Where’s the Landslide?

NY Times ^ | August 5, 2008 | DAVID BROOKS

[neverdem]

Why isn’t Barack Obama doing better? Why, after all that has happened, does he have only a slim two- or three-point lead over John McCain, according to an average of the recent polls? Why is he basically tied with his opponent when his party is so far ahead?

His age probably has something to do with it. So does his race. But the polls and focus groups suggest that people aren’t dismissive of Obama or hostile to him. Instead, they’re wary and uncertain.

And the root of it is probably this: Obama has been a sojourner. He opened his book “Dreams From My Father” with a quotation from Chronicles: “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers.”

There is a sense that because of his unique background and temperament, Obama lives apart. He put one foot in the institutions he rose through on his journey but never fully engaged. As a result, voters have trouble placing him in his context, understanding the roots and values in which he is ineluctably embedded.

Last week Jodi Kantor of The Times described Obama’s 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School. “The young law professor stood apart in too many ways to count,” Kantor wrote.

He was a popular and charismatic professor, but he rarely took part in faculty conversations or discussions about the future of the institution. He had a supple grasp of legal ideas, but he never committed those ideas to paper by publishing a piece of scholarship.

He was in the law school, but not of it.

This has been a consistent pattern throughout his odyssey. His childhood was a peripatetic journey through Kansas, Indonesia, Hawaii and beyond. He absorbed things from those diverse places but was not fully of them.

His college years...

[goldstategop]

Is Obama really part of America? His discomfort with American symbols like the flag and national anthem seem to indicate he's not fully appreciative of the most basic aspects of day to day life in this country. You have to wonder where Obama thinks he lives and what the context of his values are. We still don't know how Obama views America and how it shaped his values. Until Obama is able to show he "gets it" about our country, the voters will never feel comfortable enough to trust with the keys to the Oval Office.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[kik5150]

“Why, after all that has happened, does he have only a slim two- or three-point lead”

What has happened? what has he done? Oh, you mean all that you in the media have done to prop up this empty suit?

[SolidWood]

His age probably has something to do with it. So does his race.

Could it be because he is a racist Marxist crypto-Muslim?

[paudio]

He was in Trinity United Church of Christ, but not of it, not sharing the liberation theology that energized Jeremiah Wright Jr.

Really? How did Brooks know? All we know is until the public demanded Obama to do something about his pastor, all signs showed that Wright was his mentor.

[Jeff Chandler]

Could it be because he is a racist Marxist crypto-Muslim?

And a punk.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

This is astonishing buyer’s remorse by the leftist press. I am surprised they are being this honest about his sinking chances with the voters.

[9YearLurker]

Yes, Brooks is all too generous in what he attributes to Barry in this piece.

[goldstategop]

We do know his major influences of course... radical 60s retreads. The American people have heard enough. However, the MSM still thinks it can push Obama into the White House.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[TheWasteLand]

He was in the law school, but not of it...

Blah blah blah David Brooks blah blah. Obama is losing because he's an anti-American leftist with zero practical experience. He's the weakest candidate in modern history and he'll be crushed. End of story.

[Gondring]

Popular vote or Electoral vote?

[DJtex]

The NY Times may have just buried Obama. "He is in the Senate, but not of it. He was in the Law School (for 12 years) but not of it."

Advertising is paramount in campaigns because of the political maxim: "Folks simply will not elect someone that they do not know."

The problem with Obama is the more he talks to us, the less we really know about him. Hillary had a similar problem. People thought they knew her but just did not like her very well. She had the "audacity" to reinvent herself right in front of everyone early in the primaries, with a 'tear in her eye' and a speech that helped her 'find her voice.'

Obama will have to get real with us, but he is running out of time, and I think he and his handlers are too arrogant to do this.

[bajabaja]

Hey, you are leaving out arrogant.

The waters will start to recede, and the tire pressures will increase, and we will have our souls fixed.

And you forgot to call him arrogant?

I am disappointed in you.

/hey.

[goldstategop]

If this is such a Democratic year, why are the Democrats on the defensive?

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[TheWasteLand]

Four words: Obama and oil drilling. Six months ago this was going to be a GOP route by the Dems. Six months is a lifetime in politics.

[goldstategop]

There the old adage that's it the first thirty seconds of a job interview that an employer's recruiter will decide if he is going to hire you. And that's before he's exchanged a single word with you! 90% of human communication is non-verbal. We're already telling others through our body language what they need to know about us long before we open our mouths.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[sofaman]

wait a minute ... I have to give the devil his due.

On my way to work this morning, I stopped at a gas station and pumped up my tires. And, I'll be da*ned, two blocks down the road, the gas was a penny cheaper.

[Allegra]

Why, after all that has happened, does he have only a slim two- or three-point lead over John McCain, according to an average of the recent polls?

HA! Even that is quite debatable.

[Waco]

if o’bama loses the election; will peelosi be known as the mute of the house??

[Salvation]

BTTT!