Posted on 01/27/2008 11:43:23 AM PST by jdm
It’s hard to evaluate whether Barack Obama has the political skill to take on the Clinton machine but this recent 1-2-3 political punch suggests he might:
* First, he won the South Carolina primary in a decisive manner that pulled in a noticeable amount of non-black votes.
* Second, following immediately after the SC win that was questioned as a racially divided vote, Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama in today’s New York Times in an op-ed entitled “A President Like My Father.”
* Third, this ABC report states Ted Kennedy will also endorse Obama.
Obama’s spin on the campaign tactics used against him by the Clintons is also impressive:
“In response to Bill Clinton’s comments comparing Obama’s South Carolina win to those of Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988, Obama suggested Bill Clinton’s “frame of reference” and racial politics may be outdated.
“His frame of reference was the Jesse Jackson races. That’s when, you know, he was active and involved and watching what was going to take place in South Carolina. I think that a lot of South Carolinians looked at it through a different lens. . . As long as we were focused on those issues, we thought those would transcend the sort of racial divisions that we’ve seen in the past,” he said.
The 55 percent won by Obama in South Carolina was more than double the 27 percent of the vote that went to Clinton, with Edwards coming in third at 18 percent.
But Obama did clarify, however, that he did not think Clinton’s comments this week were intended to negatively harm his campaign.
“I don’t think they were trying to demonize me, but I do think that there is a certain brand of politics that we’ve become accustomed to, and that the Republican Party had perfected and was often directed against the Clintons, but that all of us had become complicit in, where we basically think anything is fair game,” he said.
He also reiterated that the “slash-and-burn politics” that exists in Washington today “is not the Clintons’ fault. It is all of our faults, in the sense that we’ve gotten into these bad habits and we can’t seem to have disagreements without being disagreeable. So part of what I think we have to do is to set a new tone in politics. Not a naive one.”
Obama has a lawyer-like ability to take words and ideas and turn them in a different direction. In that sense, he’s like the Clintons but (I think) better at it.
Hmm. Maybe Harvard Law should be #1 instead of YLS.
Another in the list of the world's shortest books?
Obama’s strong suit is charisma. The dem nomination won’t be decided on issues. It will be decided on personality, race, gender and mud slinging.
These is little differnce in the dem candidates on the issues.
Obama seems to be a nicer person than either of the Clintons (not hard to do) but he can’t resist throwing in the occasional nasty crack about Republicans (either in general, or specific Republican politicians). Even his “praise” of Reagan stopped short of admitting Reagan did anything good for the country. His notion of unifying the country seems to be to unite Democrats and independents, while demonizing the remaining 40% of the population.
Unless a major faux paux occurs, one of these two is going to be our next POTUS. Until last week, I thought it would be the beast. Now, I’m not so sure.
Look at the number of well entrenched DUmmy politicians that have been slamming BOTH Clintoons. I think something is afoot here. I think the rank and file of the DNC is saying they have too much baggage, they are bullies, and they want to end their connections to it. Now is the perfect situation for them to do that.
Doesn’t matter what he has or not which is not much.
He is running on an empty message of hope simply because he can’t talk so he is now a PR’s dream. If he brings up what he truly believes; he won’t be elected. I am sure they will bring up an issue or two; so it won’t look like he is completely a wash; but he is.
It’s sad that we have unqualified people running. It’s also sad that my husband’s friend in the music business said with the technology out there; we can make anyone look good.
I am just sick and tired of all the tricks being played on us because these people should not be running for the highest office in the land. They are nothing more than fronts and to think they should be in office is nothing short of an insult and that goes for all the current crop of candidates.
Obama is formidable but Bill has the organization. His speech delivery is in the class of Reagan and Kennedy for what’s that worth going against Bill, Hill is a sideshow.
Political skill? Let's see:
80% of the white vote went for the white lady.
20% of the white vote went for the black guy.
Nice going Obama!! I'd call that "a noticeable amount of non-black votes". That takes real political skill!! [/s]
Oh, and on top of all that, the Kennedy's like him. So, all in all, you have to marvel at Obama's masterful political skill. Gag.
Good point
Can Martin Sheen be far behind?
There are still some Kennedy loyalists around, but after 40 years, I doubt Teddy and Caroline will sway many undecided voters or that this is any 1-2 knockout punch to Clinton.
If you would ever look at back issues of Life or Look magazines from 1960-1963, you will see thousands of photos, complete with worshipful captions, of the Kennedys: the families of John, Robert, and Ted, playing "touch" football, walking the beach, doing this, doing that; gushy, idolizing coverage. Really people today should take a look at some of that old stuff; they wouldn't believe it, except we may start seeing something very much like it again. If Obama gets the press to crown him as the new JFK (cute little kids and all) get ready to gag, folks; it will be nauseating. Somebody, somewhere on the internet has reported that Obama's wife is dressing and fixing her hair like Jackie. I must do some poking around and see if that's true.
If McCain and Obama should both be nominated (youth versus age), McCain will get destroyed in the general election. Are people still as naive as they were in 1960? I am very much afraid that they are. Perhaps not naive, exactly, but far less well-educated, and far more fed on leftwing propaganda from the schools.
I am still unconvinced that Obama can beat Hillary for the nomination, but if he does, look out.
His favorite book is the Autobiography of Malcom X.
While most demos are so enamored with his charm, they don't have a clue who is actually behind him, or what he really thinks about America.
I'm thinking of the improbability of having a father and step father who were muslims, and not having some of those leanings yourself. The fact that Malcom X is a favorite of his, and was himself a muslim, speaks volumes. The shear number of muslim names on his individual contribution list speaks even louder.
The Muslims in Virginia voted disproportionately for Webb and made the difference in Allen’s defeat—so it’s thanks to the Muslims that the Democrats have control of the US Senate.
Last year I had to go to a orthodonist in my network. Since like Obama, he had a muslim name so I decided to google him.
Oh yea, he had donated $1000 to the Cynthia McKinney campaign. I ask myself what motive would cause an orthodonist to do that? She is afterall, intellectually challenged. Then I remembered she was out there claiming 911 was an inside job.
I went out of my network to pay the difference for the cost of the procedure.
Bottomline, know your doctor, know your dentist, and know for whom you vote.
In this case of Obama, well, he has sky-rocketed onto the political scene with someone’s money...tons of money. And the names on the individual list reads like a who’s who of the muslim world. Yet we are supposed to believe he’s not muslim inspite of the fact he has a muslim name, had two dads who were muslims, and totally ignore his favorite book is all about Malcom X.
What’s going on here?
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