"Obamicans" Are Throwbacks To The Days Of Traditional Republicanism

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

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. walks down Kailua Beach with his daughter Malia, 10, during his vacation to Hawaii, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008, in Kailua, Hawaii.

By Ali Berman, The Nation

In June the McCain campaign released a list of "prominent Democrats and Independents" supporting John McCain. Few of the names were prominent, and a review by the Huffington Post found that more than half of the list had "either obvious ties to the Republican Party or are regularly touted by GOP politicians as Democratic defectors."

The newly announced group of "Republicans for Obama" hope to have a more lasting impact. They certainly have a higher profile than McCain's Democratic defectors (other than top surrogate and possible veep Joe Lieberman). Organizers on a conference call this morning included former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach, former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee and Rita Hauser, a member of President Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska also endorsed Barack Obama today. (There's an already existing Republicans for Obama website founded by John Martin, a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan and lives in The Bronx.)

These so-called "Obamicans" -- throwbacks to the days of traditional Republicanism -- are disgusted by the Bush Administration's militant foreign policy, reckless spending and cronyism at home, and America's plummeting reputation in the world. In John McCain, they no longer see a maverick, but a continuation of the Bush-Cheney era.

"From my perspective, this is simply not a time for politics as usual," said Jim Leach, one of the smartest and most decent members of the House of Representatives, who represented eastern Iowa for three decades until 2006 and was one of only six House Republicans to presciently oppose the war in Iraq. "The case for inspiring, new political leadership and a social ethic has seldom been more self-evident."

Adds Leach: "Barack Obama's platform is a call for change. But the change that he is so gracefully articulating is more renewal than departure. While a break from the ideological policies of the moment, it is rooted in very old American values that are as much a part of the Republican as the Democratic tradition. There's an emphasis on individual rights, fairness and balance at home, and progressive internationalism."

Says Rita Hauser, "It is not traditional Republicanism to make war on everybody who disagree with you." The longtime foreign policy hand called McCain's response to the Russia-Georgia conflict "bellicose [and] threatening."

Like Leach, Lincoln Chafee is a reminder of the days when moderates could find a home in the Republican Party as advocates for fiscal responsibility, environmental protection and restraint in foreign policy. Chafee left the Republican Party in March to vote for Obama in Rhode Island's Democratic primary. He was the first Democrat Chafee had ever voted for.

Chafee served alongside McCain in the Senate; they were the only two Senate Republicans to oppose the Bush tax cuts in 2001. Chafee has since watched McCain adopt the very policies he once denounced. "Seeing the two different John McCain's is a fracture in his credibility," Chafee says.

How big of an impact this group will have remains to be seen. Obama performed well in traditionally Republican areas in the Democratic primary and attracted legions of "Obamicans" in swing areas like Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Yet partisanship has hardened since the primary has ended (usually the opposite occurs), with both Obama and McCain now drawing 90 percent support from self-identified members of their parties.

Both candidates have attempted to encroach on the other party's turf. McCain has made a bid for disaffected Clintonites, and elderly and blue-collar Democrats. Obama has courted moderate and suburban Republicans in swing states like Virginia and libertarians out West. It only takes a few points here or there to alter the election.

Hauser says the "Republicans for Obama" website will be online tomorrow and will include "a couple of hundred thousand names. We hope it will grow exponentially as we go through the campaign."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/13/...Opinion_4347525

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Hillary Supporters for McCain

West Virginia Democrats aren't warming up to Obama.

by Salena Zito

09/01/2008, Volume 013, Issue 47

Chestnut Hill, West Virginia

West Virginia's registered Democrats, like their cousins in western Pennsylvania and eastern and southern Ohio, are having a hard time fitting anywhere within Barack Obama's vision of the Democratic party.

"Obama and his message just do not gel with me," said Mark Lamp as he climbed into his utility truck. Lamp, 47, from neighboring Weirton, is a registered Democrat who voted for Clinton in the May primary.

"My first problem with him is taxes, the second is experience," he explained.

Lamp has worked in construction all of his life, and the company he works for builds houses in the tri-state area. "We have been busy all year." He sees very few signs of the economy or gas prices hurting him, and they are not what drives his vote.

"I vote leadership. That is why I voted for Hillary and why I will vote McCain."

Al Gore failed to connect with West Virginia voters in 2000--the state had gone Democratic since Reagan's 1984 reelection campaign. John Kerry carried that tradition forward by only getting 43 percent of the vote in 2004.

All signs are pointing to Obama facing similar numbers.

"I will admit we have an uphill battle," said Tom Vogel, West Virginia's Democratic state party executive director, "but I haven't given up yet."

"West Virginia went big for Hillary Clinton in this spring's primary," admits Vogel. "They love her, and they loved her husband."

Vogel's field director Derek Scarbro says part of the problem Obama has is the same problem that any national Democrat has coming to West Virginia: "West Virginians have to get to know you and develop a relationship with you."

Getting to know Obama may be a problem. Once thought to be a battleground state, all indications are that West Virginia is off Obama's campaign map. Turn on the television today and you won't find any Obama ads running, and he has no trips to the state planned in the immediate future. (Sources within the campaign say they are keeping their eye on the state.)

West Virginia is still home to the Jacksonian Democrats, those descendants of Scots-Irish immigrants who vote God, country, and guns, and have a stronger than average distrust of government. They are white, lower middle-class union members who work hard, play by the rules, have faith in God and a hefty dose of patriotism.

In a change election when the country goes one way, a few states always trend the other. Kansas went Republican during the liberal trend of the 1960s, and West Virginia may go conservative during the liberal swing of today.

In a state that has just one area code (in Jackson County everyone shares the same exchange, so when you ask for a number they only give you the last four digits), the geopolitical breakdown is monolithic. The only section that has proven liberal Democratic is the eastern panhandle which is fast becoming a suburb of Washington, D.C.

But from the southern coalfields to the northern panhandle (which is really southwestern Pennsylvania, and Catholic Democrat country) you are entering the land that the national Democratic party forgot.

Conversely on the state level there is only one party that controls everything: Democrats, old school Democrats. The state's long-time senator, Robert Byrd, is the perfect example. He endorsed Obama, but only after Obama was pummeled by Hillary in his state's primary. He joined West Virginia's other senator, John D. Rockefeller IV, who was an early supporter of the Illinois senator.

You might have thought that the endorsement of a former governor and sitting senator, and the institutional support that comes with it, would have carried more weight and votes. It did not.

Rockefeller's appeal is based on spending lots of money to win his office. "When he ran for governor and then later for senator," Purdue political scientist Bert Rockman explains, "one would have thought he was running from Pennsylvania since he blanketed the Pittsburgh television stations. He spent money as though he was, er, a Rockefeller."

Rockman says that is how he got there and stays there. Which makes it hard to call someone from, say, southern West Virginia a "Rockefeller Democrat." Voters may vote for him, but they don't identify with him.

The only Republican who looks a likely challenger to this Democratic hegemony is Representative Shelly Moore Capito. The daughter of a former governor, Arch Moore, she will likely run for senator or governor by 2010 or 2012.

Vogel has his eyes on Capito's seat, though; he thinks he can take her out with an Obama win in West -Virginia. "She came in on Bush's coat tails and will go out with Obama's," said Vogel, who pauses and then says, "hopefully."

Kent Gates, a GOP strategist working on Capito's House race, dismisses Vogel's weak optimism. "Democrats in West Virginia are just not in line with the national Democratic party."

Gates says Bush's victory in 2000 and the election of Capito show the state is moving right.

Vogel is from western Pennsylvania, and he sees similarities between his Democrats and the ones he grew up with. "There are large pockets of Ohio and Pennsylvania where the mindset and voting patterns are very similar." "If [Obama] comes here, it will make a difference," insists Vogel.

Mark Lamp doesn't see multiple visits making a dent in anyone's view of Obama in West Virginia: "He just does not display any of the qualities that gave Hillary my vote."

Salena Zito is a political reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

[rebeccajo 14]

You'll get no argument from me that Obama not personally campaigning in the state of West Virginia has been a political mis-step on his part. I remember Kennedy campaigning and campaigning hard to prove that if he (a Catholic) could win in Bible-Belt West Virginia, it could win him the White House.

And it worked.

[rocks 494]

Lamp has worked in construction all of his life, and the company he works for builds houses in the tri-state area. "We have been busy all year." He sees very few signs of the economy or gas prices hurting him, and they are not what drives his vote.

so he sees very few signs of it hurting him but i'm sure he is seeing it hurt lots of people around him. that is a very republican view to say 'i only care about myself', as he just did...

[Peikko 1,575]

Isn't it just a very human trait, to take care of oneself before others? I don't blame people for wanting the best for themselves and voting for it, I just wonder if when people vote they really understand all the implications and know what exactly they are voting for. Judging by the latest political campaigning in the presidential elections, I would say a lot of the time they do not. However, I think a lot of the fault for that lies with the campaigns themselves. They should be delivering messages of policy that are easy to understand not either ignoring policy or demanding that people read bucket loads of material before they have a clue what is being put forward.

Edited September 20, 2008 by Madame Cleo

[rocks 494]

Isn't it just a very human trait, to take care of oneself before others?

not really, no, it's a selfish trait.

[Peikko 1,575]

Being selfish is part of the human condition. Suggesting that only conservatives are selfish is ridiculous.

[rocks 494]

maybe it is part of the human condition if you have been raised to be narcissistic.

republicans are not interested in the wellbeing of everyone, that is selfish.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

[tmma 467]

You'll get no argument from me that Obama not personally campaigning in the state of West Virginia has been a political mis-step on his part. I remember Kennedy campaigning and campaigning hard to prove that if he (a Catholic) could win in Bible-Belt West Virginia, it could win him the White House.

And it worked.

I also agree that BO not personally campaigning hard in states like WV is a mistake.

As for the Kennedy analogy-well, it's my opinion that it was far more than just hard campaigning [in the conventional sense] that won him the critical states in his election.

[rebeccajo 14]

You'll get no argument from me that Obama not personally campaigning in the state of West Virginia has been a political mis-step on his part. I remember Kennedy campaigning and campaigning hard to prove that if he (a Catholic) could win in Bible-Belt West Virginia, it could win him the White House.

And it worked.

I also agree that BO not personally campaigning hard in states like WV is a mistake.

As for the Kennedy analogy-well, it's my opinion that it was far more than just hard campaigning [in the conventional sense] that won him the critical states in his election.

I was drawing a campaign analogy only.

Nothing more.

[Peikko 1,575]

maybe it is part of the human condition if you have been raised to be narcissistic.

republicans are not interested in the wellbeing of everyone, that is selfish.

Conservative policies may not be good for everyone, but many conservative voters are very philanthropic considering they vote for policy that has no concievable benefit to themselves.

[rocks 494]

Conservative policies may not be good for everyone, but many conservative voters are very philanthropic considering they vote for policy that has no concievable benefit to themselves.

if only!

if that was the case then maybe taxes would go down for those who can't afford to live right now and up for those who are having less or no money problems... but alas no, that won't be happening under the republicans rule

[rocks 494]

this has been floating around on here for a while, mccains tax proposals are the epitome of selfishness!

can't wait for that $113 tax cut, thanks mccain. maybe i'll use that to fill up the tank in the car one time...?

[Peikko 1,575]

Conservative policies may not be good for everyone, but many conservative voters are very philanthropic considering they vote for policy that has no concievable benefit to themselves.

if only!

if that was the case then maybe taxes would go down for those who can't afford to live right now and up for those who are having less or no money problems... but alas no, that won't be happening under the republicans rule

It's true, if conservatives had to rely on those who benefitted from their fiscal policies to get enough votes to get into power they would never get elected. Top 1%? The rest are helping these guys out