With hindsight it is clear that Hillary Clinton should have either hugged Barack Obama so close from the outset that he couldn’t wiggle free or set out to destroy him as soon as he announced his candidacy. Hillary, though, tried an odd mix of the two, giving Obama just the opening he needed.
Gordon Brown had the same two options after David Miliband’s infamous Guardian op-ed. Team Brown, though, like the Clinton campaign couldn’t decide which option to choose.
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If Brown’s supporters had welcomed the op-ed and praised Miliband for going out there and taking it to the Tories, suggested it was all part of a grand plan and dropped hints about a big promotion for Miliband in an autumn reshuffle, they would have put him in a rather tricky position. Miliband’s spinners would have had to clarify whether or not this was a come and get me plea to the Labour party.
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