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The Clinton-Kerry alliance
Two political rivals team up to battle potential Swift-Boat-style attack
 | Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., has found one-time potential presidential opponent Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to be a friend in the battle to defend her patriotism. |
Charlie Neibergall / AP |
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At first blush they seemed like a surprising couple: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John Kerry, teaming up last month to defend Mrs. Clinton from Pentagon criticism over the Iraq war – criticism that had a Swift-Boat-style ring to it, her campaign believed, of questioning her patriotism.
The two senators are political rivals within the Democratic Party – he its nominee in 2004, she a leading candidate for the nomination next year. What’s more, Mrs. Clinton was among those who hobbled Mr. Kerry politically last year by criticizing him for a botched joke he made about President Bush and Iraq; Kerry friends say the blow-up over the joke was a factor in his not seeking the presidency again in 2008.
As a presidential candidate, too, Mrs. Clinton has pledged to fight back against attacks, to never be “Swift Boated” – implicitly suggesting that her campaign mettle would be different (and stronger) than Mr. Kerry’s. Indeed, her friends say she was no fan of the Kerry campaign, seeing it as feckless and undisciplined at times (two adjectives that people do not use about her or her operation).
And ultimately, of course, Mr. Kerry lost the election. The Clintons think of themselves as winners.
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“Both Senator Kerry and I were shocked at the timeworn tactic of once again impugning the patriotism of any of us who raise questions” about the administration’s war strategy, Mrs. Clinton said on a conference call with Mr. Kerry on July 20, after a Pentagon official -- responding to Mrs. Clinton’s request for troop withdrawal contingency plans -- said her inquiry would feed enemy propaganda.
It did not take the Republican National Committee long to hit back. After the two senators introduced legislation last week that would require the Pentagon to provide information on withdrawal plans, the R.N.C. weighed in with a picture of Mr. Kerry and Mrs. Clinton together next to the headline: “Hillary’s Iraq Advisor?”
From the Clinton camp’s point of view, in spite of Republican attacks on his reputation, Mr. Kerry has cemented an image as a serious thinker on foreign policy and national security issues after years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as a Vietnam veteran himself.
A Washington Democrat who has worked with both senators offered another assessment: Mr. Kerry has “a certain credibility on Iraq right now,” given that his June 2006 Senate amendment to withdraw troops in a year – which Mrs. Clinton and many others opposed at the time – has now been embraced by many Democrats, including Mrs. Clinton.
If Mr. Kerry’s views are now in his party’s mainstream, he also enjoys good standing with his party’s left, particularly antiwar Democrats, liberal bloggers, and voters who organize online (and whose support Mrs. Clinton and the other ’08 Democrats are seeking). A cursory read of left-leaning blogs finds strong support for Mr. Kerry’s full-throated opposition to the war. And Mr. Kerry’s reach is notable: He still has an email contact list for three million people from his 2004 campaign.
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