The election isn't about Obama

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It's about John McCain and the failed policies and stale ideas of the Republican party

Michael Tomasky, The Guardian

When Barack Obama sewed up the Democratic nomination, I wrote that he needed to do five things: redefine himself, redefine John McCain, make nice with the Clintons, unify the party and brace himself for some serious hardball.

He's taken steps to address four of those points. There's lots of complaining about how he's handled the "redefine himself" part. Some of it is legitimate, but much of it is infantile yelping by two types of people. First, those whose idea of politics consists chiefly of waiting until the inevitable moment that a politician "sells them out" so they can wag their fingers and say I told you so. Second, those who live in liberal cocoons and want to think that the United States of America consists of about 11 blue states.

But let's put that one aside for now, because the topic today is that on one of my five points, Obama has done very little and has let some silver-platter opportunities pass him by. He is not redefining McCain.

Some leading conventional-wisdom meisters, like Time's Mark Halperin, like to say that this race is completely about Obama. When they say that, you can hear them setting themselves up as Obama's judge and jury, just waiting for him to trip up so they can say that he's failing to "close the deal" and there are just "too many questions" about him, as they nudge their readers toward McCain, a media darling for many years now.

Well, there is some truth to it. The race will be, to a certain extent, probably a considerable extent, about white voters' comfort with Obama. But it's not all about Obama. It's also about an unnecessary war that was based on lies. It's about a lousy economy and a housing boom that went bust. It's about $4-a-gallon gas. It's about America's dreadful reputation in the world. It's about federal inaction on a wide range of problems, most notably healthcare and climate change, but a bushel of smaller things besides. It's about 84% of Americans thinking the country is on the wrong track.

In other words, it's about the Republicans - their stewardship (failed), and their ideas (stale). And it's about how committed McCain is to that stewardship and those ideas.

Those - a race about Obama and a race about what the GOP has done to the country - are two different races. And Obama is more likely to win the second one.

I understand that Obama needs to redefine himself to a broader public, and to build a biography. Every general-election candidate in history has done this. And he needs to reassure white voters more than most politicians would, so he has to give marquee speeches about patriotism and religion. That's fine. But it's a two-edged sword, because the more time he spends talking about himself, the more the race is about him, which is the race he's less likely to win.

In the meantime, in the last two weeks, McCain and his people have made some batty statements. McCain described the manner in which Social Security has been financed for decades – the current generation pays taxes to help cover the retired generations' benefits – and hilariously called it a "disgrace". The long and short of McCain's position commits him to benefit cuts, because he insists that he'll "fix" Social Security without raising taxes. This was Christmas in July. Some noise was made about it, and the Democratic National Committee is launching a longer-term campaign to raise awareness about it, but the Obama campaign didn't really pounce hard on McCain's malapropism.

McCain adviser Carly Fiorina complained that health insurance in America often covers Viagra but not birth control medications. But it turned out that McCain had voted to support just that policy. McCain was asked about the discrepancy between Fiorian's remarks and his vote. He was silent for a good 20 seconds. It was painfully embarrassing. He knew nothing about the issue and clearly didn't even know he'd voted the way he had. Yet, probably fewer than 5% of American women even know this happened.

Economic adviser Phil Gramm – in line, at least before this, to be McCain's Treasury secretary – called Americans a "nation of whiners". Fiorina hinted that McCain might be open to a tax increase on the wealthy. All of these missteps bubbled up to the surface to varying degrees, but Obama has not twisted in the knife on any of them.

One of the Obama team's biggest jobs in this campaign is to change the way Americans view McCain. Most people don't know he's flip-flopped on fundamental issues like tax cuts. Even fewer know that he has little mastery of the details of policy in all but a few areas he's decided to be interested in over the years. And precisely because the press has worshipped McCain, this will be a tough slog and will take a long time.

Most of all, Obama needs to make the race about GOP failures and persuade people that McCain will continue them. "McCain equals Bush's third term" is a decent slogan. But they need to paint in the canvas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...bama.johnmccain

[zqt3344 21]

You are relentless with this communist liberalism.

It's about John McCain and the failed policies and stale ideas of the Republican party

Michael Tomasky, The Guardian

When Barack Obama sewed up the Democratic nomination, I wrote that he needed to do five things: redefine himself, redefine John McCain, make nice with the Clintons, unify the party and brace himself for some serious hardball.

He's taken steps to address four of those points. There's lots of complaining about how he's handled the "redefine himself" part. Some of it is legitimate, but much of it is infantile yelping by two types of people. First, those whose idea of politics consists chiefly of waiting until the inevitable moment that a politician "sells them out" so they can wag their fingers and say I told you so. Second, those who live in liberal cocoons and want to think that the United States of America consists of about 11 blue states.

But let's put that one aside for now, because the topic today is that on one of my five points, Obama has done very little and has let some silver-platter opportunities pass him by. He is not redefining McCain.

Some leading conventional-wisdom meisters, like Time's Mark Halperin, like to say that this race is completely about Obama. When they say that, you can hear them setting themselves up as Obama's judge and jury, just waiting for him to trip up so they can say that he's failing to "close the deal" and there are just "too many questions" about him, as they nudge their readers toward McCain, a media darling for many years now.

Well, there is some truth to it. The race will be, to a certain extent, probably a considerable extent, about white voters' comfort with Obama. But it's not all about Obama. It's also about an unnecessary war that was based on lies. It's about a lousy economy and a housing boom that went bust. It's about $4-a-gallon gas. It's about America's dreadful reputation in the world. It's about federal inaction on a wide range of problems, most notably healthcare and climate change, but a bushel of smaller things besides. It's about 84% of Americans thinking the country is on the wrong track.

In other words, it's about the Republicans - their stewardship (failed), and their ideas (stale). And it's about how committed McCain is to that stewardship and those ideas.

Those - a race about Obama and a race about what the GOP has done to the country - are two different races. And Obama is more likely to win the second one.

I understand that Obama needs to redefine himself to a broader public, and to build a biography. Every general-election candidate in history has done this. And he needs to reassure white voters more than most politicians would, so he has to give marquee speeches about patriotism and religion. That's fine. But it's a two-edged sword, because the more time he spends talking about himself, the more the race is about him, which is the race he's less likely to win.

In the meantime, in the last two weeks, McCain and his people have made some batty statements. McCain described the manner in which Social Security has been financed for decades – the current generation pays taxes to help cover the retired generations' benefits – and hilariously called it a "disgrace". The long and short of McCain's position commits him to benefit cuts, because he insists that he'll "fix" Social Security without raising taxes. This was Christmas in July. Some noise was made about it, and the Democratic National Committee is launching a longer-term campaign to raise awareness about it, but the Obama campaign didn't really pounce hard on McCain's malapropism.

McCain adviser Carly Fiorina complained that health insurance in America often covers Viagra but not birth control medications. But it turned out that McCain had voted to support just that policy. McCain was asked about the discrepancy between Fiorian's remarks and his vote. He was silent for a good 20 seconds. It was painfully embarrassing. He knew nothing about the issue and clearly didn't even know he'd voted the way he had. Yet, probably fewer than 5% of American women even know this happened.

Economic adviser Phil Gramm – in line, at least before this, to be McCain's Treasury secretary – called Americans a "nation of whiners". Fiorina hinted that McCain might be open to a tax increase on the wealthy. All of these missteps bubbled up to the surface to varying degrees, but Obama has not twisted in the knife on any of them.

One of the Obama team's biggest jobs in this campaign is to change the way Americans view McCain. Most people don't know he's flip-flopped on fundamental issues like tax cuts. Even fewer know that he has little mastery of the details of policy in all but a few areas he's decided to be interested in over the years. And precisely because the press has worshipped McCain, this will be a tough slog and will take a long time.

Most of all, Obama needs to make the race about GOP failures and persuade people that McCain will continue them. "McCain equals Bush's third term" is a decent slogan. But they need to paint in the canvas.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...bama.johnmccain

[Sassy1natl 0]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Don't mind zqt...they're just trolling the boards.

[zqt3344 21]

Oh and by all means pay close attention to Jabber, for he is the God of the boards. Rightttttttttttt.

Don't mind zqt...they're just trolling the boards.

[Peikko 1,575]

Oh, a new label, communist liberalism. McCarthyism isn't dead! Yay!

[Peikko 1,575]

I have to say though that piece stinks - it's about nothing except finger pointing which is just so boring.

[Mags 112]

Oh and by all means pay close attention to Jabber, for he is the God of the boards. Rightttttttttttt.

Don't mind zqt...they're just trolling the boards.

Have your say on the article, by all means, but don't attack the poster.

Thanks.

[zqt3344 21]

Ok fair enough but...................What about when I am attacked then? Where are you? Just curious how this works?

Oh and by all means pay close attention to Jabber, for he is the God of the boards. Rightttttttttttt.

Don't mind zqt...they're just trolling the boards.

Have your say on the article, by all means, but don't attack the poster.

Thanks.

[Mags 112]

PM me (or one of the other mods), with the link to the attack. I don't read every post on VJ.

Ok fair enough but...................What about when I am attacked then? Where are you? Just curious how this works?

Oh and by all means pay close attention to Jabber, for he is the God of the boards. Rightttttttttttt.

Don't mind zqt...they're just trolling the boards.

Have your say on the article, by all means, but don't attack the poster.

Thanks.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

zq, yes PM mags and watch the moderator fist of fury rain down on the evildoers who defame and attack you......

[Mags 112]

zq, yes PM mags and watch the moderator fist of fury rain down on the evildoers who defame and attack you......

Sure. Always happy to help.

[bhajishah 4]

Lets watch that nutball yell " Im not muslim yada" while he drops bombs on Pakistan....stupid choice as well Obaama

[zqt3344 21]

Ok fair enough then I will try that, and we shall see, this should be interesting. You got to show me this to believe it first.

PM me (or one of the other mods), with the link to the attack. I don't read every post on VJ.

Ok fair enough but...................What about when I am attacked then? Where are you? Just curious how this works?

Oh and by all means pay close attention to Jabber, for he is the God of the boards. Rightttttttttttt.

Don't mind zqt...they're just trolling the boards.

Have your say on the article, by all means, but don't attack the poster.

Thanks.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Oh, a new label, communist liberalism. McCarthyism isn't dead! Yay!

Yeah I was wondering that too. I guess its what happens when you sling the dirtiest political phrases you can think of together. Quite what it actually means is something else entirely.

Does this mean then that there are fascist conservatives?

The mind boggles.