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Panic sets in for Obama, Democrats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | Friday, September 12, 2008, 09:04 PM | By Jim Wooten

Posted on 09/12/2008 7:47:36 PM PDT by 11th_VA

Barack Obama knows it. The election he had in the bag is slipping away.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has so thrown him off stride, as it has most other Democrats, that all the momentum he had has vanished. He’s getting panicky advice from everywhere. He intends to launch more and sharper attacks, abandoning any pretense of a new and different, more civil campaign.

Democrats know something, and desperation is setting in. They have a novice campaigner who wanders off message. With every advantage in the primaries, Obama couldn’t win the big states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania — against Hillary Clinton, even when he got to define the rules for running against him. She could never risk alienating the base she’ll need in 2012; John McCain and Sarah Palin have no such constraints — hence the panic.

For a “change” candidate, Obama appears to be a man locked in time, unable to move past criticism, unable to move from the grip of the Democratic left, unable to adapt to the changed reality that the campaign is not the referendum on the war in Iraq or on the administration of George W. Bush that he’d envisioned.

He’s begun to sound dated. Last week, for example, he devoted valuable campaign days — less than two months remain — into explaining a silly “lipstick on a pig” line. The McCain campaign had reacted, accusing him of making the reference to Palin. “I don’t care what they say about me,” Obama responded. “But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and ‘Swiftboat politics.’ Enough is enough,” he said. (The Swiftboat reference is from the 2004 campaign of John Kerry).

The Democratic left is still seething from the Kerry campaign’s loss and is determined to see Bush expelled from the White House in disgrace — the reason it is locked in to making this a referendum on the administration now ending.

It barely worked when the maverick McCain, no darling of the Bushites, got the nomination. With Palin, the Washington outsider, the “third term” argument is plainly absurd. But Obama can’t let go, just as the lefties can’t let go of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth defeat of Kerry. He can’t move on.

Obama has the habit, too, of reminding voters of their doubts about him, as he did in reminding a Detroit audience that he’s been accused of being less interested in protecting you from terrorists than reading them their rights. And, when he professes love of country as his basis for refusing to allow the McCain campaign to attack his words, he raises questions about why he finds the affirmation of love necessary.

Obama will lose because with less than two months remaining voters won’t be able to get comfortable with him. He can’t stay on message and he can’t avoid sending signals that interfere with the message when he does.

McCain, on the other hand, has been superb going back at least to Obama’s European tour. Mainstream America is comfortable with him and, with Palin’s selection, conservatives who had their doubts are onboard. The GOP is energized and suddenly an unwinnable election is reversed.

Obama got this far by winning small states and Southern states he has no chance of carrying in November. In Georgia, for example, the latest Insider Advantage poll has McCain pulling 56 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Obama, numbers that are not likely to change more than 4 percentage points in November. The undecideds and those who intend to vote for third-party campaigns are at 6 percent.

In this election, voters will decide early. Obama’s been in a yearlong campaign; McCain’s familiar. The two are sufficiently exposed and known for voters to make a decision now.

It’s not over. But it’s getting there — and Obama knows it.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; demmeltdown; dempanic; demsgoingape; electionpresident; elections; mccainpalin; obama; obamabiden
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To: MrB

21 posted on 09/12/2008 8:00:51 PM PDT by PhatHead
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To: 11th_VA

Obama est “fini”....


22 posted on 09/12/2008 8:01:20 PM PDT by wac3rd (The MSM will accompany the Captain of the SS Marxist Titanic to the bottom of Lake Michigan)
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To: dr_who
No party [is] more deserving of extinction...

And that is precisely what is going to happen. Here's a golden oldie from 2005.

The Splintering of the Democratic Party

23 posted on 09/12/2008 8:02:00 PM PDT by Publius (Change is not a destination, and hope is not a strategy.)
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To: airborne

The nice thing is that 12 gauge ammo is available in industrial quantities for cheap through your local WalMart.


24 posted on 09/12/2008 8:03:01 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: dr_who
No party has more deserving of extinction since the communists and the nazis.

And these Democrats today are not them???

25 posted on 09/12/2008 8:03:48 PM PDT by prophetic (God, let Obama speak utter foolishness and confound the wisdom of his counselors)
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To: 11th_VA

bet the clintons are lol!


26 posted on 09/12/2008 8:04:52 PM PDT by ken21 (people die and you never hear from them again.)
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To: 11th_VA
Sarah Palin is shaking the Democratic leftist-liberal house to its foundation, and bringing it down. She and her family, their faith, their values, and their story represent the absolute refutation of all the tired old liberal mantras and victimology that they malignantly use to mentally, pshycologically, and financially enslave whole classes of people.

From women's rights, to family values, to gun rights, to abortion, to energy policy, to taxation, to envrionmentalism, and on and on...she is a wrecking ball to the leftist, liberal, socialist house.


























27 posted on 09/12/2008 8:06:47 PM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: PistolPaknMama
That's what I have been concerned about. There will be riots if he wins, and riots if he loses.

In November maybe ... but unlikely. They prefer warmer weather.

28 posted on 09/12/2008 8:06:53 PM PDT by BluH2o
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To: goldstategop

What’s the state of the states right now? As I understood it, Rasmussen still had Obama in the lead, electorally. Every time I turn around the swing states have changed hands, esp. Ohio. I just can’t be convinced yet that this is a done deal.


29 posted on 09/12/2008 8:08:19 PM PDT by workerbee (Sarah Palin's very existence is a threat to the Left.)
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To: 11th_VA

Obama got this far by winning small states and Southern states he has no chance of carrying in November.
***Interesting take, meaning he’s even more toast than he appears now.


30 posted on 09/12/2008 8:08:24 PM PDT by Kevmo (Obama Birth Certificate is a Forgery. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/certifigate/index?tab=articles)
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To: 11th_VA

Why do they tell BO how to act? Let hussein be himself - so the clueless can see what he really is. Once Sarah arrived and spoke truth about him - he unraveled from his ‘staged’ appearance.

Before Sarah - he announced he didn’t want his middle name - HUSSEIN - used/spoken. Then he commanded his spies to check the internet for anyone posting ‘rumors’ about him. Intimidation and major control issues revealed. Then Sarah-then he becomes unraveling and back to his real self - street thug and totally unfit to be in the Senate (fence sitter 147x w/present) much less president and commander-in-chief.


31 posted on 09/12/2008 8:09:13 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: 11th_VA

All this thread is missing is Harry Reid declaring defeat!

and....More Cowbell


32 posted on 09/12/2008 8:09:38 PM PDT by word_warrior_bob (You can now see my amazing doggie and new puppy on my homepage!! Come say hello to Jake & Sonny)
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To: 11th_VA

Obama is toast and everyone who has studied any election cycles knows it. Sure, the polls suggest it is still a race, but it reminds me of a joke:

I guy jumps off the roof of a 50 story building. As he passed the 20th floor, A guy sticks his head out the window and yells, “how’s it going?!”

The jumper replies, “So far, so good.”

That is where we are. November is the pavement. McCain passed him in the electorate map for today. It is all “downhill” from here.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/

For fun, use the ‘This day in 2004” link to see where Kerry was last time on this day.

What a fun election.


33 posted on 09/12/2008 8:11:04 PM PDT by RobRoy (This is comical)
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To: 11th_VA

Stick a fork in Obama, he’s done.


34 posted on 09/12/2008 8:11:32 PM PDT by PeterFinn ("I will stand with the Muslims" - Barack Hussein Obama p. 261 "Audacity of Hope")
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To: Jeff Head

GREAT photos.


35 posted on 09/12/2008 8:13:33 PM PDT by PghBaldy (Obama: Terror Groups have "legitimate claims.")
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To: Jeff Head

One poster dubbed her Ms. American Pie! It certainly fits those pictures. They are great - thanks.


36 posted on 09/12/2008 8:14:12 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: PhatHead

I want ten of these in bumper sticker size!!!!


37 posted on 09/12/2008 8:16:12 PM PDT by gbs
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To: prophetic

Seems your tag prayer has worked!


38 posted on 09/12/2008 8:17:13 PM PDT by presently no screen name
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To: The KG9 Kid; All
Obama is stumbling around in pain like he just got sacked by former Oakland Raider linebacker Bill Romanowski and can't continue the game.

That's former Denver Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski to you! Hey, this IS fun!
39 posted on 09/12/2008 8:17:34 PM PDT by notdownwidems (Vote Republican! We're 1/10 of 1% better than the other guys!)
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To: airborne
And then there will be riots.

Then there will be a lot of valid excuses to take out some of those vermin. Stock up on hollow points.

40 posted on 09/12/2008 8:18:14 PM PDT by PeterFinn ("I will stand with the Muslims" - Barack Hussein Obama p. 261 "Audacity of Hope")
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