Subject: ​Correct The Record Friday October 10, 2014 Morning Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 08:09:56 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Friday October 10, 2014 Morning Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*Politico: “Hillary Clinton finds a message in Philly”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/pennsylvania-governor-race-2014-tom-wolf-hillary-clinton-111760.html>*

“Hillary Clinton went to Pennsylvania Thursday and found her message.”

*BuzzFeed: “Hillary Clinton Finds Her Message”
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/hillary-clinton-finds-her-message#2wk3999>*

“Lines like these made up the outline of something new and important for
Clinton on Thursday night in downtown Philadelphia: a message to Democratic
voters.”

*Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “Hillary Clinton Blends Family
Stories, Populist Attacks at Pennsylvania Rally”
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/10/09/hillary-clinton-blends-family-stories-populist-attacks-at-pennsylvania-rally/>*

“Hillary Clinton previewed what could be the gist of her presidential
campaign stump speech on Thursdaynight, blending homespun stories about her
family and populist attacks on powerful corporations.”

*The Hill: “Hillary Clinton returns to stump, championing workers and
women”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/220354-hillary-clinton-returns-to-stump-championing-workers-and-women>*

“Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail on Thursday with a speech
championing working families and women's rights.”

*MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton test-drives lofty speech before friendly crowd”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-test-drives-lofty-speech-friendly-crowd>*

“PHILADELPHIA – Hillary Clinton earned a hometown welcome here Thursday night
while campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf and
testing out what felt like the makings of presidential stump speech.”

*Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Pa. governor's race draws political stars from
out of state”
<http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/10/10/Gov-race-draws-political-stars/stories/201410100108>*

“Hundreds of Wolf supporters — the campaign estimated 1,000 — stood in the
National Constitution Center, within sight of Independence Hall, as the
Democratic candidate ran through Ms. Clinton’s resume and alluded to her
Pennsylvania roots, which include a father who played football for the Penn
State Nittany Lions.”

*Bloomberg: “Clinton Comes to Terms With Being Hillary”
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-10/clinton-comes-to-terms-with-being-hillary>*

“Uttered almost as an afterthought in a discussion [at The Economic Club of
Chicago] about President Barack Obama's pursuit of her for his Secretary of
State post, Clinton bound together two presidencies and possibly a third:
her own.”

*Politico: “Clinton to stump for Raimondo in R.I.”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/hillary-clinton-gina-raimondo-rhode-island-elections-111750.html>*

“Hillary Clinton will campaign for Rhode Island gubernatorial hopeful Gina
Raimondo on Oct. 24, according to a source familiar with the event.”

*The Hill: “Hillary's rivals pull punches, for now”
<http://thehill.com/homenews/presidential-campaign/220347-hillarys-rivals-pull-punches-for-now>*

“Hillary Clinton’s potential Democratic opponents in 2016 are treating the
former secretary of State with kid gloves for the moment, declining to
launch attacks on her or her policies even when invited to do so.”

*Politico: “Hillary Clinton leads among New Hampshire Dems”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-111753.html>*

“Hillary Clinton leads a list of potential Democrats for the party
nomination by a 40-point margin in the latest poll from New Hampshire,
while support for possible GOP contenders remains divided.”

*Wall Street Journal column: Peggy Noonan: “Is ‘Worthy Fights’ Worthy?”
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/is-worthy-fights-worthy-1412891347?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj>*

“Some say he [Sec. Panetta] wrote the book to help detach Hillary Clinton
’s fortunes from those of Mr. Obama. Maybe, but Mr. Panetta is savvy,
shrewd and quick to see where things are going. I suspect he’s trying to
detach his entire party’s fortunes from Mr. Obama.”

*Articles:*

*Politico: “Hillary Clinton finds a message in Philly”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/pennsylvania-governor-race-2014-tom-wolf-hillary-clinton-111760.html>*

By Maggie Haberman

October 9, 2014, 9:36 p.m. EDT

PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton went to Pennsylvania Thursday and found her
message.

The all-but-certain 2016 presidential hopeful, battered for much of the
past year for lost opportunities to come up with a rationale for a second
campaign, gave one of her strongest political speeches since her 2008
campaign ended in June 2008 as she headlined a women-focused event for
Democratic gubernatorial Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania. Clinton focused on
“hard-working families” and restoring America’s luster and a strong middle
class with “a fresh start,” as well as women’s pay equity and her gauzy
first days as a new grandmother.

For the first time in months, Clinton’s public talk was neither a dry
recitation of public policy nor a self-reflection about her tenure as
secretary of state. The message was very much tailored to the campaign Wolf
has run, but the themes in her first open political event in a year seem
certain to form the basis of a campaign message if she declares a campaign
for president next year.

And for the first time in months, Clinton skipped too-cute, coy references
to a potential candidacy — with one exception.

“You never know what can happen in an election,” said Clinton, as she urged
the crowd of some 1,000 people wrapped around a curving balcony on the
second floor of the National Constitution Center, to turn out to vote on
Election Day and pay little heed to polls showing Wolf cruising to victory.
She added, “From my perspective, you can’t count on things turning out the
way you want it, unless you get out and work for it, right?”

Clinton wove core Democratic policy messages — education spending, a
strengthened middle class, corporate responsibility, workers’ rights,
women’s pay equity, abortion rights and gay marriage — into a fabric that
related to her life as it is now, and as it was when she was growing up.

It was also Clinton’s most partisan speech since leaving the State
Department. She bashed low-polling Republican Gov. Tom Corbett for a
controversial transvaginal ultrasound bill and for comparing gay marriage
to incest. And Clinton praised the Democratic Party, “which stands for
families, stands for working people, stands for fairness and justice.”

“What’s happened in this state is part of a larger story,” Clinton said.
“We have so much going for us in America, don’t we? We have so many
blessings and advantages. The American workers are the hardest working,
most productive workers in the entire world.”

She added, “We have spent years now clawing our way back, out of the hole
that was dug in 2008, but we have a lot more to do if we want to release
our full potential and make sure that American families finally feel the
rewards of recovery. And that’s particularly true, in my opinion, for
American women. Ask yourself, why do women still get paid less than men for
the same work? Why, after American women have contributed so much to our
economy over the decades, do we act as if it were 1955?”

“There is nothing but dignity in hard work,” Clinton said earlier, adding
it was important “to recognize that there is worth and dignity in every
human being … nothing replaces hard work and a commitment to fairness and
justice.”

 “We believe everyone deserves not just a chance but a second chance and
even a third chance for a better life.”

Clinton denounced cuts in education as a “down payment on decline.”

“A a time when corporations seem to have all the rights and none of the
responsibilities” of regular people, Clinton said, and “working people
haven’t had a raise in over a decade, and it becomes harder and harder” to
save for retirement, Wolf is the right person to elect.

Wolf is part of the “made-in-America success story that built this stage
and this country,” Clinton said during her speech in a key swing state
composed heavily of blue-collar workers, and one which she won during the
April 2008 primary against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

The remarks were some of her strongest about rebuilding the middle class.
They came after she was accused of being out of touch for her comment in
June about being “dead broke” when she left the White House, and for giving
paid speeches at exorbitant prices.

She repeatedly reminded people of her Pennsylvania roots — a grandfather
who grew up there, a father who went to college there, summers spent there
— at an event where Wolf, the candidate, often felt superfluous. Clinton
acknowledged her son-in-law’s mother, Marjorie, a former Pennsylvania
congresswoman who lost a primary to re-enter the House earlier this year,
and said the two were sharing “the grandmother glow these days.”

“I have to confess, there’s a lot of Philadelphia and a lot of Pennsylvania
in Charlotte, which we are so proud to claim,” Clinton said of her
granddaughter. “Her father’s already held her while watching the …
[Philadelphia] Eagles play … Being a mom as every mom in this audience
knows is hard work. But it turns out being a grandmother is nothing but joy
and I want to recommend it to everyone, all of my friends.”

Clinton later threaded her granddaughter into her speech, telling a story
about a nurse at Lenox Hill Hospital where “little Charlotte” was born,
thanking her for fighting for paid maternity leave.

“Here she is, taking care of other people’s babies, trying to piece
together what she can,” Clinton said, a twang creeping into her voice.

“You should not have to be the grandchild of a president to get a good
education, to get good health care,” Clinton said. “Let’s make sure we give
every child in Pennsylvania the same chance that I’m determined to give my
granddaughter.”

She added, “A 20th-century economy will not work for 21st-century families.
It is past time for a fresh start.”

“Fresh Start” is Wolf’s campaign slogan.

She described Wolf as a self-made businessman who tried to include his
workers in feeling like they owned a piece of his company, which made
cabinets.

“That is the way it is supposed to work in America … those are the values
that have kept generations of Pennsylvania families working hard, believing
in the promise of America and looking out for one another,” she said.
“They’re the same values I was raised with.”

She ripped Corbett without naming him, listing the things Wolf would not
do: “He will never support a law forcing women to undergo an invasive
ultrasound procedure. He will never tell Pennsylvania women stop
complaining you just have to close your eyes. He will never compare the
marriage of two loving and committed partners to incest.”

They were all references to comments Corbett made — about a bill requiring
a transvaginal ultrasound before a woman gets an abortion, and about gay
marriage — and they served as a reminder that Clinton, while at State for
four years, was absent from the major domestic policy debates in the
country.

Clinton took the stage after roughly 30 minutes of introductions, including
from Wolf and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a major Clinton
supporter who fought hard for her in her primary against Obama.

“In 2008, I joined with many of you in the audience in supporting Hillary
Clinton for president. And we had a great time,” Rendell recalled.

“When I introduced Hillary on the campaign trail, I would always chant,
‘Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry.’ I’m hoping to get a chance to [again].”

Sen. Bob Casey and Rep. Allison Schwartz, who lost the gubernatorial
primary to Wolf, both focused on Clinton as well in their introductions.

Clinton initially popped out while Wolf was still talking, thinking
incorrectly that it was time for her to take the stage. The crowd
interrupted Wolf with cheers when they spotted Clinton.

“Get back there, I’m not finished yet!” Wolf said jokingly but brusquely.
Clinton went backstage again, and said when it was finally her turn that
the acoustics were poor where she was standing and people thought it was
time for her to go on.

She thanked Rendell for all his help, and said that Pennsylvania has been
good to both her and her husband.

She ended by saying there is a “movement stirring across the country, you
can see it from coast to coast. But none of it will matter if you don’t do
everything you can in the next month to bring [voters to the polls].”

“We can dream again, because when America is at its best, there is no
limits to what we can achieve together,” she said.

She mentioned that 38 years ago, the first woman walked in space.

“Was she afraid? Probably,” Clinton said. “Did that stop her? No way.”

*BuzzFeed: “Hillary Clinton Finds Her Message”
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/hillary-clinton-finds-her-message#2wk3999>*

By Ruby Cramer

October 9, 2014, 9:59 p.m. EDT

[Subtitle:] Working families are the focus at a rally for Tom Wolf in
Philadelphia — her first big political speech since last year. “It is past
time for a fresh start.”

PHILADELPHIA — Last month, while Hillary Clinton waited with her family in
Lenox Hill Hospital for her new grandchild, a nurse approached in the
hallway.

“Thank you. Thank you for fighting for paid leave,” she told Clinton, who
recalled the story of “waiting for little Charlotte” in front of a crowd of
about 1,000 at a women’s rally for Tom Wolf, the Democrat running for
governor in Pennsylvania.

“Here she is, taking care of other people’s babies,” Clinton said, “trying
to piece together what she can.”

“A 20th century economy will not work for 21st century families.”

“It is past time for a fresh start,” she said.

Lines like these made up the outline of something new and important for
Clinton on Thursday night in downtown Philadelphia: a message to Democratic
voters.

During the rousing 20-minute-long speech here at the National Constitution
Center, on a stage overlooking the long, grassy lawn that stretches out
toward Independence Hall, Clinton cast working families — and women
struggling to balance work with childcare — as “the building block of the
Democratic Party.”

After a summer promoting her memoir, in which she recalled the highs and
lows of her four years as secretary of state, Clinton turned the lens on
voters here Thursday, debuting what could very well be her message to the
American electorate should she decide to run for president again in two
years.

The event for Wolf, who is up by double digits in polls against the current
governor, Tom Corbett, was Clinton’s first campaign rally for a single
candidate since she appeared at a women’s event last year for her old
friend, Terry McAuliffe, now governor of Virginia.

The thread running through Clinton’s message here in Pennsylvania, the
state she won six years ago in a primary against Barack Obama, was working
families — a theme she teased repeatedly throughout her speech with
populist undertones, mentions of her granddaughter, and stories about her
own trips as a child to Scranton, where Clinton’s father, Hugh, was born to
a working-class immigrant family.

“You should not have to be the grandchild of a president to get a good
education, to get good healthcare,” she said. “Let’s make sure we give
every child in Pennsylvania the same chance that I’m determined to give my
granddaughter.”

“We have spent years now clawing our way back out of the hole that was dug
in 2008,” Clinton said, “but we have a lot more to do if we want to release
our full potential and make sure what American families finally feel the
rewards of recovery.”

Point after point, she criticized Corbett’s four-year record in the state,
saying “working people haven’t had a raise in over a decade” and noting the
downgrade in the state’s bond rating at “a a time when corporations seem to
have all the rights and none of the responsibilities” of regular people,
Clinton said.

Wolf, she told the crowd, wanted “Pennsylvania families to have a fair shot
and a fresh start.” And he would never “support a law forcing women to
undergo an invasive ultrasound procedure,” she said. “He will never tell
Pennsylvania women to ‘stop complaining, you just have to close your eyes.’
He will never compare the marriage of two loving and committed partners to
incest.”

Clinton noted that her daughter’s mother-in-law, Marjorie Margolies, had
come to the rally. “It is actually a family affair. And it is for me, too,”
she said.

“We’re feeling the same grandmother glow these days.”

Toward the end of her speech, Clinton told the audience Wolf’s poll numbers
might be high, but people still had to turn out to vote. “From my
perspective, you can’t count on things turning out the way you want, unless
you get out and work for it, right,” she said, in a line that could have
easily been a reference to what many Democrats believe is her own advantage
in a possible presidential election.

The Thursday rally was for Wolf, the gubernatorial candidate, but from
beginning to end, Clinton was the clear focus.

During a series of introductions, which lasted about 30 minutes, Rep.
Allyson Schwartz made multiple references to the night’s “special guest,”
and former Gov. Ed Rendell recalled his old chant from the 2008 campaign —
“Hill-a-ry! Hill-a-ry!”

He mentioning the candidate himself almost as an afterthought. (“Now, it’s
my pleasure to talk very briefly about Tom Wolf,” Rendell said after
several long overtures about Clinton, his longtime friend.)

Even Wolf had trouble keeping the crowd’s attention.

“I’m especially honored to be able to introduce the person you’re all here
to see: Hillary Clinton,” he said when he took the stage. The crowd cheered
at the mention of her name. “I’m not sure how to take that.”

At one point, as Wolf introduced the former secretary of state, listing
“four qualities” he admired about her, Clinton emerged from a curtain to
the right of the stage, thinking Wolf was finished.

The cheers from the crowd were so loud, Wolf had to stop his speech
mid-sentence.

“Listen, I’m the one running for governor,” he said.

The crowd kept cheering.

“Get back there I’m not finished yet!” Wolf finally joked.

Clinton lifted the curtain and ducked backstage. The audience quieted as
Wolf sped through the rest of his introduction, letting Clinton take the
stage again.

*Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “Hillary Clinton Blends Family
Stories, Populist Attacks at Pennsylvania Rally”
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/10/09/hillary-clinton-blends-family-stories-populist-attacks-at-pennsylvania-rally/>*

By Peter Nicholas

October 9, 2014, 10:05 p.m. EDT

PHILADELPHIA – Hillary Clinton previewed what could be the gist of her
presidential campaign stump speech on Thursday night, blending homespun
stories about her family and populist attacks on powerful corporations.

Appearing at a campaign rally for Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Tom Wolf,  Mrs. Clinton sought to reintroduce herself to an
important swing state that voted for her over Barack Obama in the 2008
Democratic presidential primary, keeping alive her struggling candidacy for
another couple of months.

She mentioned her grandfather who raised a family in Scranton and gave a
shout-out to Marjorie Margolies, a former congresswoman from the
Philadelphia suburbs and the other grandmother of the newest member of the
Clinton family, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. Both she and Ms. Margolies are
relishing “the same grandmother glow these days,” Mrs. Clinton said.

“There’s a lot of Philadelphia and a lot of Pennsylvania in Charlotte,” she
said of her and Ms. Margolies’s granddaughter, who was born last month.

Mrs. Clinton, a likely candidate for president in 2016, is embarking on a
series of appearances for Democratic candidates running in the midterm
elections next month. It’s her first real plunge into the world of campaign
politics in years.

She largely dropped out of the partisan scrum after Mr. Obama won the
presidency in 2008 and made her secretary of state. Over the summer she
appeared rusty and out of practice during interviews tied to the release of
her new book, “Hard Choices.”

Before giving her speech to a friendly crowd of about 1,000, Mrs. Clinton
appeared at a private fundraising event for Mr. Wolf in the National
Constitution Center. Wolf campaign aides did not reveal how much was raised.

It was clear from her speech that Mrs. Clinton is also testing out themes
and messages for a potential presidential bid.

She spoke mostly in broad terms, offering little in the way of specific
policy prescriptions.

Though she and her husband have raised more than $1 billion from U.S.
companies and corporate officials over the last two decades, Mrs. Clinton
signaled that she sided with everyday families struggling to pay bills and
keep afloat.

Corporations, she said, “seem to have all the rights, but none of the
responsibilities of people …”

She decried practices that pay women less than men for the same work and
took aim at politicians who’ve belittled women’s rights.

“A 20th century economy will not work for 21st century families,” she said.

Mrs. Clinton compared Mr. Wolf favorably to those who would “support a law
forcing women to undergo an invasive ultrasound procedure” before an
abortion.

She added that Mr. Wolf would “never tell Pennsylvania women to stop
complaining, you just have to close your eyes.”

Though she kept a sharp focus on aiding Mr. Wolf, she also took time to
tell her own story, focusing on her family.

Her own parents understood “the worth and dignity of every human being,”
she said.

Pivoting to her new granddaughter, she said she wanted “every child in
Pennsylvania” to have “the same chance … that little Charlotte will have.”

She added, in a reference to her husband, former President Bill Clinton,
“You should not have to be the grandchild of a president to get a good
education, get good health care, have good job opportunities,  and have a
family that can protect, nurture and prepare you for life.”

*The Hill: “Hillary Clinton returns to stump, championing workers and
women”
<http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/220354-hillary-clinton-returns-to-stump-championing-workers-and-women>*

By Peter Sullivan

October 9, 2014, 7:17 p.m. EDT

Hillary Clinton returned to the campaign trail on Thursday with a speech
championing working families and women's rights.

The Philadelphia event, for Pennsylvania's Democratic nominee for governor,
Tom Wolf, was Clinton's first campaign rally since she stumped for Virginia
gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe last year.

The rally before a supportive crowd at the National Constitution Center
launches a tour of midterm campaigning that will take Clinton to Senate
battlegrounds, including the key presidential states of Iowa and New
Hampshire as she weighs a 2016 bid.

Clinton sounded possible themes of a coming campaign, and was fully in
Democratic Party mode, coming out of the more non-partisan persona she held
while secretary of State.

"At a time when corporations seem to have all of the rights but none of the
responsibilities of people, you deserve a governor who will put
Pennsylvania families first," Clinton said.

She sounded other populist notes when she said the Democratic Party "stands
for families, stands for working people."

White working class voters like those in Pennsylvania were Clinton's base
in the 2008 Democratic primary against Barack Obama. Clinton spoke of her
grandfather going to work at the age of 11 in the mills of Scranton, Pa.

A contrast from the 2008 campaign was Clinton's larger emphasis on women's
rights, and she touted the need for paid family leave, equal pay and
affordable childcare, as she has throughout the year at other events.

She put those issues in personal terms, recounting that when she was at the
hospital in New York waiting for the birth of her grandchild last month, a
nurse came up to her and thanked her for advocating for paid family leave.

"A 20th century economy will not work for 21st century families, so it is
past time for a fresh start," she said.

"You should not have to be the grandchild of a president to get a good
education, get good healthcare, have good job opportunities, have a family
that can protect, nurture and prepare you for life," Clinton added.

Her husband, Bill Clinton, was a former president, but the statement could
soon apply to her also.

In urging the need for turnout on election day, Clinton said, "From my
perspective you can’t count on things turning out the way you wanted unless
you get out and work for it."

The Pennsylvania Democrat's name was on the lectern, and Clinton dropped in
plenty of praise for him, but even he acknowledged the crowd was not there
to see him. In introducing Clinton, Wolf called her “the person I know
you’re all here to see.”

When Clinton emerged from the curtain before Wolf was done speaking, the
crowd erupted in cheers at the sight of her. Wolf told her to go back
inside: "I’m the one running for governor" he said, before hurriedly
finishing his speech.

Wolf leads Republican incumbent  Gov. Tom Corbett by double digits in
recent polls, but both Wolf and Clinton warned against complacency.

There were clearly moments, though, when Clinton was not just talking about
Pennsylvania's race for governor, but her vision for the country as a whole.

"When America is at its best, there are no limits to what we can achieve
together," she said.

*MSNBC: “Hillary Clinton test-drives lofty speech before friendly crowd”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-test-drives-lofty-speech-friendly-crowd>*

By Alex Seitz-Wald

October 9, 2014, 9:00 p.m. EDT

PHILADELPHIA – Hillary Clinton earned a hometown welcome here Thursday night
while campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf and
testing out what felt like the makings of presidential stump speech.

“She is a Pennsylvanian at heart,” Wolf said while introducing Clinton at
“Women for Wolf” fundraiser at the Constitution Center downtown. “Coursing
through her veins is blood that is infused with Pennsylvania values … She’s
one of us.”

When Clinton took the stage, she reminisced about her family’s annual road
trips through the Pennsylvania countryside and her grandfather’s roots in
Scranton. “There’s a lot of Philadelphia and a lot of Pennsylvania in
Charlotte,” she said of her new granddaughter. “Her father has already held
her while watching the Eagles play.”

Clinton’s son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky, is the daughter of Marjorie
Margolies, a former congresswoman from the city. Margolies, whom Clinton
campaigned for this year during an unsuccessful attempt to regain her seat
in Congress, greeted local Democratic dignitaries ahead of the speech,
brining some to visit with Clinton.

“This state has been very good to my family and to my husband and to me,”
Clinton added. She carried the state during the 2008 Democratic primary.

Alan Kessler, Clinton’s 2008 national finance chair and a major Democratic
donor from the area, said he was pleased to see Clinton here again. “Eight
years ago, in a very difficult time, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia came
through with a 10 point win in the primary, so I think Philadelphia and
Pennsylvania is ready for Hillary,” Kessler told msnbc. Was he here for
Wolf or Clinton? “Both,” he replied.

In her speech, Clinton adroitly walked the line between both being a good
Democrat stumping for a fellow partisan and laying out her own vision –
even if there were jokes about her preeminence. “Listen, I’m the one
running for governor!” Wolf joked when Clinton accidentally came on stage
prematurely and sent up a cheer from the crowd, which was estimated to be
about 1,000 strong.

Clinton began by thanking local Democratic leaders. She paid a lengthy
tribute to former Gov. Ed Rendell and Rep. Allison Schwartz, who lost a
gubernatorial primary campaign to Wolf, but has since become his loyal
supporter.

In his own speech, Rendell joked that he was confident Wolf would be “the
second best governor in Pennsylvania history!”

Of Sen. Bob Casey, who supported Barack Obama in 2008 and has yet to sign
on the Ready for Hillary effort, Clinton said he was “another great
Democratic leader.”

After posing with Wolf, Clinton launched into a lengthy story of his
biography, calling him the kind of “made-in-America success story that made
this country great.” She explained how he started as a forklift driver and
eventually ran his own company, which faltered during the recession,
forcing him to invest his “every penny” to rescue it.

“For Tom Wolf, that business was about a lot more than the Wolf family. For
him, everyone that worked there was part of the family,” she said.

Wolf’s values, she continued, building to a portion of the speech that
would sound as good in Iowa or New Hampshire as they did here, are “the way
things are supposed to work in America.”

She laid out many components any speechwriter would be happy to use in a
presidential campaign speech, embedded with responses to likely criticisms.

A reason to run: She gave forceful articulation of what she called the
“building blocks of the Democratic Party,” saying that her party are the
ones who look out for working people and families.

“We believe everyone deserves not just a chance, but a second chance, or
even a third chance for a better life,” she continued, while discussing her
party’s values.

“They’re the same value that I was raised with,” she noted.

Women: She talked at length about the need for equality, both on economic
issues and in heath care, pillorying Corbett, though not by name, for his
support for invasive ultrasound law.

Her privilege: Clinton has stumbled in discussing her wealth this year, but
found her footing tonight, with an assist from her granddaughter. “You
should not have to be the grandchild of a president to get a good
education, to get good healthcare,” she said. Let’s make sure we give every
child in Pennsylvania the same chance that I’m determined to give my
granddaughter.”

Clinton kept the spotlight on Wolf and this year’s midterm election, even
while but has begun in recent speeches to make cryptic references to a
coming “movement.”

“You feel there is a movement stirring across this county, you can see it
from coast to coast,” she told the audience while exhorting them to get
Democrats to the polls next month. “But none of it will matter if people
don’t vote.”

Wolf has a strong lead in every poll over incumbent Republican Gov. Tom
Corbett, who was elected in the 2010 tea party wave, but has suffered from
deep unpopularity since.

It was Clinton’s first public fundraiser of the year, aside from an event
in Iowa to honor retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin and boost other
Democrats running in the state. Next week, she’s scheduled to appear at a
second public event in Michigan for Rep. Gary Peters, who is running for
Senate. Peter’s also has a large lead. Clinton’s events for other Democrats
in tighter races have so far been limited to private fundraisers.

*Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Pa. governor's race draws political stars from
out of state”
<http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/10/10/Gov-race-draws-political-stars/stories/201410100108>*

By Karen Langley and Chris Palmer

October 10, 2014, 12:00 a.m. EDT

PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie headlined a day of
political star power in the governor’s race Thursday, as the two potential
2016 presidential candidates stumped for their parties’ nominees,
Democratic challenger Tom Wolf and Gov. Tom Corbett, in populous
southeastern Pennsylvania.

The appearances by Ms. Clinton, the former secretary of state, presidential
contender and first lady, and Mr. Christie, the governor of New Jersey,
came one day after the Pennsylvania candidates met in a final debate before
the Nov. 4 election. Mr. Wolf, a York County businessman and former state
revenue secretary, has maintained a double-digit lead in the polls as the
campaign heads into its final weeks.

Hundreds of Wolf supporters — the campaign estimated 1,000 — stood in the
National Constitution Center, within sight of Independence Hall, as the
Democratic candidate ran through Ms. Clinton’s resume and alluded to her
Pennsylvania roots, which include a father who played football for the Penn
State Nittany Lions.

“She is a Pennsylvanian at heart, and in part by blood,” Mr. Wolf said.
“Coursing through her veins is blood that is tinted with Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania values and Pennsylvania ideas.” The cheers and applause
moments later were such that he followed with: “Listen, I’m the one running
for governor.”

Ms. Clinton took the stage prepared with every major point of the Wolf
campaign narrative, from Mr. Wolf’s experience with his family cabinet
business to the state’s recent bond-rating downgrades and even past gaffes
by Mr. Corbett.

“It is just heartbreaking to see what has been done to education in this
city and across Pennsylvania,” Ms. Clinton said. “When education funding
gets cut, and your kids pay the price, that is a down payment on decline.
It needs to be reversed, and the person to do it is Tom Wolf.”

She urged the crowd to do everything it could to elect Mr. Wolf but made no
clear references to her own political future.

Twenty miles away, at Valley Forge Military Academy, Mr. Christie told
supporters that Mr. Corbett has served with integrity, while Mr. Wolf, he
said, would “lie in order to obtain power.”

In a half-full banquet hall, Mr. Corbett and Mr. Christie addressed a crowd
of about 200 to rally support for Mr. Corbett’s flagging campaign.

Mr. Corbett, suit jacket off and wearing a golden tie, spoke first.

Standing on a stage and surrounded by rows of steely-faced cadets in navy
uniforms, Mr. Corbett defended his record as governor and reiterated points
he has made during recent campaign appearances. He said he has balanced
Pennsylvania’s budget and resisted raising taxes and pointed out the
state’s decreasing unemployment rate.

“We’re in a much better situation than we were four years ago,” he
asserted. Two large signs flanked him on the sides of the stage, bearing
his name and the slogan “Promises Kept.”

Applause during Mr. Corbett’s speech was akin to an enthusiastic golf clap.
Many of the Republican audience members held white signs in their hands but
waved them only at the beginning and end of the speech.

Taking the stage after Mr. Corbett, Mr. Christie strolled to the podium to
thunderous applause and delivered a 15-minute speech that sought to draw a
contrast between Mr. Wolf and Mr. Corbett by referring to each man’s
“honesty and integrity.”

At one point, referring to Mr. Wolf’s attack ads targeting Mr. Corbett’s
education spending, Mr. Christie said that Mr. Wolf was “lying,” and that
“we could use a nicer word, but it’s the word that fits him.”

Ms. Clinton is widely seen as a front-runner, should she run, for the
Democratic nomination. In June, Quinnipiac University pollsters dubbed her
“queen of the 2016 Pennsylvania prom” after finding that in a general
election she would beat Mr. Christie 45-41 in the state while topping other
potential Republican candidates — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, U.S.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — by wider
margins. In 2008, Ms. Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by 9 points over
Barack Obama.

“She’s very popular in this state,” said Terry Madonna, a pollster at
Franklin & Marshall College.

“So she goes to Philly, an important base, interacts with party leaders and
others. This is all part of building the network, and the Clintons already
have the best political network in the country, bar none. Of course it
helps her.”

Kevin Houghton, who serves on the Democratic committee in Chester County,
said he is certain to support Ms. Clinton if she seeks the presidency in
2016.

“It’s her time,” he said. “She’s ready. I’m 100 percent on board for her.”

*Bloomberg: “Clinton Comes to Terms With Being Hillary”
<http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-10/clinton-comes-to-terms-with-being-hillary>*

By Jeanne Cummings

October 10, 2014, 6:02 a.m. EDT

[Subtitle:] Voters in 2016 may meet the real Hillary Clinton as she sheds
the armor worn during her first presidential bid.

"I have a history with charismatic, attractive men who just wear me out.''
— Hillary Clinton, October 8, 2014

In those thirteen words, Clinton defined her place in American politics in
the most personal terms, without a trace of self-conscious hedging or
qualifying. Uttered almost as an afterthought in a discussion about
President Barack Obama's pursuit of her for his Secretary of State post,
Clinton bound together two presidencies and possibly a third: her own.

Her steadfastness during her husband's two terms was essential to his
survival of the Monica Lewinsky impeachment scandal and allowed him to
secure an economic legacy that has been the envy of his successors. Her
endorsement of Obama's 2008 nomination and loyal service in his
administration united the Democratic Party behind his presidency. Now, in
what seems likely to be her second attempt to earn her party's nomination
for president, those two men will move to supportive roles. But whether she
ultimately succeeds will rest on Clinton coming to terms with being Hillary.

"This quote is the Hillary Clinton who a lot of voters longed to see," said
Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist in Boston. "It's insightful; it's
telling. She understands that on the one hand how funny it is, and on the
other how true it is."

Clinton's comment in a basement ballroom at the Fairmont Chicago hotel on
Wednesday before nearly 1,000 well-dressed dinner attendees drew both
guffaws and applause. Obama, fresh from his 2008 victory over John McCain,
first asked her to join his Cabinet during a meeting in this very city,
Clinton recalled.

"I said no, and I said no again, and I said no again. Finally, I just gave
in. And, as I said to someone the other day, you know, I told my husband
no, I wouldn't get married, no, and just gave in. And so, I have a history
with charismatic, attractive men who just wear me out,'' she said. "In both
instances, I would hasten to add, they were good decisions.''

It's a revelatory nugget of thought that was delivered with the sort of
frankness her top advisers in 2008 had begged her to embrace. She did so
then, albeit somewhat late in the game. This time, she's starting early. If
she opts for a second run at the White House, it will mean the candidate
who arrives on the 2016 Democratic primary stage will be someone the voters
haven't seen before. It could also mark the end of a two-decades-long
unpeeling of the smart, brash, guarded young woman who arrived in
Washington in 1992.

Getting from there to here hasn't been easy for her or her loyal
lieutenants, and it took brutal, public losses to tear away at the armor
she'd built up during her time as First Lady. Painful experiences that,
ironically, were mostly delivered by the two men now so tied to her own
page in history.

Clinton's endurance of the Monica scandal was one that many women watched
with agony, anger and empathy, ties that would manifest themselves into
passionate political support later. But that trial didn't expose her
personally, quite the opposite. Her circle tightened; what the public read
of her through it was often it's own conjecture.

For the early stages of 2008 campaign, she was that hardened warrior.
Clinton bested most of her male counterparts in the fall 2007 debates,
projecting a rigid persona tough enough to manage the two American wars
raging in Iraq and Afghanistan in a pantsuit.

But after leading in most early polls, Clinton's campaign stumbled badly in
the Iowa caucuses as she came in third behind Obama and North Carolina
Senator John Edwards. Suddenly, everything was riding on a win in the New
Hampshire primary. A day before the election, she gathered with 16
undecided voters in the Cafe Expresso in Portsmouth and cracked, ever so
slightly.

"My question is very personal, how do you do it?'' asked one of the women.
She mentioned Clinton's appearance, her hair, everything always in place.
"How do you, how do you keep upbeat and so wonderful?''

Clinton joked at first, and then her voice began to break and water welled
in her eyes. "You know, this is very personal for me," she answered. "It's
not just political. It's not just public. I see what's happening, and we
have to reverse it.''

As Edwards pounced, suggesting the near-tears would embolden the
terrorists, women voters in New Hampshire and everywhere saw something
else, something they knew. A strong woman so frustrated by the pigeonhole
she'd been wedged into that it almost made her cry, as I wrote for Politico
at the time. The only thing missing from the picture was a bottle of wine
and a box of Kleenex. Clinton beat Obama the next day, in part thanks to
female support.

The victory wasn't enough to stop the Obama movement, however, and Clinton
faced another searing moment when she delivered remarks at the 2008
convention endorsing her former foe. It wasn't a speech, although billed as
such, it was more an intimate conversation between Clinton and her people,
mostly women, who were still seething.

"To my supporters, my champions—my sisterhood of the traveling
pantsuit—from the bottom of my heart: Thank you. You never gave in. You
never gave up. And together we made history,'' she said.

And then she pushed them into the Obama camp with tough love. "I want you
to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it
for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom
struggling with cancer while raising her kids?''

As she considers her 2016 options, some of the barriers to playing herself
naturally in 2008 have been removed. Her tour as Secretary of State makes
her more qualified to manage foreign affairs than any of the Republican men
mulling a run. The armor can come off; the woman can emerge. Signs of that
last evolution were evident this summer during her book tour, suggesting
the electorate may also have a chance to meet and measure Hillary as a
possible president. After a broad discussion about terrorism, immigration
and medical marijuana on CNN in June, Clinton seemed ready for that
introduction.

Asked if she'd flinched from exposing her real self in 2008 because of her
gender, Clinton ceded the point. The constant judging that came with being
the first woman to get so close to a presidential nomination forced her
into a "bad habit of constantly editing yourself."

"I used to complain to my, to the, to the men I was running against. We
would be meeting before debates and I'd say, you know, it's really unfair.
You guys get up; you take a shower; you shake your head; and you're ready.''

"Why don't we just do that?'' asked host Christiane Amanpour.

"Well, I tried that, too,'' Clinton said, laughing, "as you might have
noticed.''

*Politico: “Clinton to stump for Raimondo in R.I.”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/hillary-clinton-gina-raimondo-rhode-island-elections-111750.html>*

By Maggie Haberman

October 9, 2014, 5:45 p.m. EDT

Hillary Clinton will campaign for Rhode Island gubernatorial hopeful Gina
Raimondo on Oct. 24, according to a source familiar with the event.

Raimondo is the latest addition to Clinton’s fall campaign schedule, which
will exceed a dozen states for Senate and gubernatorial hopefuls by
Election Day.

Raimondo, Rhode Island’s state treasurer, survived a three-way Democratic
primary to take on Republican Allan Fung in November.

Clinton is expected to announce early next year a decision on whether
she’ll make a second run for the White House in 2016.

*The Hill: “Hillary's rivals pull punches, for now”
<http://thehill.com/homenews/presidential-campaign/220347-hillarys-rivals-pull-punches-for-now>*

By Amie Parnes

October 10, 2014, 6:11 a.m. EDT

Hillary Clinton’s potential Democratic opponents in 2016 are treating the
former secretary of State with kid gloves for the moment, declining to
launch attacks on her or her policies even when invited to do so.

Would-be candidates from former Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) have all passed up the
chance to highlight how they might differ from Clinton if they were to
enter the upcoming presidential race.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday, moderator Chuck Todd prodded Webb
about Clinton: "You don't want to talk about Hillary Clinton yet – is that
fair to say? You're not ready to talk about her?"

Webb, who is not normally known for his reticence, refused to bite. "I
don't think it's for me to talk about Hillary Clinton," he said. "I enjoyed
working with her when I was in the Senate. I don't know what she's going to
do, if she runs, what she will run on.

"I'm just very concerned about these issues for the country," he added.

Webb's comments came on the heels of remarks he made last month at the
National Press Club, in which he said he didn't want to "undermine" his
former Senate colleague.

Likewise, O'Malley — who some observers suspect will run with an eye on
securing the vice-presidential nomination — has taken a soft approach with
Clinton. Earlier this year, he told the Washington Post that he had a
"great deal of respect for Hillary Clinton," and stopped there before
pivoting back to his own record.

Outside experts say the potential candidates don't want to jab at Hillary
until they are absolutely sure they themselves will enter the presidential
race.

The Clintons, who are unarguably the most powerful couple in politics,
don't quickly forget who is on their side and who is not. After her loss to
President Obama in the 2008 primary, for example, Clinton's aides put
together a spreadsheet listing those who were supporters and those who were
perceived to have betrayed her.

"They realize that attacking someone who is a clear frontrunner and who
doesn't take criticism lightly will have huge costs," said Julian Zelizer,
a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

"She will strike back, the press will perceive this as the start of a
primary and start to really interrogate the person doing the attacking, and
Republicans will enjoy some time out of the spotlight while Democrats
squabble among themselves."

Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said it is still too early for
potential candidates to go on offense against Clinton, particularly with
the midterms just weeks away.

"No one is paying attention” for the moment, Manley said.

But he added that for any Democrat truly intent on running for president,
the avoidance of criticism of Clinton is “not sustainable in the long run."

"What use is it if they're not going to provide a vision?" Manley asked.
"At some point they're going to have to switch it up and provide a viable
alternative."

Some potential candidates have at least given some indication of how they
might emphasize their differences from Clinton.

Vice President Biden, who has a close bond with both Clintons, took a minor
swipe at the former secretary of State earlier this year, at a time when
she was already facing criticism for saying that she and her husband were
“dead broke” at the end of Bill Clinton’s White House tenure.

Biden — always eager to stress his everyman persona — told a crowd that he
didn't "own a single stock or bond" and that he has "no savings account."

Those close to the vice president, however, said that the comments were
ones he had made before and that they should not have been interpreted as a
dart aimed at Clinton.

Other candidates have offered more direct hints as to where they dissent
from Clinton’s worldview.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has implied that she sees Clinton as too
close to Wall Street.

Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) has called Clinton "fantastic and incredibly
strong," but has also wondered aloud if Clinton's so-called “inevitability
factor” might provoke a backlash from voters, just as it did in 2008.

Still, aides and others close to the potential candidates say there is a
good and straightforward reason why they are mostly abjuring full-frontal
assaults on Clinton.

“No one wants to inflict damage on someone who could very well be our
party’s candidate,” said one former Webb staffer. “It’s just that simple."

*Politico: “Hillary Clinton leads among New Hampshire Dems”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/hillary-clinton-new-hampshire-111753.html>*

By Lucy McCalmont

October 9, 2014, 6:25 p.m. EDT

Hillary Clinton leads a list of potential Democrats for the party
nomination by a 40-point margin in the latest poll from New Hampshire,
while support for possible GOP contenders remains divided.

Fifty-eight percent of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters said
Clinton is their first choice, according to the WMUR Granite State Poll
released Thursday. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the closest to
Clinton, with 18 percent of the vote.

Others on the list — Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders,
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley — all received just 3 percent of the vote.

Clinton has remained the front-runner among likely Democrat voters in the
Granite State, where she won the primary in 2008. However, her support has
dipped from its high of 74 percent when the poll was conducted in January.

Of the listed GOP contenders, only two break 10 percent of voters’ support:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who leads with 12 percent of likely GOP
primary voters, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 10 percent.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee received 6 percent of the vote, Kentucky
Sen. Rand Paul received 5 percent and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick
Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz all received 4
percent.

Nevertheless, voters from both parties remain largely undecided on 2016
primaries.

Seventy-three percent of Democrats also said they are still trying to
decide how they’d vote in the 2016 New Hampshire primary. Similarly, 83
percent of the state’s GOP voters said they, too, are undecided for their
party’s primary.

The WMUR Granite State Poll was conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 5 and surveyed 681
adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. That
includes 275 likely 2016 Republican primary voters, with a margin of error
of plus or minus 5.9 percentage points and 234 likely 2016 Democratic
primary voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 6.4 percentage
points.

*Wall Street Journal column: Peggy Noonan: “Is ‘Worthy Fights’ Worthy?”
<http://online.wsj.com/articles/is-worthy-fights-worthy-1412891347?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj>*

By Peggy Noonan

October 9, 2014, 5:49 p.m. EDT

There’s the sense of an absence where the president should be.

Decisions are made—by someone, or some agency—on matters of great
consequence, Ebola, for instance. The virus has swept three nations of West
Africa; a Liberian visitor has just died in Dallas. The Centers for Disease
Control says it is tracking more than 50 people with whom he had contact.

The commonsense thing—not brain science, just common sense—would be for the
government to say: “As of today we will stop citizens of the affected
nations from entering the U.S. We will ban appropriate flights, and as time
passes we’ll see where we are. We can readjust as circumstances change. But
for now, easy does it—slow things down.”

Instead the government chooses to let the flow of individuals from infected
countries continue. They will be screened at five U.S. airports, where
their temperatures will be taken and they will be asked if they have been
around anyone with Ebola.

A lot of them, knowingly or unknowingly, have been around Ebola. People who
are sick do not in the early stages have elevated temperatures. People who
are desperate to leave a plague state will, understandably if wrongly, lie
on questionnaires.

U.S. health-care workers at airports will not early on be organized, and
will not always show good judgment. TSA workers sometimes let through guns
and knives. These workers will be looking for microbes, which, as they say,
are harder to see. A baby teething can run a fever; so will a baby with the
virus. A nurse or doctor with long experience can tell the difference. Will
the airport workers?

None of this plan makes sense. It’s busy work meant to foster confidence.
But it encourages the feeling that no one’s in charge, the federal
government isn’t working, everyone’s dissembling, and the No. 1 priority is
to keep the public calm as opposed to safe.

***

And now this week’s story on the big absence.

Leon Panetta ’s “Worthy Fights” pretends to offer answers to a problem of
which the book is actually an example—the mindless (as opposed to
thoughtful and constructive) partisanship that has seized Washington. This
memoir of his years as a successful political and bureaucratic player is
obnoxious and lacks stature. Reading a comparable book, Robert Gates ’s
recent, stinging memoir, you could see through the lines a broken heart. In
Mr. Panetta’s you see mostly spleen.

He is catty about David Petraeus—his office is “a shrine . . . to himself.”
Mr. Panetta subtly, deftly, with a winning oh-goshness, takes a whole lot
of credit for the bin Laden raid. This section is accompanied by unctuous
compliments for Mr. Obama, whose chief brilliance appears to be that he
listened to Mr. Panetta.

“Worthy Fights” is highly self-regarding even for a Washington book. Mr.
Panetta is always surprised, due to his natural modesty, to be offered yet
another, higher position. He reluctantly accepts and wins over doubters
with his plain, no-BS style. He does well, seeing around corners, saving
budgets, and developing relationships with anxious prime ministers who need
a pal.

Publicly Mr. Panetta has always been at great pains to show the smiling,
affable face of one who is above partisanship. But this book is smugly,
grubbily partisan. Republicans aren’t bright and never good, though some—
Bob Dole comes up—are reasonable. Republicans presidents tend to be weak or
care only for the rich. He really, really hates Newt Gingrich . His
headline on the entire Reagan era: “Poverty spread and deepened during the
Reagan years.” Under Bill Clinton “the economy boomed,” “poverty shrunk,”
and “leadership matters.” Reagan, in fairness, was less terrible than Mr.
Panetta expected, “less ideological and partisan.” Mr. Clinton is
“ravenously intelligent.” Mr. Panetta lauds Mr. Clinton’s “astonishing
ability to sift through facts” and his “empathy for average people.” The
compliments are at once lackeyish and patronizing.

In the epilogue Mr. Panetta seems to catch himself and writes, dictates or
edits in the thought that he does not mean “to suggest that Democrats are
good and Republicans are bad.” But that is what he repeatedly suggests.

Here’s what is disturbing: to think this is one of Washington’s wise men.

Here’s what’s true. At 76, at the end of a half-century-long, richly
rewarded career, with perspective having presumably been gained and
smallness washed away, in a book of history and reflection written at a
time of high national peril, a lack of political graciousness, and the
continued presence of a dumb and grinding partisanship, is unattractive to
the point of unseemly.

Mr. Panetta perhaps took this tack to buy himself space on the left. He is
telling partisan Democrats on the ground that he’s really one of them, he
hates those Republicans too, so you can trust him when he tells you Mr.
Obama’s presidency is not a success.

Which he does.

There is “a problem with President Obama’s use of his cabinet.” Every
decision now comes from the White House, from people around the president,
so secretaries learn not to take the initiative or push for needed change.

Enforced passivity tends to filter down. Which would explain a few things.

On Iraq, Mr. Panetta says he argued that if we did not leave behind a
residual force to provide security and training, the country would slip
into chaos with terrorists filling the vacuum. The White House pushed back;
things got heated. Mr. Panetta’s side came to see the White House as “so
eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than
lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.” That
is a serious charge. The White House won, and Iraq deteriorated.

Mr. Obama is scored for “failing to lead Congress” out of the sequester.
The president’s “most conspicuous weakness” is “a frustrating reticence to
engage his opponents and rally support for his cause.” He is “supremely
intelligent”—almost ravenously intelligent—but “sometimes lacks fire.” He
“avoids the battle, complains, and misses opportunities.”

All this is credible and accords with the testimony of others. But it is
fair to ask if he cared so much why he didn’t leave and speak sooner. It is
fair to ask how much he left out. One reads and senses: a lot.

Actually the way the president increasingly comes across, and not only in
this book, is as eccentric—a person drawn to political power who doesn’t
much like politics, or people, and who takes little joy from the wielding
of power. Mr. Panetta suggests Mr. Obama isn’t good at rah-rah. He’s good
at rah-rah for himself, just not for other causes.

The book has been received cynically in some precincts and supportively in
others, where Mr. Panetta’s candor and bravery are lauded. I’m not sure
brave is the right word for a man who knows where the bodies are buried and
can more than take care of himself in a street fight.

Some say he wrote the book to help detach Hillary Clinton ’s fortunes from
those of Mr. Obama. Maybe, but Mr. Panetta is savvy, shrewd and quick to
see where things are going. I suspect he’s trying to detach his entire
party’s fortunes from Mr. Obama. Reading this book and considering its
timing, you get the impression that’s the real worthy battle on his mind.

*Calendar:*

*Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official
schedule.*

·  October 12 – San Diego, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes the American Academy
of Pediatrics annual conference (Twitter
<https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN/status/520267871654805508>)

·  October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton and Sen. Reid fundraise for the
Reid Nevada Fund (Ralston Reports
<http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/hillary-raise-money-state-democrats-reid-next-month>
)

·  October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton keynotes the UNLV Foundation
Annual Dinner (UNLV
<http://www.unlv.edu/event/unlv-foundation-annual-dinner?delta=0>)

·  October 14 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes
salesforce.com Dreamforce
conference (salesforce.com
<http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/highlights.jsp#tuesday>)

·  October 16 – MI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rep. Gary Peters and Mark
Schauer in Michigan (AP
<https://twitter.com/KThomasDC/status/520243743170236416>)

·  October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House
Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/hillary-clinton-nancy-pelosi-110387.html?hp=r7>
)

·  October 20 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Senate
Democrats (AP
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month>
)

·  October 24 – RI: Sec. Clinton campaigns for Rhode Island gubernatorial
nominee Gina Raimondo (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/hillary-clinton-gina-raimondo-rhode-island-elections-111750.html>
)

·  November 2  – NH: Sec. Clinton appears at a GOTV rally for Gov. Hassan
and Sen. Shaheen (AP
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/03fe478acd0344bab983323d3fb353e2/clinton-planning-lengthy-campaign-push-month>
)

·  December 1 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton keynotes a League of
Conservation Voters dinner (Politico
<http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-green-groups-las-vegas-111430.html?hp=l11>
)

·  December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts
Conference for Women (MCFW <http://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/>)