After last night’s debate, Barack Obama’s chief adviser David Axelrod assumed the posture of a disappointed observer who was hurt by the Clintons’ decision to go negative.
“They are trying to create doubts. It’s classic strategy,” he said, adding, “I thought one of the telling things Senator Clinton said tonight was let’s not give people ‘false hope.’ I think that’s a sad thing to say.”
He doubted the jabs she scored on Obama during the debate would have much effect (“I don’t think anything happened here tonight that would have changed the dynamic against us,” he said) but also doubted her new negative approach would penetrate the electorate before election day on the Jan 8.
“That’s one of her problems,” he said. “It takes a while for distortions to sink in.”
He said that “they’ve sent out negative mail,” and, “Today they sent out a negative mail piece and suggested that he is somehow anti-choice, which is absurd.”
It was “the second time they’ve tried this,” he said. “They tried it in Iowa, and I think it helped earn then third place. So you’d they’d have learned.”
