Hillary Clinton laughed off the suggestion that her teary-eyed response to a seemingly innocent question in Portsmouth today was a “Muskie Moment” — saying “I think this is so ridiculous. People who have followed me during the course of my life know that, you know, I am a passionate person and I care deeply what happens to people.”
She cited the “intimate setting” and the concern the undecided voters there showed for the country for what was, for the usually stoic senator, an outpouring of emotion. “I am a real person. I have feelings. I care about what I do,” she said. “I am worried about our country and what is going to happen to the next generation. And if I get emotional about that, or if I am passionate about defending myself, I’ll let other people draw their conclusions.”
In an interview with Fox News Political Correspondent Major Garrett — the second in as many days — Clinton also took issue with Barack Obama’s dismissal of her claim that he represents “false hope;” Obama says that argument is like Martin Luther King standing at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and saying “sorry guys, false hope. The dream will die.”
Clinton said “Dr King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the civil rights act of 1964… That dream became a reality, the power of that dream became real in people’s lives because we had a president who said ‘we’re going to do it,’ and actually got it done.”
The answer fits her “rhetoric vs reality” approach, but as Politico’s Ben Smith points out, it’s indicative of the problem with her basic campaign argument. After all, who would the American people rather support — Martin Luther King or Lyndon Johnson?
UPDATE: Watch a more formal version of the MLK/LBJ argument at her rally in Salem, NH