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Is this not the Presidential Race that Obama knew?
By Dan | July 10, 2008
This Presidential election is turning out to be a lot more interesting than we thought it would. Both candidates are struggling to find their message and lock up their constituent groups. This election is supposed to be Brack Obama’s to lose and he may just do that.
Barack Obama knows that he has the hard left locked up but that doesn’t mean he isn’t making them angry with his mad dash to the center. Jesse Jackson is just more evidence of that, his comments on a hot mic are horrible. Even so they will not hurt Obama with the left, they may hurt him with middle though.
With that kind of allies Obama doesn’t need any enemies. But he has them, and a lot of them are in the Democratic Party. Obama has still not won over all of Hillary’s supporters. The white working class Democrats do not agree with him on major issues like creating more union jobs in the oil industry. They also tend to be much more patriotic than Obama, who had to make a major speech to defend himself from an attack that was not leveled.
Instead of effectively ending an issue that he perceived to be a weakness he managed to call into question his own patriotism. He also has surrogates attacking McCain’s perceived strengths, his patriotism and his war record.
This shows a lack of experience in high level campaigns. Remember that Obama has never won a tough race, the Senate race was handed to him in 2006 by a judge that opened his opponent’s sealed divorce record. When Mr. Ryan dropped out he essentially ran against a carpetbagger in Alan Keys that was not a serious challenge.
In this race Obama is making a lot of mistakes. He is emphasizing his weaknesses and pointing out his opponents strengths. Any strategist knows that you play up your strengths and your opponent’s weaknesses.
No amount of negative ads are going to be able to convince the American Voter that John McCain is not a patriot and/or that he is less qualified than Barack Obama. The facts just aren’t there for Obama to run an “experience” campaign. He has to run the “change” campaign like a challenger, even though right now he is the favorite.
A lot is being made right now of McCain’s inconsistent message and it is a problem for him, but with all of McCain’s blunders and with the fact that Bush has approval ratings in the cellar, Obama should be running away with this race. Instead the race is tightening 4 months too early.
Right now both candidates are floundering and trying to find their message the difference Obama’s campaign is doing more damage to itself than McCain’s.
Topics: Election |
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July 10th, 2008 at 11:01 am
[...] thinkinboutstuff wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThey also tend to be much more patriotic than Obama, who had to make a major speech to defend himself from an attack that was not leveled. Instead of effectively ending an issue that he perceived to be a weakness he managed to call into … [...]