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| Home Front: Politix |
| Obama Doomed With Dem Drool |
| 2008-09-18 |
| Discovered on the WaPo editorial page, from yesterday. Seldom has there been a larger contrast between the style of a candidate and the strategy of his campaign. Barack Obama is cool, firm and permanently unruffled. It is precisely this quality of steadiness that has made him seem a credible prospective president with the thinnest of résumés. So THAT's what it was! But Obama's campaign is rootless, reactive and panicky. At every stage since securing the nomination, it has seemed fearful of missteps and unsure of its own organizing principle. So it has invariably adopted the Democratic Obama's first major decision was his running mate. He could have reinforced a message of change and moderation with a Democratic governor who wins in a Republican state, or reached for history by selecting Hillary Clinton. But his choice came soon after Russia invaded Georgia, and the conventional wisdom demanded an old hand who knew his way around Tbilisi. When the Georgia crisis faded, Obama was left with a partisan, undisciplined, congressional liberal at his side. This has served to undermine Obama's message of change - and has allowed Sarah Palin to pilfer a portion of that appeal. The nerve! Obama's second decision concerned the tone and content of his convention. Here the Democratic conventional wisdom was nearly unanimous. Obama should shelve his highfalutin rhetoric and talk like a real Democrat. Go after McCain. Talk about "bread and butter" issues - code words for class-warfare attacks on consumers of blinis and caviar. Obama took this advice to the letter - at the cost of his political identity. In his Denver speech, it seemed that every American home was on the auction block, every car stalled for lack of gasoline, every credit card bill past due, every worker treated like a Russian serf. And John McCain? He was out of touch, with flawed "judgment." His life devoted to serving oil companies and big corporations. And, by the way, he didn't have the courage to follow Osama bin Laden "to the cave where he lives." In obedience to the best Democratic advice, Obama managed to be conventional, bitter and graceless. Now Obama has made his third major campaign decision - to finally Obama feels provoked - and he has been. There is no evidence that Obama supported explicit sex education for kindergarteners, as a McCain ad implied. Having already accused McCain of being a cowardly corporate tool who is disconnected from reality, escalation is not an easy task for Obama. But he has managed. In one recent commercial, McCain is clearly mocked for his age - compared to a disco ball and a 10-pound cellphone. Another ad uses the word "dishonorable" next to a photo of McCain - an attack from a candidate who has little practical familiarity with the cost of honor. Ouch! Too bad many readers will have no idea what this means, 1972 being sooo long ago! Who is hurt most by this race to the bottom? McCain, by the evidence of his own convention, wants to be a viewed as a fighter - which a fight does little to undermine. Obama was introduced to America as a different and better kind of politician - an image now in tatters. Even worse for Obama, all these shifts to catch the prevailing winds confirm the most serious concerns about his political character. As a senator, he has almost never opposed the ideological consensus of his party. (The ethics reform he often cites as his profile in courage eventually passed the Senate 96 to 2.) And now as a presidential candidate, Obama has run his campaign with all the constancy of a skittish sailboat on an erratic ocean. Here is a different strategy. Obama could attempt to "beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism." He could try to build a coalition that "stretches through red states and blue states." He could reject "the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up." The candidate who said those words the night he won the Iowa caucuses did pretty well. But whatever the outcome of this presidential election, that candidate is no longer in the race. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #11 John is the one saying the American people don't want us yelling at each other anymore. John's taking the high road, but The Machine is stuffing the ballot boxes........ |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2008-09-18 16:23 |
| #10 Obama could attempt to "beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism." He could try to build a coalition that "stretches through red states and blue states." He could reject "the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up." Fat chance. Obama's primary campaign was run on Axelrod's usual campaign' model, where the emphasis is placed on wooing African Americans in urban, already Democrat-heavy, environments. Hence the emphasis on showmanship; the secular-preacher mode, the 'hip urban jerks', and the general bypassing of traditional Democrat demographic groups in favor of a selective campaign machine. There is no consensus-building. (the only thing different was the campaign using a strategy similar to Clinton's 1992 campaign, but for the primaries rather than the general election.) |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-09-18 13:49 |
| #9 The only reason for Obama to really panic is if he runs out of buses. Otherwise, he can dance from one Democratic conventional wisdom to another, well for just about forever. If he loses in November, he can draw on vast Democrat supplies of sour grapes. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-09-18 11:34 |
| #8 sgt mom, wake up calls are sweet. With the slanted MSM it's amazing anyone can see the light. It's actually alot of work finding the truth, I pass it on freely to my friends and co-workers. |
| Posted by: Jan 2008-09-18 11:33 |
| #7 The Democrats have the voices of the fringe yelling at them at high volume. Some advice good, most bad. Its got to be confusing. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-09-18 11:24 |
| #6 I'd begin to really wonder if the Obama campaign is loosing them in droves. My own daughter voted for him in the primary - she's any 'anyone but Hillary' voter, and if anything was apolitical when she was in the Marines. Now, she is just so revolted about the Obamanauts going after Sarah Palin's family, and the sheer floods of vicious misinformation being poured onto various newsgroups that she follows that that she's going to vote McCain with a vengeance. It's only anecdotal... but still you have to wonder. The more she find out about Obama and his happy little band, the more she dislikes them all, and regrets taking him at all seriously earlier this year. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2008-09-18 11:04 |
| #5 It's not Obama's fault. He's cool. It's his campaign's fault, the democratic party's fault, and McCain's fault. oh ...but wait!! .... Even worse for Obama, all these shifts to catch the prevailing winds confirm the most serious concerns about his political character. As a senator, he has almost never opposed the ideological consensus of his party. (The ethics reform he often cites as his profile in courage eventually passed the Senate 96 to 2.) And now as a presidential candidate, Obama has run his campaign with all the constancy of a skittish sailboat on an erratic ocean. ... they actually criticized him. I feel faint. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-18 09:53 |
| #4 WaPo editorial page never let him on the bus. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-09-18 08:58 |
| #3 Can't change...[sheesh] |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-18 08:55 |
| #2 Can change what he can't see. This happens when someone lives in a different time and spacial universe from the real people of America, aka 'the little' people, the one's THEY claim they represent as they aggrandize more power to lord over them. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-09-18 08:54 |
| #1 Is this the WaPo getting ready to throw Obama under the bus? |
| Posted by: Snaitch Sproing2496 2008-09-18 08:39 |