The erosion of trust in Clinton’s honesty

A friend of mine who is a staunch supporter of Barack Obama watches the cable news channels and reads about the campaign every day. She frets over the potential of each primary and debate to do injury to Obama’s campaign. The ranting Reverend Wright episode upset her for days, even after Obama’s rather praiseworthy explanation soothed many of his other ardent supporters.

So, the recent “bitter” gaffe, where, in a private meeting in San Francisco, Obama spoke awkwardly about his view of why some folks in small Rustbelt towns “cling” to certain traditions, has had her in a near-tizzy.

And, it’s no wonder. The press, which has been supplying most of the oxygen to the life-support system that has kept Hillary Clinton’s campaign from dying its natural death based the delegate count, has been reporting the story -- Bittergate? -- as if Obama had said something as bad as ... well, as bad as Hillary Clinton’s bragging, invented claims about ducking sniper fire in Bosnia.

Fortunately, there are still some elements of the working press that aren’t devoted exclusively to promoting Obama’s poorly-worded observation about the way some voters in economically depressed areas do actually feel. Today’s Washington Post has a story about how a lot of people are feeling about Clinton’s honesty.

Lost in the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign's aggressive attacks on Barack Obama in recent days is a deep and enduring problem that threatens to undercut any inroads Clinton has made in her struggle to overtake him in the Democratic presidential race: She has lost trust among voters, a majority of whom now view her as dishonest.

Her advisers’ efforts to deal with the problem -- by having her acknowledge her mistakes and crack self-deprecating jokes -- do not seem to have succeeded. Privately, the aides admit that the recent controversy over her claim to have ducked sniper fire on a trip to Bosnia probably made things worse.

Clinton is viewed as “honest and trustworthy” by just 39 percent of Americans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, compared with 52 percent in May 2006. Nearly six in 10 said in the new poll that she is not honest and trustworthy...

Click here to read the entire article.

Therefore, this post is for my friend and all the others on the Obama bandwagon who may be worrying too much about Clinton’s ability to somehow steal the Democratic nomination by bashing Obama as a closet Muslim, or as a guy who goes to the wrong Christian church, or as not ready to be commander-in-chief, or as an elitist, or whatever comes next.

Yes, Clinton’s desperate, dirtball tactics are being noticed. And, her baggage is getting heavier all the time.