Obama Needs to Get Back to the Teleprompter and the Economy
Campaigns are cyclical. They ebb and flow. McCain no doubt will have a bad week characterized by Biden-like gaffes and getting off message. We all remember McCain’s ugly green backdrop behind his acceptance speech, and “my friends” ad nauseam.
Still, if some lament the lack of discussion of issues (I do), we nevertheless know if McCain had picked a wonkish “old white” guy like Romney, we still would not be talking about taxes, defense, Iraq and housing; but would be bombarded by the prefab attack ads that would have run, such as “John McCain doesn’t know any more how many houses he has. But with Mitt Romney they now have 20 between them.”
So McCain had to do something to shake up his campaign, and Palin was the answer. In a very strange way, her mere presence makes the media and many in Obama’s camp unhinged, as a Clarence Thomas once did in different circumstances to elites. So for now she need not talk to the press for a few more days, since they are determined to lose Obama the election on their own by their frenzy.
Panic Mode
Recently Obama himself has panicked over Palin. He lashed out, and has shown himself unsteady. He apparently thinks that hope-and-change Sarah is all fluff, has fooled the nation that doesn’t see, as he alone does, that she is empty, resents her glibness and her youth, feels she doesn’t have enough experience and has hoodwinked the voters, and finds her soaring speeches vapid.
In other words, he knows what worked for him—and is furious because he suspects that his doppelgänger at the 11th hour might be working it even better. In a Freudian sense, he knows he is inexperienced as he once confessed, and is angry that we don’t sense it about Palin. If he doesn’t watch it, on one of these hand-in-mike outings, he will yell, “Hey, she’s just like me. I know that better than anyone. What’s going on here!”
It’s the Economy
To right himself, Obama must forget the Republican VP nominee, and run against McCain on the economy. (Even Kerry didn’t run against Cheney, or Bush against Edwards). Just because Sarah outhoped and outchanged him is no reason to implode in furor. The puerile media was bad enough, and when he too piles on her, the polls will show even greater slides.
So Obama must stop the prancing and extemporaneous lecturing with the hand-held mike, where he sort of mimics Rev. Wright’s grating cadences. He comes off as petulant and angry—as if to say, “I’m Obama! And I’ve always wowed people with my mellifluous voice, so get hypnotized and do as I say.” And when they don’t, he freezes.
Of Lipsticked Pigs and Old Fish
Yesterday he did it again, and paid big-time with his silly “lipstick” quote about Palin. A small matter, but of enormous symbolic importance: it shows that he can’t leave well enough alone, as if he were driven on by forces beyond him.
Watch the tape and you can see him struggle for the impromptu zinger—and anticipate that he’s going to pause, stutter, and flub it up, big time. And he does.
In all the furor over that “pig” reference, commentators forgot to examine his entire attack, which was worse still: “You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still gonna stink.”
A woman who may be a VP is “a pig?” A senior senator is “an old fish” who will “stink?”
His dual animate male/female references and two metaphors are clear: most would think that Obama is talking about both on the ticket and his anger how each has expropriated his change motif. He appears both to insult the 72-year old McCain as the “old fish” that is still going to “stink”, and to refer to Palin, who had evoked the metaphor of lipstick in a nationally televised address, as still the pig despite the lipstick.
The fact that he used two metaphors to attack the two, and used expressions referring both to age and Palin’s recent use of “lipstick” don’t seem to be accidents and that’s why the cooing crowd got the old fish=McCain; lipsticked pig=Palin immediately.
Worse Still
Then note his next qualification that was supposed to assure us he wasn’t talking in sexist fashion about Palin:
“Look, she’s new, she hasn’t been on the scene, she’s got five kids.”
A feminist would say, “She is also Governor of Alaska!”
I don’t care much whether he goes that low route, but given the present climate of liberal media sexism, it is suicidal. If he keeps it up, he’ll be down by 10 by the weekend in the all the tracking polls. He should get Hillary out on the stump, especially in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan and stick to blue-collar issues, not Palin.
Bidenisms
Next, Team Obama has to muzzle Biden. First it was “good looking” Palin. Biden has now trumped that with Palin as “a step back for women.” And if he too keeps it up, soon even Hillary is going to get angry. Meanwhile those independent white working-class female voters are slipping, a natural constituency for Obama. Let me get this straight: Obama picked as VP someone who bombed in two presidential tries (1% of the vote while he ran); turned down Hillary who got 18 million voters and won the last primaries with white working-class voters? And for all that he was to get Biden’s “experience” and “sobriety”, a Senator who was always the most mercurial and gaffe-prone around?
Ol’ Hill—gone, but not forgotten.
Hillary, it is true, tells white lies about her past; but she does not sound insipid and self-important in Biden’s fashion. She was the ideal VP candidate. So I never saw the Biden logic; he’s always had a reputation for duplicity, logorrhea, and gratuitous insulting. Why compound the error of not nominating her for President, by the greater error of shutting her out of the VP nomination?
True, Obama had legitimate worries about the Clintones, and their dream of a de facto shared presidency, with Bill being Bill. But that assumed he could win easily without them. He can’t (ask Gore).
Wiser to win first with Hillary, and then next deal with her later, rather than letting pride and hubris cloud logic.
They’re Back
Some of the recent bad Obama news reflects past errors. Who wants the UN and fawning Euros on your side? That ridiculous Euro-tour and his “I am a Europeaner” speech were disastrous, and even now reverberate.
The latest to get in on the election are the nosy condescending Brits, as in the disastrous ’04 fashion when they were going to warn Ohioans to vote for Kerry.
Note Gordon Brown, while in office as British PM, seems to take the unprecedented step of almost endorsing Obama. That will only alienate Americans, and if McCain is elected, make him regret it.
Creepy Brit Russell Brand at the MTV award calls Bush a “retard.” Then he went off on Palin in rather disgusting terms, intermixed with pathetic calls to elect Obama. But after looking at this sickly figure, one could imagine that Sarah could make mincemeat of him in seconds, without the moose gun.
And then the BBC conducts a “world” poll to inform us that the planet likewise wants Obama—but are we impressed that the Putin and the Russians, or the Chinese, or the Venezuelans or the UN general Assembly knows best for us? I’d easily prefer that the US be run by the city council of my home town Selma than by the EU governing assembly.
If critics suggest I exaggerate, cf. this advice from the British Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland:
Until now, anti-Americanism has been exaggerated and much misunderstood: outside a leftist hardcore, it has mostly been anti-Bushism, opposition to this specific administration. But if McCain wins in November, that might well change. Suddenly Europeans and others will conclude that their dispute is with not only one ruling clique, but Americans themselves. For it will have been the American people, not the politicians, who will have passed up a once-in-a-generation chance for a fresh start – a fresh start the world is yearning for.
Soon voters in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania will ask why do these people like Obama so much, and us so little?
The Democrats Forgot their own Rules
#1 Do not nominate northern liberals unless they have a southern accent.
#2 Do not go near a veteran liberal Northeastern Senator who perpetually runs for President, is hooked on cameras and loves to extemporaneously lecture. He will balance no one.
#3 Stay away from Chicago politics
#4 Keep away completely from the nut-fringe, whether Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore—or Bill Ayers. They are the leftwing version of the John Birch Society of the 1950s.
#5 Do not allow a nominee on the stump to wear camoflauge, a tank helmet, pick up a gun, or bowl
#6 Don’t ever do tell-all interviews by televangleicals
#7 Don’t get near MSNBC, the Daily Kos, or the Huffington Post—keep to NPR, PBS, NBC and the New York Times/Washington Post.
#8 Don’t start a name calling contest with Sean Hannety and Rush Limbaugh. They will seem presidential, the nominee like an inept talk show host.
#9 Keep away from all celebs, whether Ludacris or Barbra.
#10 If you really must speak of military affairs, use the words “win” and “victory” in each sentence.
Letters
Inexact thinking
Readers who suggested that McCain’s insider connections nullify my larger point about similar feminist critiquing bootstrap Palin error. McCain is NOT in condescending fashion belittling the up-from-nothing rise of others. For the analogy to be accurate, it would be as if the conservative admiral son’s pooh-poohed a blue-collar populist and liberal captain as not being “officer material”.
On Income
I wish Obama’s new taxes would be to help the general welfare as in paying down the debt. But he wants, as I read his website and do the math, about a trillion more spent on new programs, and paid for with about a trillion more in new taxes. That would mean taxing in a downturn, not paying off the debt, getting larger and more inefficient government, and taking more responsibility away from the individual. We forget that we have an enormous government already, high taxes, and plenty of programs. The trick is to make them work better, cut spending and leave taxes as they are.
On Change.
Of course, McCain and Palin are brazenly expropriating change, but tweaking it with the word “maverick”. They’ve hit on a sort of Butch Cassidy/Sundance duet, riding into town guns blazing as “outsiders” who “took on” the insider status quo. Americans can relate to underdog change, but Obama’s wore off, and the veneer peeled away showing a sort of orthodox tired McGovern/Mondale/Dukakis/Kerry liberal agenda as usual. All politicians flip; my point was that Obama was flipping in substance toward McCain, McCain in rhetoric and style toward Obama.
On Issues
Obama has it wrong. He thinks talking about the issues favors him. They could, if he talked balanced budgets or getting bin Laden as an antidote to George Bush, or the need to drill, do nuclear and coal, and find ways to get to solar and wind without going broke. But there was a reason Kerry lost, and the corrective to present ills is not Kerryism, but the sort of post-political belt-tightening and restraint Obama once promised.
For 90 days, voters can be misled that a glib sort of Dukakis or a new take on Kerry is real change; it is in a superficial way. But in the last 60 days we will see that voters are angry that “change” really meant the old liberal taxes, big government, and qualify and fifth guess what America does at every turn. Being angry with Bush does not mean necessarily voters regret not having a Kerry the last four years.
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49 Comments
1. Trudy Taylor:careful there, mr. obama. i wouldn’t use the word “phony” often, if i were you.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:50 am 2. LSD:On the lipstick comment:
It’s amusing to listen to pundits argue about Obama’s intention, but the truth is that his intention matters not at all. What matters is how the comment is taken by the voting public.
Obama seems to get a lift out of preaching to the choir, but that will not gain him a single vote. Stupid comments, will however, do his candidacy harm.
I expected that it would be Biden that stepped into this mess, but so far Obama seems to be doing it for him.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:53 am 3. Pops in Vienna:Great article Doc,
The muse is definitely upon you.
Yes, one wonders if Palin might prefer to stay home and breast feed while Obama and Biden win the election for her.
The non-stop allegations against this woman, which all seem to end up unfounded, are really begining to tick off the public. I think by now everybody knows what the game is and they are becoming very tired of it.
Yesterday’s article in the Washington Post about Palin’s per diem really made the Post look bad when it turned out her expenses were 80% less than the previous governor. The paper, in my opinion, looked like a bully. No wonder people are booing press buses at political rallies.
It also didn’t help when an Air America voice claimed that McCain had it pretty good in Vietnam. How foolish do these people think we are?
Yes, it would be very refreshing to debate issues instead. I’d like to hear which countries (that don’t like us very much) are going to get their aid eliminated by McCain. I thought that was a pretty “ballsy” comment from the old guy.
I’d also like to hear Palin talk about her vision for improving our energy situation. Isn’t she supposed to be an authority on this topic?
I have lived in Europe for more than 6 years. I have a secret wish to see Russian tanks roll into Brussels while the US sits back and does nothing. I would be the first to join with sister Cindy in screaming, “no US blood for Europe.” Perhaps I ought to reconsider voting for Obama?
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:07 am 4. Minerva:Notice how we don’t hear from “sister Cindy” anymore, now that she is running against Pelosi. Another useful tool/fool, discarded.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:10 am 5. Ed Wallis:HEY Victor…
…and just WHAT is your “thinking” behind offering Obama’s campaign suggestions to improve THEIR performance?! Reverse psychology, or just WHAT?
A written explanation this time, mister. For all to see. This is NOT the first time you’ve done this.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:12 am 6. Self-hating boomer:Ed, I don’t want to speak for Victor, but I’m fairly confident that the O campaign won’t be taking this critique seriously. In fact, I seriously doubt that they’d be able to operate from this criticism if they wanted to. They just don’t have the skills to properly campaign against what McCain’s throwing at them.
OODA loop. McCain gots it.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:48 am 7. Paul M Hupf:Senator Obama is no longer a presidential candidate. He is back on the streets of Chicago. “You can put lipstick on a pig…(pause while he tries to think of a proper conclusion, but the best he can come up with is an analogy that would have worked for him in Chicago) but it’s still a pig.” After that as if proud of himself he uses the fish that still stinks comment. This is gutter politics at its worst.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:03 am 8. John Bailey:Dr. Hanson
You have again written a series of terrific observations. We are all better for your thoughts.
While listening to a show on Fox on Sirius this morning, a woman caller from Houston gave the following way for Palin to retort about the lipstick comments, whether they were directed or accidental by Obama. If Palin would say something to the effect of: “This little piggy is going to Washington as change from the outside the Beltway, this little piggy is going to Washington to help prevent the other party from taking more of your money in taxes, this little piggy is going to Washington to help make certain we win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this little piggy is going to Washington to represent all of us who live in smaller states, smaller towns and who want to continue to assure our children that America is great and will be great into the future!” This unknown caller may have given another key to the McCain/Palin ticket getting another three or four point bump is Palin uses these or similar lines over the next few days.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:20 am 9. Down, please:I keep expecting Obama to break into rhymes…
Sep 10, 2008 - 11:07 am 10. jim flenniken:A good blog by Dr Hanson.
I would only add two observations.
We all know that Obama is bad when he goes off the teleprompter. That whole notion of extemporaneous thought seems to escape him. We could attribute, rightly, that his “lipstick” gaffe is largely a by product of this part of his makeup. I’m also inclined to think that we may also be seeing a separate issue play out which will exacerbate his inability to think on his feet. At this juncture Obama has been running for President for almost two years (his recent vacation to the contrary not withstanding). I believe that fatigue is now setting in for him and his first tier of advisory (i.e. Axelrod, et. aux.). Almost two years of travel, 14 hour days, 7 days a week would be numbing. The ability to think on one’s feet must be ebbing away from him. Bottom-line: he’ll start making increasingly more gaffe’s and missteps as time goes by and the campaign intensifies.
My second point relates to the Obama’s political skills which I’m beginning to believe are weak at best. I’m reminded of a scene some 14 years ago when Bill Clinton went on a visit to Detroit. As he is out pressing the flesh someone yells out to him “Mr. President, what’s your favorite car?” So here is Clinton, knee deep in auto country being asked a no win question: if you say Ford then the GMC and Chrysler workers get mad, and visa versa. Without batting an eyelash Clinton said “A Henry J”. Beautiful. Simple Beautiful. Since Henry J’s haven’t been made since 1954 the likelihood that anyone that worked on the Kaiser line was in the crowd was slim. He answers the question, he offends no one. Regardless of what you might think of Bill Clinton in the 90’s you have to hand it to him: he was a pro.
So then we turn our attention to Obama. Now, what he was trying to say was that a bad idea is a bad idea no matter how you sell it. Which by the way would have been a perfectly acceptable way phrasing his thought process. And with the RNC convention only a week behind us any reference to lipstick, like it or not, will draw an immediate mental link to Sarah Palin. In a similar situation Clinton would have gone for a different metaphor (“if you take a stale cake and put pretty icing on it it’s still a stale cake”, “there might be a lot of sizzle but there isn’t a lot of steak”, etc.). Instead Obama innocently enough goes for the lipstick metaphor (I don’t believe it was an intentional subtle swipe at Palin) and leaves himself exposed for the counter attack. Bill Clinton, in his better days, would never have done that. Bottom-line: Obama’s not in league with true professional politicians.
So, in the coming two months we can look forward to a tired amateur trying to rally the staff, stay out of trouble, and win a national election. Whether he wins or not it should be fun.
Sep 10, 2008 - 11:07 am 11. BMoon:Makes you wonder whether Ludacris, P. Diddy Whatever, or some other half-witted, woman-hating gangsta rapper is writing Obama’s script.
Sep 10, 2008 - 11:32 am 12. Ron Kean:‘To right himself, Obama must forget the Republican VP nominee’
‘So Obama must stop the prancing and extemporaneous lecturing with the hand-held mike…’
‘ He should get Hillary out on the stump…’
‘Next, Team Obama has to muzzle Biden.’
To people who accuse VDH of being a right wing hack, please note that this is at least the 4th time he’s giving sound advice to Obama and the 3rd time I humbly ask him please not anymore.
Sep 10, 2008 - 11:44 am 13. Sullihan:The movie: Lawrence of Arabia;
The scene: Lawrence racing to Damascus in order to reach that city before the regular Briish army;
The dilemma: After siting a demoralized column of the Ottoman army trudging in a valley, does Lawrence stop to fight, or continue to Damascus?
The result: While Lawrence hesitates, his forces break ranks, and to the cry of “Take no prisoners” take a day to engage and massacre the Ottomans, thereby jeopardizing the whole campaign.
You could apply this to the current election campaign. When the Obama forces caught site of Gov. Palin, they broke ranks and decided to destroy her. Unlike the Ottomans, whose officers fled, she has beaten off the first and second assaults, while inflicting heavy losses.
So can they break off the attack and resume the march to the White House?
No, its too late. Their battle plan is in tatters, their momentum is stopped. They can only resume their offensive if they demonstrate that Gov. Palin belongs either in an asylum (Eagleton) or a jail (Agnew).
Sep 10, 2008 - 11:53 am 14. Tina Trent:“Obama picked as VP someone who bombed in two presidential tries (1% of the vote while he ran); turned down Hillary who got 18 million voters and won the last primaries with white working-class voters?”
This is the point. I, finally, might (”might” because I also worked in community organizing and saw both the character and the carnage of it) have voted for Obama if the Party had made up for their gross manipulation of the primary vote by granting Clinton the second seat. It isn’t about gender for me, or hurt feelings, or any of that other tripe: the Party betrayed my membership by disenfranchising me, and that matters. I actually feel relieved, however, that I no longer have to justify the inequities-paraded-as-justice that the Dems have come to represent (See, for example, Obama’s ad saying that he wants his daughters to have the same opportunities as “my” sons. That’s great: will they check the “white” box for college and job applications?). Rejecting Clinton was a rejection of the best portion of the Party — its working and middle-class base. It should be taken as such. So should John McCain’s embrace of the same. But to vote for him, I will have to believe in his agenda, as well.
Sep 10, 2008 - 11:54 am 15. Moultrie:Ron Kean, I agree that VDH has laid out sound advice for the BHO campaign…it seems he is trying to help. Isn’t VDH a registered D and classifies himself as a Liberal?
Sep 10, 2008 - 12:26 pm 16. Thrasyllus:Now they are contrasting and comparing Obama and Palin’s daughters. Maybe they should mention McCain’s sons. He doesn’t boast about them the way Jim Webb did his.
Sep 10, 2008 - 12:29 pm 17. Claire Solt:Hanson is a traditional Democrat with a family tradition of the same.
Sep 10, 2008 - 12:51 pm 18. fynbos:If you watch the way Obama thinks, he is never direct. Methphors are not a good substitute for straight talk. Last night in O’Reilly interview on his left wing associations he made the unnecessary faux pas of saying that Hannity is a hate show comparable to Daily Kos.
His intellect is overrated and his integrity is nonexistant.
BHO has just realized that the McCain-Palin campaign read Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” and is employing some of those tactics against him, sans the ideology.
Sep 10, 2008 - 2:33 pm 19. Turfmann:To those who suggest that Dr. Hanson refrain from giving “advise” to the Obama campaign, please realize that if this blog were transferred to a branding iron, heated until red hot then impressed upon the backside of each of the upper echelon of the Obama staff they would still not take notice.
The implosion begins… Break out the popcorn.
Sep 10, 2008 - 3:27 pm 20. enscout:This AM I caught Matt Liar..er Lower..er, you know, the obnoxious co-host of the Today Show, running interference for Obama’s “lipstick’ smear of Palin. “See! McCain said it too!”
Then showed a clip of McCain saying the same thing (the pig analogy). What they didn’t show was that McCain was talking about legislation – not an opponent.
Pravda is taking notes.
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:14 pm 21. Tom Holsinger:Barack Obama is not Mr. Cool anymore. He, personally, has appeared rattled in public, and about Sarah Palin. This cannot be blamed on staff – it goes directly to his own temperment.
He did not get rattled when Hillary had him on the ropes. Obama and his campaign stayed on message, and he personally kept his “cool”. That is why he won. Had he or his campaign cracked at that point, the Democratic campaign would have turned around.
This is different. While it is normal supporters outside the formal campaign organization to get rattled and panicky in adversity, the paid staff are supposed to keep things on track. A campaign is in real trouble when its top people get rattled and lose focus.
But the candidate must always remain cool in public. Obama just lost it. He’s not Mr. Cool anymore. And he’s running for President. Presidents HAVE to keep their cool in crisis.
It looks like we’ve just seen the tipping point of the general election.
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:19 pm 22. Oedipus:So Obama hates his Mama…back to Bill Clinton.
The movie: Never on Sunday;
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:45 pm 23. George Best:The scene: American tourist Homer explains Freud to the local Greek womanizer that he hated his mother. Greek attacks him shouting, “I loved my mother. I used to call her ‘Angel Mother!!”
obama failed when he didnt pick hilary. His lack of self identity prevented it. He also did not think Palin would have the impact she did and now he looks foolish.
By October 1, Biden will withdraw and Hillary is on the ticket. Game on.
Either way the Democrats have imploded like the Mets of 2007.
Its like they are trying to lose the election so the blacks can riot and steal some TVs.
I love it.
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:58 pm 24. TLM:“I mean, come on…let’s not be stupid here”. (An Obamism used at every rally)
Lipstick on a pig? That comment by Obama may be stupid enough to become his campaign’s epitaph when he loses in Nov. I’m sure he thought through all the contextual nuances of that common expression before he (intentionally) employed it. But who came away thinking the pig is supposed to represent (solely) the Repug administration? Another typical misfire by a literati wanna be who, literally, cannot speak to the people he wishes to lead.
Sep 10, 2008 - 6:01 pm 25. RJ:Explore the sexual energies that are at play here, both in the fore and those that remain off the stage. Look at the histories that our players have had from childhood forward.
Biden will go for the “kill” during his debate with Palin, setting a trap: If she escapes and then points to his efforts and his failure, it will be game set match!
Frontier Mom has grit. Will we see it in action? How will it be manifested?
McCain has always enjoyed being with nice women. Note the females who are attacking Palin, the unspoken sexual energies of identity.
Narcissism rules the liberal mind set and just might dominate the Democratic party.
Have Americans had enough of this? Maybe.
Sep 10, 2008 - 6:34 pm 26. Doug:it seems that some americans just want the worst possible government. stealing from the poor and giving to the rich is not enough. the whole country has to fall apart. the good news is that the government is close to hitting the debt wall, so that should temper the power of the republican elite to make war around the world. cheers!
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:16 pm 27. Trudy Taylor:early wedensday mr. obama was chaffing at the bit to get out there and explain himself and his lipsticked pig remark from yesterday. unfortunately the african-american woman who was tapped to introduce him at this education speech went a little long in her accolades. one could see the impatience in mr. obama, impatience to get to the mic and start explaining why it wasnt his fault, it was everybody else’s…
he was clutching himself, bouncing on his heels with such a look of strain on his face one would think he’d received that 3 a.m. phone call and had been caught unawares…when he’s rattled mr. obama wears his thoughts on his sleeve. not a great quality in a head of state who vows to attempt diplomacy first and foremost.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:04 pm 28. TLM:Palin Power: Energizing the base and releasing a pent up desire by moderates to overlook the excesses of the last eight years of Republican rule, and reject once again the Democratic Party platform. All they needed was a cause, and John McCain gave them one.
Campaign Obama is skating on thin ice. They need to get back to doing what they do best. Better quick rent another football stadium, herd the masses into a defensive position surrounding their candidate and have them gaze blissfully upon The One while he babbles inanities. Discredited though they be, the MSM will surely go along. After all, they bought into his charade whole hog a long time ago.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:28 pm 29. Ron Kean:When you put logs in the wrong place you get logorrhea.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:45 pm 30. TurfMonster:If you think you have enough logs, use logarithm.
Yup, Obama is the “post-partisan candidate,” one who will turn away from the low road and focus exclusively on the issues. He’s standing next to Tom Coburn eschewing earmarks and those lawyers up in Alaska? Well now, they must be doing something post-partisan, heck what are we rubes supposed think? That the post-partisan candidate would actually dig for dirt on a political opponent?
Yup, I would love to see Palin use that “little piggy” routine – that would be worth at least one batch of popcorn, maybe even a couple over a two day span. And then it would be on to the next gaffe that the MSM will try to cover up or excuse away.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:49 pm 31. Jack N.:It’s all over. Obama has revealed himself to be an exhausted amateur. Axelrod can’t tell him what to say when there’s no teleprompter.
Hillary smells Obama’s weakness and despises him for it. To her credit, she’s refused to attack/insult Palin. She’s even started the ‘I Told You So’ stories early, fueled by quotes from Leon Panetta and other Clinton advisors.
I’m sure all the reporters trapped on Obama’s plane (sometimes literally) are already outlining their ‘OBAMA: THE GOD THAT FAILED’ books. Obama has cheated them of their chance to be a White House Correspondent and their stories will reflect that fury.
If Barry weren’t such a spoiled, arrogant jerk, I’d feel sorry for him.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:52 pm 32. Gaisan:To anyone who thinks Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment was an “innocent” remark, or aimed at McCain, I suggest one should take another look – and listen – to that video. After the setup…”You can put lipstick on a pig…” you’ll notice a long pause and right at the beginning of that pause, much raucus and in-sinc laughter from his audience. That audience immediately and collectively KNEW what he meant! Not a dig at McCain, but a not-so-subtle slur at Sarah. All the incredulous “what’d I say?” and “you misunderstood” and the like out of Obama doesn’t cut it.
Alluding to another barnyard animal … if it looks like a duck, if it acts like a Duck, if it quacks like a DucK, IT’S A DUCK!
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:10 pm 33. JMH:Keep in mind that Obama never had to run a really difficult campaign before. His Chicago machine connections got him into the Illinois Senate, and when he ran for US Senate, his opponents (first his primary opponent and then his Republican opponent in the General) self-imploded and withdrew before the election. Obama won his Senate seat more or less by default.
In the Dem primary against Hillary, he was able to steal a march on her by better understanding how the party caucuses worked, aided by the Clinton team campaigning as if the nomination was already hers. By the time Clinton took Obama seriously (and began cleaning his clock on all the primaries down the stretch), it was too late – Obama already had the Nuclear Race Card in his deck. His early success fired up Black voters, and it was clear that if he didn’t get the nomination, Blacks would turn their back on the Democratic party. All those superdelegates were mostly elected Dems who’s own seats would be vulnerable if they couldn’t count on the Black vote, which is usually 10-20% of the total any winning Dem receives. Since Hillary would also lose without the Black vote, they made the easy choice and nominated Obama.
Now he finds himself in a real campaign, against someone who has a great deal of experience in campaigns. And he’s crumbling. He has no political machine to put the fix in. His opponent refuses to self-destruct. And the independants he needs don’t look favorably on threats of racial unrest if they don’t vote “correctly.”
He’s squandered his money, his lead, and his goodwill. Jim Flenniken is right, Obama’s an amateur. VDH can give him all the adivce in the world, but Obama doesn’t have the wherewithall to carry it out.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:43 pm 34. TLM:In his WSJ article this morning, Karl Rove offers Obama sage advice: Don’t go one-on-one with Sarah Palin. But, Obama may find it hard to swallow that bitter pill. Why? It’s an ego thing. What charismatic leader wants to be upstaged? By an upstart woman from Wasilla, Alaska no less. LA, NYC, Boston, Chitown. All the right places. All the right people. The whole world loves him. How could he lose in a year like this?
Their fatal flaw comes back to haunt the Dems. Their condescending view of non-urban America exacts its toll. “What’s the matter with Kansas,” they rant. “What’s the matter with Kansas”? They just don’t get it, the silly Dimwits.
Obama’s pastor taught him the rhetorical ropes, but failed to convey a fundamental Biblical truth held by many in this country: For the meek shall inherit the Earth.
And most of them didn’t go to Harvard.
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:33 am 35. RJ:If I remember well, when McCain landed in Hanoi and was re-patriotated with his American prisoners he had to brush up on his Morris Code skills, etc. for…survival!
I think they would call that teamwork.
While in the Senate, the new Senator Obama got to deal with Mr. McCain on an issue.
If my memory is correct, didn’t Mr. Obama do the opposite of what he suggested to Senator McCain he would do; he didn’t join with McCain in promoting a bill?
And didn’t Senator McCain send a letter to Obama indicating this “betrayal” shortly thereafter? No Morris Code in those thoughts.
Seems like the old man is teaching the kid how to play ball!
Teamwork is what makes America strong and great.
McCain/Palin may be a better team than those other guys…the lawyer trained flatterers that both Plato warned us and Tacitus wrote about more than 2000 years ago!
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:32 am 36. rosie:Hillary is absolutely not going to come in and save Obama as his 2nd choice VP. She knows he is going to lose – which leaves the 2012 nomination for her.
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:45 am 37. James:If she helps him win – he’s in for 8 years. She is not going to wait around until 2016. Notice how quiet she’s been – she is loving the implosion.
Now, she may tell Obama she’ll help him at the top of the ticket if he wants to step down.
I normally find your writing refreshing because you offer a conservative voice that can distinguish sound bites from reason. But you’ve missed it here. You’ve completely missed that tube of lipstick in your purse.
Obama must forget the Republican VP nominee, and run against McCain on the economy
That’s exactly the pig and stinking fish Obama was talking about–McCain’s economic plans that will give use at least four more of the last eight. Obama’s mantra has been about change and McSame is trying to take that away with a Reagan Republican on the ticket. As Obama made quite clear to David Letterman, Palin is the lipstick not the pig.
You can do better.
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:25 am 38. always right:If he can dish it, he can take it.
Like a MAN.
Enough is enough. Already.
Barry is too busy turning himself into the latest VICTIM.
He needs special treatment, because????
Is there special Time Out everyday in the WH?
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:33 am 39. Obama Up, Obama Down… | a nail in His place:[...] The Rest of the Story… [...]
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:51 am 40. Cornhead:I. Watching Keith Olberman fawn over Obama was just sick.
II. McCain wins 35 states.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:03 am 41. jim flenniken:On a separate but related note, the In Trade Market Odds now show higher odds for a McCain presidency than for an Obama (51 to 48). That’s the first time since the election season started that the professional gamblers are putting their money on McCain over Obama. There has been a rather small but steady increase in the In Trade Market Odds starting last week. Probably the Palin effect would be my guess but it could also be some Obama missteps.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:41 am 42. goffredo:Hello from Italy.
I am half american and am having a real ball watching my italian friends get shaken up when, on the one hand I start criticizing and making fun of Obama, while I show only moderate concern but sincere warm respect for McCain and enthusiasm for Palin. They cann’t believe it! They say “How can you? They, especially she, are SO american!”
or they say “But Obama would be the first black president”. Then they turn white when I say that I could care less Obama is black, and, being the elections american,…
To paraphrase Obama:
Its not that europeans don’t know about the USA, it is that they just don’t get it!
Anyway I’ve had some minor health problems and couldn’t sleep in august so I watched both conventions! I really did enjoy the experience. GBA (God Bless America)
Sep 11, 2008 - 10:11 am 43. Frank Miller:A classy lady like Sarah Palin knows better than to respond to the sleazy, sexist Obama “lipstick” slur. Same with McCain and the “old fish” attack: McCain’s mature and gentlemanly response to being upstaged by his VP? That winning smile.
And I’m sure the old warrior knows the adage about not interfering when your opponent is destroying himself
FM.
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:57 pm 44. Diogenes:“Campaigns are cyclical.” – VDH
I dunno, Doc. More like tidal. Ebbing Obama will wait to debate to flow again, but I gauge how McCain is doing by the number of vicious (as you say) Sullivan posts go up by the hour on McCain or Palin.
Sep 11, 2008 - 2:26 pm 45. RuleTopia:Obama can’t talk about economics. Raising taxes and expanding the welfare state do not lead to general prosperity. And that’s what Obama believes in. So he has to pretend he’s a quasi economic conservative.
McCain could really take the change message to the moon if he did what Bush wouldn’t:
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:41 pm 46. Ron Kean:1. Reduce the percentage of the GDP that government absorbs
2. Reduce taxes and simplified the tax code
3. Hold the Saudis and the Pakistanis accountable and make Iran pay for it’s war on Americans.
I just finished OBAMA NATION by Jerome Corsi. I wrote a review of it for the St. Louis Jewish Light and they didn’t publish it.
He had 631 foot notes. The Obama campaign published a 40 page rebuttal saying Corsi lied a lot.
But then just a few days ago, Corsi wrote a rebuttal to the rebuttal point for point, accusation with rejoinder.
Sep 11, 2008 - 8:40 pm 47. JMH:James:
Except the stupid lipstick gaff means nobody is talking about that. Obama tried to go after McCain, but screwed it up. His attempt to be glib and insulting – to attack – eclipsed his own message. Obama is not a very good speaker, as it turns out.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:54 pm 48. aloysiusmiller:Get Hillary out on the stump? I don’t think so. Hillary won’t be out in force until she is absolutely convinced that Obama doesn’t have a chance and then she’ll be out implicitly declaring her candidacy for 2012. She’ll preserve her Dem stripes but that is all anyone should expect from her. Then look out 2012. But poor Hillary. It won’t be about being a woman any more and what does she have but her shrill feminism?
The MSM is in high dudgeon because they can see their strategy unravelling and unravelling for 12 more years.
Sep 12, 2008 - 1:08 am 49. Obama Up, Obama Down… | PoliticsMuch.com:[...] Continue reading at PajamasMedia.Com CommentSubscribe [...]
Oct 11, 2008 - 3:16 pm