a debate with McCain over the fate of the Vietnam MIAs, according to a source who was present. ‘No,’ replied McCain, ‘I’m calling you a f—ing jerk!’ (Grassley and McCain had no comment.)” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00)
In 1995, Sen. McCain Had A “Scuffle” With 92-Year-Old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) On The Senate Floor. “In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, ‘Is the senator about through?’ McCain glared at Thurmond, thanked him for his ‘courtesy’ (translation: buzz off), and continued on. McCain later confronted Thurmond on the Senate floor. A scuffle ensued, and the two didn’t part friends.” (Harry Jaffe, “Senator Hothead,” The Washingtonian, 2/97)
Sen. McCain Accused Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Of The “Most Egregious Incident” Of Corruption He Had Seen In The Senate. “It escalated when McCain reiterated the charges Oct. 10 in a cross-examination, calling McConnell’s actions the ‘most egregious incident’ demonstrating the appearance of corruption he has ever seen in his Senate career.” (Amy Keller, “Attacks Escalate In Depositions,” Roll Call, 10/21/02)
Sen. McCain Attacked Christian Leaders And Republicans In A Blistering Speech During The 2000 Campaign. MCCAIN: “Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore. … The political tactics of division and slander are not our values… They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.” (Sen. John McCain, Remarks,

Virginia Beach, VA, 2/28/00)
Sen. McCain Attacked Vice President Cheney. MCCAIN: “The president listened too much to the Vice President . . . Of course, the president bears the ultimate responsibility, but he was very badly served by both the Vice President and, most of all, the Secretary of Defense.” (Roger Simon, “McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy,” The Politico, 1/24/07)
Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Republican Volunteer. “It was election night 1986, and John McCain had just been elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time. Even so, he was not in a good mood. McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a young Republican volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a witness to the outburst. ‘Here this poor guy is thinking he has done a good job, and he gets a new butt ripped because McCain didn’t look good on television,’ Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. … Hinz said McCain’s treatment of the young campaign worker in 1986 troubled him for years. ‘There were an awful lot of people in the room,’ Hinz recalled. ‘You’d have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face. It wasn’t right, and I was very upset at him.’” (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, “Stories Surface On Senator’s Demeanor,” The Arizona

Republic, 11/5/99)
Sen. McCain “Publicly Abused” Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). “[McCain] noted his propensity for passion but insisted that he doesn’t ‘insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that.’ This is, quite simply, hogwash. McCain often insults people and flies off the handle…. There have been the many times McCain has called reporters ‘liars’ and ‘idiots’ when they have had the audacity to ask him unpleasant, but pertinent, questions. McCain once… publicly abused Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.” (Editorial, “There’s Something About McCain,” The Austin American-Statesman, 1/24/07)

[jif]

And you got two cookies and I only got one. Boo hooo!

[Levi]

Obama was doing the polite thing. He was allowing Clinton to have a moment with Ted Kennedy, without being in her face saying - yes your long time family friend endorsed me instead of you and took away your husband's Kennedy legacy and passed the torch to me, because I am actually going to change America and not just triangulate. The picture looks as if Obama is slighting Clinton. He is just being polite.

It would be the same if John Edwards came up to shake John Kerry's hand the day after Kerry endorsed Obama. Edwards and Obama are always friendly, but because of the personal relationship between Kerry and Edwards, Obama would want to give Kerry and Edwards a moment, without the awkwardness of Obama being in Edwards face.

When Obama ran unsuccessfully for a Congressional seat, he was fiercely opposed by one of his fellow colleagues in the Illinois Senate. The race turned bloody and there were very hurt feelings. Both ended up losing and returned to the Illinois Senate. After Obama lost and returned to the Senate, he worked hard to mend that relationship. Although the two never became close friends, they worked together on several pieces of legislation and Obama never held a grudge. Read the book "Obama: From Promise to Power" by David Mendell for all the sordid details of Obama's history in Illinois.

When Obama becomes President, he will unite the country and work with all members of Congress, including Hillary Clinton. He will even work with Bill (of Billary) because Bill Clinton is still a valuable asset in renewing America's image abroad.

Obama shook Bush's hand but Clinton didn't shake Bush's hand, so is Obama avoiding Clinton or is Clinton avoiding everyone? Clinton was supposed to do the rounds of news shows after the State of the Union, but except for one with Brian Williams, she cancelled the rest. Obama did several, and gave a strong response, basically speaking for the Democratic party. See here:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/sotu

[Zia]

Wow, that's some really horrible writing.

[Far from the tree]

Riveting.

[NP]

TED KENNEDY IS FINALLY RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT! Obama should run from the Ted Kennedy endorsement. Obama says he's for change and a new way of dealing in Washington. Either he is for "Change" or he's for business as usual. Ted Kennedy represents the ‘good old boy network’ of Washington with all the backdoor politics. If Obama shakes hands with Ted Kennedy for his endorsement, then Obama is a hypocrite. Obama becomes a sell out before he even gets the Democratic nomination. So much for "Change." Hillary should be happy she didn’t get the Ted Kennedy kiss of death. Teddy’s just upset that he can’t control Hillary.

[qster]

Teddie's little endorsement don't mean anything. Really, he stands for change? Why didn't he do something about things during his years? Truly, does he think we are that dumb.

[alison]

he so ignor her, if she had done that, it would be blown out baldy by the media but since Obama did it .. oh it's okay the kid is still hurt by the heat of the campain, please, what a person, so not a president, GO HILLARY

[monyneen]

Obama did snub Hillary . He is no gentelman , no uniter and not a proffessional . He is a meglomaniac who thinks he can " change " all people into one . He is a green horn on t foregin affairs and all other important issues . Enter Ted Kennedy , his sugar daddy . Come on Obama can't stand on his own two feet . How in the hell can he govern our great country . Lets get real .

[warren]

I think the Hillary supporters need to give up the "aw shucks, where is all the negativity coming from." Newsflash to all those living in Hillaryland - a large part of the country DOES NOT LIKE HER. Get used to it. Even if you want to say this is the result of the right-wing attack machine or some conspiracy theory involving the media...face it - ITS TRUE.

Guess what else, in politics - IT MATTERS. Her high negatives present a very real chance she could lose the general election and they will limit her effectiveness if she ever did get to the White House.