In a January 3 Greeley Tribune guest commentary (registration required), conservative radio show host Michael Reagan -- eldest son of the late former President Ronald Reagan -- predicted that, were U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to “pose[] a real threat to Sen. [Hillary Rodham] Clinton [D-NY]” in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, he would come under “a withering fire of criticism” secretly leveled by “the Clinton attack machine.” Reagan's commentary echoes several others (identified by Media Matters for America) in which media figures have “warned” Obama against ruthless tactics that Clinton purportedly employs against political rivals or opponents.

As Media Matters also has noted, neither Clinton nor Obama has announced a campaign for the presidency. The Associated Press reported on January 2 that "[2004 vice presidential nominee John] Edwards, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio have been the only Democrats to announce their 2008 White House bids."

From Michael Reagan's guest commentary, “Running against the right Hillary,” in the January 3 edition of the Greeley Tribune:

The common wisdom holds that it is all but inevitable that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008 and that she'll be a formidable if not unbeatable candidate.

I don't disagree with that assumption, despite the sudden emergence of Barack Hussein Obama as the media's newest darling. I see him as nothing more than a passing fancy for the mainstream media. If it becomes evident that he poses a real threat to Sen. Clinton, he'll suddenly find himself under a withering fire of criticism and he won't have the vaguest notion where it's all coming from. Wiser heads, however, will understand that the Clinton attack machine is back in action and before it's finished Obama will be history.