The only message he and the rest of the demoshits ever had was socialism is great. rah rah rah SOCIALISM
On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 4:06 PM, Keith In Tampa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > > > *Can Obama Get Back On Message?* > ** > http://www.powerlineblog.com/ > > John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin threw Barack Obama off his stride to > the extent that it sometimes seems that he thinks he is running against > Palin for Vice President. The conventional wisdom is that Obama needs to get > back on message. > > Perhaps. I wonder, though, what message he is supposed to get back to? > Obama won the Democratic nomination with two themes: 1) I represent change, > and 2) I'm the purest anti-war candidate. But even by the middle of the > Democratic primary process those themes were wearing thin. Obama's > substance-free "yes we can" mantra had become a standing joke and, with the > U.S. well on the way to success in Iraq, Obama's anti-war position was > becoming simultaneously suspect and moot. > > When he transitioned to the general election, Obama acted as though he were > running against George Bush. His main message was that John McCain is a Bush > clone. But that message didn't sell, and the more the public focuses on the > race, listens to McCain and looks forward rather than backward, the less > power it has. John McCain is obviously anything but the second coming of > George Bush. > > It is true, of course, that Bush is unpopular and that after either party > has occupied the White House for eight years, countless grievances have > accumulated and many voters are ready to give the other guys a chance. But > that is a fact, not a message. It's already factored into the candidates' > standing in the polls, and Obama can't just stand up and say "I'm not a > Republican." Besides, Republicans' standing with the voters, as measured by > party identification and generic Congressional preference, is rising, not > falling. > > So what, exactly, is the message that Obama should go back to? It's not an > easy question to answer. He can't focus on his own achievements, because > there aren't many. Worse, major areas of Obama's past are off limits. He > really doesn't want to open up a conversation about his years in Indonesia > or at Harvard Law School, or about his work as a "community organizer" in > Chicago or the friends he made there. Nor can he talk in any detail about > his role as a legislator in Springfield or Washington, since he has been a > go along/get along careerist, not a reformer like John McCain or Sarah > Palin. > > What does that leave? Mostly, hoping for bad news. The Obama campaign > assumes that anything bad that happens, whether a hurricane or a bankruptcy, > somehow strengthens their position. They might be right. But, apart from the > fact that it's not a very attractive basis on which to run for President, > it's not at all clear that if times are tough, it will make people want to > pull the lever for an untested, unqualified, uncreative and--strangest of > all--still largely unknown politician. > > So it will be interesting to see what message, exactly, Obama decides to > get "back" to. > > > > > > -- *~@):~{> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
