WASHINGTON — Eager to take down Hillary Rodham Clinton's toughest opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, a top aide came up with a novel -- and hard-edged -- strategy.
In a March 2007 memo to the candidate, Mark Penn, a longtime pollster and strategist for the Clintons, urged the New York senator's campaign to paint Barack Obama as "fundamentally" foreign.
Clinton never embraced that theme, preferring instead to cast Obama as untested and too inexperienced to be commander in chief. But the memo shows the range of options being considered as Obama's campaign gained momentum at Clinton's expense.
The Penn paper is part of a sheaf of e-mails and documents obtained by the Atlantic and made available on the magazine’s website.
The March 19, 2007, memo included a section titled "Lack of American Roots," in which Penn recommended making an issue of Obama's "diverse, multicultural" upbringing. Obama was born in Hawaii and spent part of his childhood in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.
Obama's "roots to basic American values and culture are at best limited," Penn wrote. "I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and his values."
To avoid an overt attack, Penn recommended emphasizing the word "American" in Clinton's various campaign messages -- drawing a contrast to Obama but in subtler form.
"Let's explicitly own 'American' in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn't," Penn wrote. "Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy fund. Let's use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let's add flag symbols to our backgrounds."
A Clinton spokeswoman said Tuesday that Penn's recommendation was rejected.
"Sen. Clinton did not take that advice," Kathleen Strand said. "She focused primarily on issues that mattered to working families. This was a strategy that was not employed, discussed by senior staff or even pushed by Mark Penn."
Penn, chairman of Burson-Marsteller, a public relations and lobbying company, did not return calls for comment.
Penn's strategy was considered but dismissed, said a former campaign aide who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to be more forthcoming.
"Even if you concluded it would be a useful line of attack, some of us were queasy about it," he said. "It's fair to say that most people thought it would really rebound on her."
