What Palin Can Teach Obama About Seizing the Moment

The National Journal ^ | May 17, 2012 | Mathew Dowd

[2ndDivisionVet]

Life is really about the moments and whether we’re ready to take advantage of them. We can meet someone and have a wonderful connection, then back off because of fear or preexisting plans and hope another moment comes along. But many times, when that moment or person is gone, we never have the opportunity again. The same holds true in politics.

During the last few weeks of the presidential campaign, I have seen two of those "moment" opportunities having surfaced. President Obama and his campaign bypassed one key moment, while Sarah Palin took advantage of the other. It kind of shows the difference between a politician and campaign that makes decisions tethered to a logical plan, and someone who makes decisions based on her gut and from her heart. Obama makes fewer mistakes than Palin, but he also misses some key moments along the way.

I have at times questioned Palin’s qualifications, knowledge, and discipline, as well as her desire to be a celebrity more than a leader, but she has an intuitive feel for politics. She knows how to make gut decisions -- and at times these have definitely paid off for her. They certainly did in her involvement in the Republican primary for the open Senate seat in Nebraska.

Palin decided to engage on behalf of the dark-horse GOP candidate, Deb Fischer, who was running a very lean campaign against her better-known opponents, state Attorney General Jon Bruning and state Treasurer Don Stenberg. Fischer was being outspent more than 10-to-1 and was well behind in the polls. Palin endorsed her and advocated on behalf of Fischer’s candidacy in the campaign’s final days, and Fischer pulled off a stunning upset. Was it all because of Palin? No, but she was an important one reason.

Many folks criticize Palin for the fact that her history of helping candidates has succeeded only about half the time. In my view, this is an incredible record, since she almost always backs underdogs and candidates with seemingly no chance of success. Palin does this because she makes decisions from the gut. Yes, she makes mistakes, but she also knows how to take advantage of a moment when it presents itself.

And so let’s look at another moment where a candidate and his campaign missed a real opportunity. I wrote this a few weeks ago, and I’ll say it again: Obama’s campaign, starting in mid-April, had a real opportunity to frame this race and keep Mitt Romney from rising or getting up off the mat. They let it pass.

If Obama ends up losing in November, I would argue that one of the key reasons is that he could have defined Romney in this period from mid-April to the end of May, and didn’t. He missed this moment when his campaign had a huge spending advantage, and could have used that to overwhelm Romney with advertising that defined this race. Now the Obama campaign will lose that huge advantage as Romney raises money and begins catching up. It’s much better to outspend someone 5-to-1 than it is to wait and outspend them 1.5-to-1.

As each day becomes more of a “he said/he said” effort, the race has become virtually tied. Romney has also had the opportunity to rehabilitate his image and come back from the bruising he took during the Republican primary campaign. In sports, how many times have we seen a team that is ahead employ a run-out-the-clock strategy, only to lose in the final minutes? Obama should have kept the full-court press on while the opposing team was weary. He let that moment go, and now Romney’s campaign has gotten a second wind.

Life really is about going with your heart and having your head figure out logistics afterward. That’s true whether it means jumping into a moment with someone else, or in the midst of a tight presidential race where every day matters.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Could the press be any more in the tank for him?

[Diogenesis]

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Romney for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

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The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

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"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

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"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

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"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

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[ak267]

If Palin keeps this up, I can only imagine her status amongst the rank-and-file at the RNC convention this summer.
All eyes will be on her and that’s gotta rub the GOPe.

If the RNC is stupid enough to snub her at the convention, she is prepared to have her own rally just outside the convention center.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/sarah-palin-setting-up-shop-at-channelside-for-gop-convention/1224557

This is an interesting chess game on so many levels.

[palin45potus]

Oh, do you have doubts that they are stupid enough to snub Sarah at the convention?

You ain’t seen stupid yet! They’ll show us what stupid is!

[4rcane]

I thought Palin’s success rate was 70%+, yet her critics only want to focus on those where the candidates she backed fail. Obama’s success rate is way below 50%

[Bringbackthedraft]

If the RNC is stupid enough to snub her at the convention, she is prepared to have her own rally just outside the convention center.............................................................. LOL, so what, the MSM will ignore it. Page 38 in the NYT and Wapo, somewhere below the want ads, if it is covered.

[Ann Archy]

Matthew Dowd is SUPPOSED to be a Republican strategist!!! I think he’s totally out as a gay Democrat who SABOTAGES Republicans.

[ak267]

LOL, so what, the MSM will ignore it. Page 38 in the NYT and Wapo, somewhere below the want ads, if it is covered.
_____________________________

eyes rolling. haven’t been following the race much have ya.

[RefudiateObama2012]

Since Dowd is/was considered part of the GOP brain trust, it’s easy to understand why the GOP is a failed party. In this article, he mentions Palin and mistakes liberally, yet he doesn’t volunteer what those mistakes were.

The whole article is flawed. He tries to compare and contrast a sitting President with a compliant and complicit media in his corner, with a vocal private citizen who utilizes Facebook, Twitter, and 3-4 monthly appearances on FNC to share her opinions on various issues.

The GOPe, of which Dowd is a member, are continuing to work hard to minimize the impact of Sarah Palin. While they are forced to admit that she wields a big nightstick, they also find it necessary to temper any complimentary language toward her with criticisms of her knowledge and/or her gravitas.

What the GOPe fails to understand is that Palin doesn’t speak or write to or at the people, she speaks and writes for the people. The GOPe-favored candidates don’t and can’t do that and that is why she is such a danger to their continued control of the party. The GOPe fears Palin more than they fear Obama’s re-election. She threatens their ability to wield their power over us little people.

There’s one other thing that Dowd gets wrong in this article. He says Obama made a mistake by not minimizing Romney early on in the primary process. Wrong!! Obama and his people wanted Romney to be the candidate. Why would they want to attack him during the primary process?

[RichInOC]

1. Sarah Palin ain’t the problem.

2. Anybody, particularly, who thinks Palin’s made more mistakes than Obama is too stupid to be doing politics for a living.

3. Obama ain’t the one who can best learn from Palin. Even if he were willing to learn, there are some places he could simply never go. No, it’s the pros on our side who need to check their attitudes at the door, sit down, shut up, watch, listen and learn.

[Democrat_media]

Sarah Palin had a perfect opportunity to run and become President of the U.S. She could have defeated Obama and Romney. She passed it up. Seize the moment? There will never be another opportunity like this. This was the last chance for America imo. We are done now.

[2ndDivisionVet]