Having exhausted the subjects of Martin Luther King, Lyndon Baines Johnson and John F. Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have now moved on to fighting over Ronald Reagan.
The fight is over comments made by Obama to a newspaper about Reagan a few days ago, lauding him as a change-maker in the mold Obama sees himself, albeit with different, Republican ideas. But Obama also described the Republicans as the party of ideas for the last 10 to 15 years in "challenging the conventional wisdom," and Clinton has today -- one day before the Nevada caucuses -- launched a delayed pounce.
Hillary today: "That's not the way I remember the last ten to fifteen years. I don't think it's a better idea to privatize Social Security. I don't think it's a better idea to try to eliminate the minimum wage. I don't think it's a better idea to undercut health benefits and to give drug companies the right to make billions of dollars by providing prescription drugs to Medicare recipients."
She also got an assist from Mass. Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, leading liberal and brother of one of Hillary's top aides, who said on a Clinton conference call: "I was stupefied by the comments...It's baffling to me that he would speak so highly of him (Reagan)."
There's some question about whether Clinton is taking the comments in context or not. You can watch video of Obama today here. As to the politics: This seems like a pretty good argument for Clinton to be having on the day before Nevada caucuses.
But, Obama has ads up in Nevada openly encouraging Republicans and independents to caucus in the open primary tomorrow, so the Reagan reference surely wasn't accidental. On Feb. 5, a much bigger prize -- neighboring California -- will vote. The Republican primary bans independents, but the Democratic primary doesn't -- so the way that roughly 15 percent of the Cal. electorate will have to participate is by choosing between Clinton, Obama and Edwards.
Reagan, of course, was a two-term governor of California, and now pretty much an icon. Who do you think those independents will like more -- Barney Frank, or Ronald Reagan? Just a thought.