Democrats Are Deeply Worried Their Nominee Will Lose In November
NYT:
April 18, 2008
How Obama Fell To Earth
Back in Iowa, Barack Obama promised to be something new — an unconventional leader who would confront unpleasant truths, embrace novel policies and unify the country. If he had knocked Hillary Clinton out in New Hampshire and entered general-election mode early, this enormously thoughtful man would have become that.
But he did not knock her out, and the aura around Obama has changed. Furiously courting Democratic primary voters and apparently exhausted, Obama has emerged as a more conventional politician and a more orthodox liberal.
He sprinkled his debate performance Wednesday night with the sorts of fibs, evasions and hypocrisies that are the stuff of conventional politics. He claimed falsely that his handwriting wasn’t on a questionnaire about gun control. He claimed that he had never attacked Clinton for her exaggerations about the Tuzla airport, though his campaign was all over it. Obama piously condemned the practice of lifting other candidates’ words out of context, but he has been doing exactly the same thing to John McCain, especially over his 100 years in Iraq comment.
Obama also made a pair of grand and cynical promises that are the sign of someone who is thinking more about campaigning than governing.
He made a sweeping read-my-lips pledge never to raise taxes on anybody making less than $200,000 to $250,000 a year. That will make it impossible to address entitlement reform any time in an Obama presidency. It will also make it much harder to afford the vast array of middle-class tax breaks, health care reforms and energy policy Manhattan Projects that he promises to deliver.
Then he made an iron vow to get American troops out of Iraq within 16 months. Neither Obama nor anyone else has any clue what the conditions will be like when the next president takes office. He could have responsibly said that he aims to bring the troops home but will make a judgment at the time. Instead, he rigidly locked himself into a policy that will not be fully implemented for another three years.
If Obama is elected, he will either go back on this pledge — in which case he would destroy his credibility — or he will risk genocide in the region and a viciously polarizing political war at home.
Then there are the cultural issues. Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News are taking a lot of heat for spending so much time asking about Jeremiah Wright and the “bitter” comments. But the fact is that voters want a president who basically shares their values and life experiences. Fairly or not, they look at symbols like Michael Dukakis in a tank, John Kerry’s windsurfing or John Edwards’s haircut as clues about shared values.
When Obama began this ride, he seemed like a transcendent figure who could understand a wide variety of life experiences. But over the past months, things have happened that make him seem more like my old neighbors in Hyde Park in Chicago.
Some of us love Hyde Park for its diversity and quirkiness, as there are those who love Cambridge and Berkeley. But it is among the more academic and liberal places around. When Obama goes to a church infused with James Cone-style liberation theology, when he makes ill-informed comments about working-class voters, when he bowls a 37 for crying out loud, voters are going to wonder if he’s one of them. Obama has to address those doubts, and he has done so poorly up to now.
It was inevitable that the period of “Yes We Can!” deification would come to an end. It was not inevitable that Obama would now look so vulnerable. He’ll win the nomination, but in a matchup against John McCain, he is behind in Florida, Missouri and Ohio, and merely tied in must-win states like Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A generic Democrat now beats a generic Republican by 13 points, but Obama is trailing his own party. One in five Democrats say they would vote for McCain over Obama.
General election voters are different from primary voters. Among them, Obama is lagging among seniors and men. Instead of winning over white high school-educated voters who are tired of Bush and conventional politics, he does worse than previous nominees. John Judis and Ruy Teixeira have estimated a Democrat has to win 45 percent of such voters to take the White House. I’ve asked several of the most skillful Democratic politicians over the past few weeks, and they all think that’s going to be hard.
A few months ago, Obama was riding his talents. Clinton has ground him down, and we are now facing an interesting phenomenon. Republicans have long assumed they would lose because of the economy and the sad state of their party. Now, Democrats are deeply worried their nominee will lose in November.
Welcome to 2008. Everybody’s miserable.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
WTF with the Kid Rock/Pam Anderson pic on the front page with this headline?
It’s the weekend … Get laid … and then get laid again …
And then go out and fire-off some of your other guns, babe! You more than earned a “fucking good!” weekend …
And watch out for them snakes … They shoot back.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:02 amah it’s Pam Anderson’boobs, so natural
April 18th, 2008 at 7:04 amDrill -
I have no idea. It’s a computer glitch. The pic on front page should be same one as at top of story page here. But for some reason, it’s this fuckin’ pam anderson/white trash dude. It was so weird, I decided to leave it.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:05 amDrill
Thats some great advice..i think ill apply it to myself
April 18th, 2008 at 7:08 amBullshit …
You’re using it for “target practice” … (Yes, insert sick sexual connotation)
April 18th, 2008 at 7:09 amI’m sure it fits. I’m sure Pamela Anderson is worried he’ll lose.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:10 amAt first I thought the Pam picture was a metaphor for Clinton and Obama….or that you were just jerking off to that picture and accidently posted it. Whichever is the case just be sure to wash your hands.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:13 amNot sure if you’re making ME a bigger sick-fuck, or if I’m making YOU a bigger sick-fuck … Mo’ probably a “sharing of resources” … “for the common good” … of course.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:17 amNice boobs, (Pams I mean, Obama is just a stupid boob, not a nice boob at all).
April 18th, 2008 at 7:24 amIs anybody in shock over NYT actually publishing this???
April 18th, 2008 at 7:26 amdem watermelons commin home to roost.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:31 amsorry for double.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:33 amObama=fake
Pammi=fake “tits” & quite possibly dumbest person ever save Paris Hilton.
Kid Rock= dumbass libtard who takes sloppy seconds from Tommy Lee, Brett Michaels, David Hasselhoff, any male in the Playboy mansion and half the elecorate. (Mike Tyson’s speedbag anyone?)
The comparisons between the Obama kool-aid drinkers and kid Rock are numerous. Thus… the software simply inserted a good photo to spur deep introspection in relation to the article. Simple really.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:36 amOBAMMY DESERVES A GRAMMY,
FOR HIS WORLD CLASS FLIM FLAMMY,
HE IS THE GREATEST MASTER~DEBATER,
HE BELONGS IN A COMIC THEATRE,
HE BE THE CHAMPEEN MAMMY JAMMY.
A FLIM FLAM MAN IS WHAT HE AM,
April 18th, 2008 at 7:37 amSNAKE OIL HAS HE IN A CAN,
CHANGE HE WILL BRING,
HE’LL PUT YOUR BUTT IN A SLING,
YOU HONKY MAMMY JAM.
The Democrats think their hate America first, collectivist, racist candidate will lose? I wonder why they think that.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:40 amPat, We want to see Bamboozled again, come on break it out.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:50 amObama is a closet Muslim. Sympathetic to every left wing cause, Harry Reed and Nancy Pelosi and CAIR can dream up. He should not be taken slightly.
Note the chinks in his armor now after Hillary and Charlie Gibson cleaned his clock in Pennsylvania. If the news media would just be more fair and even handed when reporting, more holes will appear in his armor. It will be a sad day if Obama is elected and then the media chooses to be fair in their coverage of him. It is a sad day when the American media decides who is elected President.
He will be seen for what he really is but too late to change. A true died in the wool racist politician whose favorite operative line is tell them what they want to hear, admit to nothing, change the subject, do and say whatever makes you look good and gets you elected.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:52 amBamboozled
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1893613839746122930&q=Bamboozled&ei=hMUISIDCPIuWrgL-koCBAQ
April 18th, 2008 at 8:03 amAw, jeepers, the press actually asked some questions that made the dems look bad at their debate. They weren’t supposed to do that! They were supposed to stick to the template and assist in covering up any facts that might reflect badly on their candidate Obama. Oops. I see their snowball melting…
April 18th, 2008 at 8:03 am“Democrats are deeply worried that their candidate may lose in November”: May God make it so.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:39 amI’m sure this story is making Howard Dean go BYAH!
This story is the best news I’ve heard all day
April 18th, 2008 at 8:51 amObama Bin Lying is such a bitter tard. He’s like the salesman that can never close the deal. Then he whines when his “peanut gallery” (LLMSM) starts asking tough questions.
He is reminding more and more of a palooka. He talks shit, but can’t take a punch.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:21 amCorrect me if I’m wrong, but I do believe Kid Rock performed at one of Dubya’s reinauguration ceremonies in 2004. Brett Michaels performs on USO tours, so he’s tolerable in my book. I agree with you on everything else.
But yeah, I’m really enjoying watching all the Dems step in it.
ROUT THE DEMS IN ‘08!
April 18th, 2008 at 1:22 pmcheck out www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com
getting this out to public should help the dems
April 18th, 2008 at 3:28 pmI would like to take up for Kid Rock . . . He may be white trash, but he is a white trash patriot who supports the troops . . .
April 19th, 2008 at 7:16 amIf 1/5 of D’s vote R, that cancels another 1/5, leaving 3/5 for the Rs to deal with. I’d say that’s do-able!
April 20th, 2008 at 7:04 pm