Then Why Are You Running?
It’s disheartening, but not surprising, that Barack Obama’s campaign has now seemingly embraced the John Kerry/Al Gore/ DNC loser strategy: tack to the right, reject his left wing base to appease right-wingers, and my favorite, whine that you’re being bullied when really the problem is that the candidate is acting like a blubbering pussy:
Obama is keeping his decision quiet, but his staff in Chicago and party activists are buzzing about Biden, in large part because he can address two of Obama’s biggest weaknesses — his lack of experience, especially on world affairs, and his reluctance to attack his opponent.
Or as Josh Marshall put it:
Don’t ever demand someone stop attacking you. Doesn’t work. Don’t do it. Sounds weak. Sounds pathetic. And a lot else.
“His reluctance to attack his opponent”. That pretty much says it all. So O-dude, big question for you: if you’re reluctant to attack your opponent, why are you wasting our time running for President if you intend to lose?
i like what Chris Bowers says:
* Don’t defund the 527’s. I know that this is an old one, and that Obama has quietly changed his tune on 527s lately, but it seems pretty obvious. No one is going to vote for you because you stopped the evil 527 money from entering politics. However, people might very well vote for you because the 527s unleashed a $125 million spending barrage against your opponent.
* Target white Democrats: Pretty much every demographic analysis of this election has shown that Obama is over-performing other recent Democratic nominees among many subgroups. However, the only subgroup where he is consistently under-performing is white Democrats (white Democrats of all types, too, including liberals and younger ones). Bring them into the fold by attacking McCain as a Republican, maybe even with a 30-second spot that just keeps repeating “John McCain is a Republican,” over and over and over. Lob something partisan their way to rally around the flag with. This might also keep the percentage of Democrats in the electorate quite high.
* Attack McCain’s age. This might seem more dangerous, and I have cautioned against it before. However, it would seem foolish to avoid it at this point, because all of the clever attacks are being directed at Obama. We need to turn the tables, and this would help out quite a bit. For starters, voters want “change” in this election, and old age is an antithesis of change. Second, there is already a well-established national narrative about McCain’s age, so it would reinforce existing anti-McCain narratives. Third, if the attack was done correctly, there would still be deniability that McCain’s age was even being attacked. It could turn McCain into an angry, whiny, too sensitive candidate, which in turn makes him look old and weak. The narrative can thus reinforce itself even if McCain fights back.
I was excited about the candidate once. Then he fucked me over on my civil liberties. I was less excited (and off the train quite frankly), but this latest wankery is unacceptable. If this is the campaign Obama’s going to run (”waaah, why’s everybody always pickin’ on me just cus I don’t fight back”), how can he even halfway expect to win?
If Obama and the Democrats are hoping to coast into office on the backs of voter displeasure with the GOP, I think they have another thing coming. For starters, no one likes Congress at all. Unbelievably, the Democratic Congress is more popular with republicans than with their own base! (warning .pdf)
I am a man with several pressing obligations. I have a mortgage to pay. I have child support to pay, I have a student loan that eats up more than half of one of my paychecks. I have credit cards and utility bills and car insurance and gasoline that costs $3.50 a gallon during an election year and $4.25 the rest of the time and a gas furnace to install. I don’t make enough money to make ends meet.
I desperately need the Democrats, and in particular progressive Democrats who will introduce and pass legislation that helps people like me, to win this year. And what am I watching? The same old implosion from 2000 and 2004, this time losing ground to a pathetic, ill-tempered, senile, half-psychotic old man who makes Methuselah look like a freakin’ teenager. This election should be a fucking landslide, and I’m watching the same old tired calculations snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Again.
I think it’s McCain in 2008, and by more than just a squeaker.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:52 pm
And what’s worse? I think it will be McInsane and Liebermole.