Philebrity Wonders: What Does Nutter Gain By Backing Hillz? Or, “Michael Nutter, Please Stop Calling My Mom”
“Hey, your friend Michael Nutter called me!” This is my mom speaking, in her kitchen, last night. “Oh really? Let me guess…,” I say. “Hillary.” “Yep.”
As the PA primary draws near and we seem to collectively know less about the outcome of what the Democratic race will be than we did the day before, our new mayor, who hasn’t made many (hardly any) missteps at all so far, seems to be finding himself in a dilly of a pickle: He endorsed Hillary Clinton back in December. And he’s sticking to it. Politically, he has to. But does his endorsement, and his doggedness in backing it up, say good things about Nutter, or bad things? Many have wondered why he endorsed Clinton in the first place: Barack Obama, after all, matches up perfectly with so much of the progressive rhetoric that won Nutter his post by such a wide margin last spring. Is it all because Obama (quite ill-advisedly) endorsed Chaka Fattah over Nutter last year? (And though we may be picking an old scab here, we have to wonder: If Fattah so famously opined that Nutter was “not black enough” to be mayor, how do you crunch the magical DNA that proclaims Obama “black enough” to be president? Yeah, that’s right, Chaka: You’re never gonna live that down.)
But it can’t all be about old beef with Fattah. We just refuse to believe it. So here’s what we come away with from Nutter, after what is surely only the beginning of a full-court press on his behalf for Hillary Clinton: He believes she’s the best candidate. He seems to be taking a calculated risk that she’ll win. And he also believes that, if he’s right, there is much collateral to be gained from throwing precious political juice her way. And perhaps more than anything else, right now, we like to think that Nutter is seeing this whole Hillary thing through to the end — which has the possibility of being a very unpopular move — simply because it’s too late to stop now.
USAToday: Cue Up The “Why No Brotherly Love?” Tropes
March 11th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
My guess is there’s other machinery going on here. What factions within the Dem party do Nutter, Obama, and Clinton organize within. Was Nutter mentored by the DLC? I don’t know if that posse (who are “old school political machinery” if you consider 1996 political “old school”) works below the national level, but maybe they do. Who are Nutter’s political mentors, and who are they tied to? These are questions for a journalist above USAToday’s abilities. Anyone at the Inky pick up the phone anymore?
Nutter’s also a wonk (and not as progressive as Dwight Evens, Nut’s more Clintonially triangualted), and Clinton comes off more wonkier to a fault than Obama has once he started gaining traction, so I can see her appeal beyond the superficial skin color and “new day” solidarity assumptions people would make between Nutter and the Big O.
Nutter’s still on his political honeymoon. Given that, he doesn’t have the accomplishment clout yet to really pull voters to Clinton. Nor can Clinton really expect him to. Also, no real sweat off his own future if Clinton gets trounced in Philly.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Like C. The Impaler notes above, I think this is all about political history and payback. Nutter has long been involved with the DNC, and the DLC profiled him here as “one to watch” — http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=251656&kaid=104&subid=210.
I’m really, really happy that Nutter is in office, but I agree with the Impaler that it’s important to recognize that despite the rap-filled inaugural party, he’s definitely not a hard-core liberal.