Toughen up, Obama, or concede the White House now

January 24th, 2008 by Jill Miller Zimon
http://themoderatevoice.com/at-tmv/newsweek-blogitics/17286/toughen-up-obama-or-concede-the-white-house-now/

The Medina County Democratic Action Committee (in Ohio)* wants Barack Obama to withstand the Clinton machine, or else be prepared to lose everything.

The group’s shout-out derives from this Washington Post article that examines the quality (bitter some say) of recent Clinton campaign moves and their potentially destructive results (losing the nomination, and losing the White House). The article only highlights the tactics employed and the Obama camp responses so far.

MCDAC raises the issue that is often made when primary battles play out in state and local political races: a tough primary better prepares the competitors, elicits the bad stuff early and, in general, makes for a stronger nominee once the primary is over.

The question, then, is: have we seen enough from Obama to know that he will be able to handle the heat in a general election? From MCDAC:

Look, we are concerned about the increasingly bitter tone of this contest. We undertand that when there is little difference between the candidates on issues, each side is going to look for an edge, no matter how small. We also understand that the Clintons are upset that African-American voters who stood behind Bill Clinton in his presidential campaigns are abandoning the 2008 Clinton campaign for Obama. We also understand that supporters of Barack Obama are so impressed by his personality that they can’t understand why the Democratic Party just doesn’t give him the nomination by acclamation. But, here’s our question: If Barack Obama can’t take the heat from the Clintons, how is he going to stand up to the Republicans this fall?


I tend to agree with MCDAC’s conclusion, but I’m honestly not sure whether that’s a good thing (being able to deliver as well as recover from a punch) or not:

The Clintons can take a punch and they can deliver a punch. What Democrats need to know is whether Obama can do the same. This campaign will tell us what Obama is made of and how he reacts under pressure. It is important to know that because Democrats who think that the Clinton campaign against Obama is like Karl Rove’s either suffer from amnesia or are terribly naive.

*Why MCDAC matters: Medina County has been profiled multiple times as emblematic of how Ohio is turning from red to blue; it’s a classic swing state county that appears to be swinging. Read more about it here. http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/09/22/ddn092307medina.html


C'mon Obama, no crybabies!

When you run on a campaign of hope and change, you essentially forgoe the ability to become nasty in a political campaign and thats what has happened. He's run a very risky strategy and he's payig for it now.

For him to get down and dirty he has to dirty the halo and thats when the campaign wheels came flying off.

and that's why I haven't jumped on the Obama bandwagon.

I'm a big fan of Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT). What he does that Obama does not do is first disarm the right wing talking points without attacking Republicans specifically and then explain why the progressive populist solution is best for everyone. See example below.

What Washington can Learn from Montana

SNIP
Montana has the largest coal reserves in the state, but Schweitzer still believes that alternatives are the only long-term solution. "People believe that wind power is for hippies living on the mountaintop, smoking marijuana, and real power only comes from hydrocarbons," he says. "But this standard has already spurred $1 billion in investment in renewables in Montana. Green is good for business."
SNIP

State governors, Schweitzer points out, are executives who need to respond to the demands of their voters if they want to stay in office — and climate change is on the public's mind. Congress and the President, on the other hand, are more insulated. But that needs to change. As heartening as the various state initiatives have been — more than half the states in the U.S. now have climate change legislation of some kind — it's time for Washington to step in, and do what only the federal government can do. "At branding time, if a calf doesn't volunteer to come over to the fire, you got to drag him over," says Schweitzer. "We might have to do that with Congress."
SNIP

Schweitzer is a James Arness type gunslinger. He attacks right wing talking points and forces Republicans to determine if they will side with the regressive ideology of the right or with his progressive vision. Schweitzer has over a 60% popularity rating in Montana, so his tactic is obviously working.

it implies that any candidate of "hope and change" will always lose out to the candidate who is a tough campaigner.

It reminds me that people always say that they are tired of negative campaigning, but the truth is that negative campaigning is effective. The ones that practice it are, in general, more effective than those who take the "high road" and avoid it.

My guess is that the best candidate is possesses a combination of "hope and change" and "effective campaigning". One that possesses on and not the other will probably not be effective, either because they are ineffective or uninspiring. Naturally, we can disagree on which candidate best has this combination of talents.

If you want to win a hard election, you must play dirty. Nice guys finish last.

Playing some hope and change bull can only take you so far, somewhere down the line, you have to hit your opponent hard and unfortunately for Obama, he's tied his sail to the nicey nicey mask, so when he has to fight he looks like the total opposite of what he is portraying his campaign as.

Its what i call the Britney/Christina effect.

She made her career being virginal and clean but when she came off that mantra and went slutty, she went off the rails bigtime whereas Christina, everyone knew was the slutty trashy one, so she can play both mantles, Britney cannot.

So really Obama is Britney and Hillary is Christina and guess which ones career is still standing.

:kick:

and then hit them with a baseball bat in the knees

Obama wants to hold hands and sing songs

That should give us hope that he will be able to stand up against the Repubs if he is the nominee...

I'm sure the hilarys don't think he's tough enough because all they understand is lies, distortions, and ramming their big lies down people's throats.