Barack Obama is losing. He's not losing because he's not a better candidate. He's not losing because he's black. He's not losing because of Sarah Palin. He's losing because John McCain and his campaign have been lightyears ahead of Barack Obama and his campaign when it comes to running a presidential campaign.
The turning point in this election wasn't Sarah Palin's selection as VP as many in the MSM have touted. No, there were 2 signifigant turning points before that. The first was the open hostility between the Obama and Clinton camps and more importantly Barack Obama's unwillingness to mend fences and place her as his VP. By the end of the primary, Hillary Clinton, not Obama , was the most popular politician in the country. She had as many votes as Obama and was getting stronger as the Primary season ended. With the democratic party so divided, and with women so dissapointed about Hillary's dimise, how could Obama not pick her. Arrogance. Obama believed he had toppled the Clintons and he was the leader of the party and he didn't need the other democrat with 18,000,000 votes. He would win the general election and usher in a new future for America, he would be the new Lincoln. It seems Obama was reading his own press clippings. By not picking Hillary, Obama left a gaping hole in his already dubous support with women, and McCain has capatilized.
The second turning point in the election was John McCain realizing his campaign was not ready for prime time and placing Steve Schmidt as the campaign director in charge of message. This was smart. Schmidt a Rove desciple, was experienced in national elections and with the Rove principles and knew how to win. McCain , with this selection, knew his honorable campaign was going to end in favor of a dishonorable one, but it was necessary to have a chance at winning. Schmidt immedietly went to work and started winning news cycles. News cycle after newscycle. Manipulating the media into focusng on their manufactured narrative, and it worked beautifully.
While Schmidt and the GOP were getting ready for war, Obama and his stratigests were basking in their glow of winning the Primary and went to work on their vaunted ground game. Millions of volunteers registering voters and preparing for GOTV on Nov 4. Obama's campaign specializes in "The ground Game" and it will need to be spectacular, because the rest of his campaign is losing. The McCain campaign built on pushing the media narrative has devolced into a lying, dishonorable machine focused like a laser beam on winning. It is relentless and unforgiving. They do not care about the truth. They do not care about facts. They do not care about media. And especially they do not care about Obama and his campaign. They are out to take him down, and it is working.
This onslaught should have been anticipated by Obama but his efforts to combat it appear desperate. His campaign appears weak, and unwilling to strike back with the required force. Democrats, sick and tired of seeing this happen, are extremly worried and disshartened by the turn of events. How could Obama let this happen. He said repeatidly he would not let this happen. Why is he not responding. I can only come to one of two possibilities. Either Obama and his campaign are totally incompetant, or, they believe their ground game is so strong that they can win the election regardless of Mccain's newly found momentum. Either way, I and other democrats are disshartend with Obama's feble campaign, and his ground game had better be as good as advertised, because it needs to be.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Momentum, Momentum, Momentum
Momentum? What is it? Where does it come from? How do you get it?
Barack Obama won the democratic primary on momentum alone. His unexpected victory in Iowa launched his campaign into the stratosphere and he rode it for 2 full months through the Wisconsin primaries in mid February where proportional allocation of delegates allowed him to build an insurmountable lead. Momentum.
I remember the day when Obama's momentum started failing. It was the weekend before the Ohio/Texas primaries. An Obama aid had repordidly told a Canadian Govt. official that Obama's stance on NAFTA was just a political position not to wory about. This revelation, combined with the beginning of the Rezko tril, combined with Hillary making very funny appearances on Saturday Night Live and the Hillary 3AM TV ad all in one weekend was the end of the Obama momentum through May 5 when he did much better than expected in the Indiana/North Carolina Primaries. During that period, we say Reverend Right twice, Bitter gate and the pennsylvania Primary loss.
Obama regained momentum once he claimed the democratic nomination and held it until his "Move to the center" started a narrative against him and McCain controlled the momentum even it wasn't the "Big Mo" through the democratic convention where the democrats were raring to go and take the election by storm, but something unexpected happened. The morning after Obama's big speech that was touted as one of the best acceptance speeches ever, McCain picked an unknown female social conservative for VP. That combined with his convention has lit a fire under the Republicans and McCain has shot out of his convention with a huge bounce and what can be only characterized as the "BIG MO." The good news for Obama is this momentum will most likley stop at some point, but how much damage will be done.
By not selecting Hillary Clinton, Obama left the door wide open for McCain to go this route and thus far his big risk has paid off big time. Hillary would have brought this same enthusiasm to the democrats but Obama passed it up for various reasons and in my opinion that may go down as the day he blew this election. Obama must find a way to get the momentum back. It can be done. It must be done, or its over.
Barack Obama won the democratic primary on momentum alone. His unexpected victory in Iowa launched his campaign into the stratosphere and he rode it for 2 full months through the Wisconsin primaries in mid February where proportional allocation of delegates allowed him to build an insurmountable lead. Momentum.
I remember the day when Obama's momentum started failing. It was the weekend before the Ohio/Texas primaries. An Obama aid had repordidly told a Canadian Govt. official that Obama's stance on NAFTA was just a political position not to wory about. This revelation, combined with the beginning of the Rezko tril, combined with Hillary making very funny appearances on Saturday Night Live and the Hillary 3AM TV ad all in one weekend was the end of the Obama momentum through May 5 when he did much better than expected in the Indiana/North Carolina Primaries. During that period, we say Reverend Right twice, Bitter gate and the pennsylvania Primary loss.
Obama regained momentum once he claimed the democratic nomination and held it until his "Move to the center" started a narrative against him and McCain controlled the momentum even it wasn't the "Big Mo" through the democratic convention where the democrats were raring to go and take the election by storm, but something unexpected happened. The morning after Obama's big speech that was touted as one of the best acceptance speeches ever, McCain picked an unknown female social conservative for VP. That combined with his convention has lit a fire under the Republicans and McCain has shot out of his convention with a huge bounce and what can be only characterized as the "BIG MO." The good news for Obama is this momentum will most likley stop at some point, but how much damage will be done.
By not selecting Hillary Clinton, Obama left the door wide open for McCain to go this route and thus far his big risk has paid off big time. Hillary would have brought this same enthusiasm to the democrats but Obama passed it up for various reasons and in my opinion that may go down as the day he blew this election. Obama must find a way to get the momentum back. It can be done. It must be done, or its over.
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