Obama's Big Disconnect

Townhall.com ^ | April 27, 2008 | Salena Zito

[Kaslin]

For Barack Obama, closing the deal with Democrat voters has become like herding cats: He just can’t get them all lined up and coordinated on his side.

This nation has a history of looking closely at its candidates and taking their measure before they vote for them. It is a process that Obama shuns and rival Hillary Clinton thrives on -- and therein lies the problem for Democrats.

Obama, who leads both in pledged delegates and in the popular vote, cannot close the gap with lunch-pail Democrats, older voters and (for lack of a better term) white people.

Consequently, Clinton has been able to widen Obama's weaknesses with each passing primary contest.

Yes, Obama won lunch-pail Democrat votes in caucuses, but remember: Caucus participants, for the most part, are party activists who cling to the farthest-left end of the platform; they are not Middle America.

So why the disconnect with the Democrats’ core constituency?

The appearance is that Obama does not understand them; they are outside the realm of his “change” message. His original “change” agenda did not force him to relate with Middle America in order to win.

Wisely, Hillary’s did. Remember her “Listening Tour”? Of course, no one at the time was paying attention to Clinton because no one did “it” better than Obama. Then came the setbacks to Obama’s inevitability -- the Rev. Wright caused people to pause, and the “bitter” comment caused them to look elsewhere.

Here is part of the problem: Obama thought he could win the nomination by being against the war and not being George Bush. He did not realize, nor did he foresee, today’s economic problems. Jobs, jobs and jobs are what voters want a candidate to talk about; they want reinforcement that jobs will be available, that those will pay a living wage and will not be outsourced to foreign soil. Those voters are looking for a fighter.

A direct correlation exists between Hillary's success and the increased economic uneasiness, because economic uneasiness is highest among white middle-class workers.

Voters also are finally realizing they really want to know what “change” is. Is it 73 cents more in your pocket, or does it have an economic-stability package attached to it?

Obama came out of Pennsylvania looking like an elitist who can't live up to his rhetoric of bringing people together; he never showed the compassion for policy solutions that Hillary demonstrated.

U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Western Pennsylvania superdelegate who has not committed to either candidate, says that’s a problem. “Obama needs to demonstrate that he can connect with blue-collar working-class people,” the Forest Hills Democrat said. “Up to this point, I don’t think he has shown that.”

As reported many times over, many Democrats, inside the Washington Beltway or in the Heartland, hope for an Obama-Clinton ticket. Brokering that deal may prove harder than herding cats; right now, ending the Cold War seemed a lot easier.

Yet to win in the fall, Obama needs Clinton more than Clinton needs him.

In the 1976 presidential campaign, Gerald Ford blamed Ronald Reagan for his loss to Jimmy Carter because Reagan did not campaign for Ford in Southern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Ford felt Reagan could have made the difference among what came to be known as Reagan Democrats, the same voters with whom Obama cannot connect.

Obama will need Clinton to do the same thing -- that is, if he ever herds the cats that he needs to close the deal and win the nomination.

[the invisib1e hand]

did they really think he could win, or were they just trying to get him on the map?

[wendy1946]

Normal people who have to be at work the next morning cannot sit around all night at caucuses; those are ruled by a handfull of freaks. Under the normal winner-takes-all rules of presidential elections and which the pubbies use, Hillary would have closed the thing out long since.

[Always Right]

did they really think he could win, or were they just trying to get him on the map?

The media believes the people are sheep and they will do whatever the media tells them.

[only1percent]

Obama if nominated won’t pick Clinton. She’s not actually popular with anyone (her late successes have simply reflected Obama’s unpopularity) and adds nothing to the ticket. He’ll pick the white male governor or ex-governor of a swing state — adds to the national image and (more importantly) adds to the electoral tally. Ted Strickland, Mark Warner, Ed Rendell — there’s your top list.

Clinton might offer the spot to Obama if she’s the nominee. It would also be a bad move for her in electoral vote terms, but she may not have a choice. Question is whether he’d see it as the right move to accept.

[EVO X]

IMO, Obama is finished. He has too many bitter communist and Marxist skeletons in the closet to get elected. If the press would have done their homework on this guy, he would still be a community activist in Chicago..

[marktwain]

“compassion for policy solutions that Hillary demonstrated.”

---

Yeah, thats the ticket, those poor, neglected policy solutions need a hug from warm, loving, Hillery./S

I am not impressed by the writer, though I believe I understand their point.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Part B of this piece should, IMO, be that Hillary is not doing anything that well, but she is starting look attractive when stood next to the elitist Obama.

She is actually as much an elitist as he, but lately, with a little better press, she is doing a better job of faking populism.

But I will give her campaign its due. They have successfully exploited Obama’s flaws, something McLame doesn’t have the stomach for doing.

Regardless of which one he faces in the general, he had better develop thicker skin and large onions. Because he is going to be on the receiving end of a boatload of very hard balls. If he is going to fold every time someone says racist, he’s going to get kicked in the kidneys an awful lot.

[DJ Taylor]

"The media believes the people are sheep and they will do whatever the media tells them."

They were twice successful with Bill Clinton, and now they think they can do it every time. In the elections of 1992 and 1996, for the first time in American History the Main Stream Media (ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN) were actually successful in making a "silk purse out of a sow's ear." IMHO, the only reason the Main Stream Media failed to pull it off again in the elections of 2000 and 2004 was the advent of Fox News.

[bboop]

It’s Fox News, the blogs, Talk Radio — the MSM will never again have the power they once had to shape this country.

God is on His throne.

[italianquaker]

If the press would of did there job in 2004 there would have been no need for the swiftboaters. Without these brave men it would be kerry running for reelection in 2008

[Fishrrman]

“The media believes the people are sheep and they will do whatever the media tells them. “

Unfortunately, a sizeable portion of them behave in just that way. Was not the term “sheeple” originally from FreeRepublic?

- John

[bill1952]

Ed Rendell adds absolutely nothing.
Except perhaps, an anchor around his neck.

[ought-six]

“If the press would have done their homework on this guy, he would still be a community activist in Chicago.”

Believe, the MSM know all about Obambi. The MSM just choose not to expose it. Why? Because The Magic Mulatto is a creation of the MSM.

[HerrBlucher]

Clinton might offer the spot to Obama if she’s the nominee. It would also be a bad move for her in electoral vote terms, but she may not have a choice. Question is whether he’d see it as the right move to accept.

The beast has to steal the nomination from bambi in order to even be in the position to offer him a consolation prize...i.e. the veep. I don't see bambi accepting under those conditions.

[Grampa Dave]

"This nation has a history of looking closely at its candidates and taking their measure before they vote for them. It is a process that Obama shuns and rival Hillary Clinton thrives on -- and therein lies the problem for Democrats.

Obama, who leads both in pledged delegates and in the popular vote, cannot close the gap with lunch-pail Democrats, older voters and (for lack of a better term) white people. "

"Some liberal commentators have downplayed the effect of Barack Obama's recent fundraising speech in San Francisco. But that's wishful thinking. Along with the revelations about Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright, his remarks in San Francisco will haunt him not only in the upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, but also in the general election against John McCain, assuming he gets the Democratic nomination."

"To win in November, a Democratic presidential candidate has to carry most of the industrial heartland states that stretch from Pennsylvania to Missouri. That becomes even more imperative if a Democrat can't carry Florida -- and because of his relative weakness in South Florida, Obama is unlikely to do so against McCain. Ruy Teixeira and I have calculated that in the heartland states, a Democratic presidential candidate has to win 45 to 48 percent of the white working-class vote. In some states, like West Virginia and Kentucky, the percentage is well over a majority."

You can't win a general election with a coalition of America hating Bitter African- Americans and America hating Bitter white liberal elitist billionaires/millionaires, who buy brie, Chardonnay, and expensive rat politicians like the elitist Hussein Obama/Samma.

"Bitter Gate: the gift that keeps on giving!!!

" Crackerquiddick ~ Bitter Gate " and “Wright is wrong Gate” are huge problems for the elitist would be Sneerer in Chief, Hussein Obamasnob!!

For an inside look at the real Hussein Obama and his elite hate America backers at San Francisco where Hussein Obama made his elitist remarks,

Go here to see the thread with all The Pictures posted and Here to see another thread about this meeting of elite left wing America haters.

There are some very interesting pictures and comments re the actual meeting on those threads.

"Hussein Obama’s big mouth, small brain, condescending, America-hating, grandkid-baby-terminating, born-alive-infant-abandoning, America-hating-wife, kooky-moonbat-America-hating-pastor, racially-divisive, race-baiting, crotch-saluting, America-flag-disrespecting ... chickens ... coming home to roost ...!"

Hear Wright GD America!

Behold the would be Sneerer in Chief!

Hillary Wins Pennsylvania

Jackie and Dunlap have some advice for the Democrats.

Click the pic to watch the video!

"So now all you Democrats out there, you need to gather up all the homosexuals, and your atheists and your elitists and your baby-killers and your tree-huggers and your flag-burners and your socialists and your communists and your undercover Islamofacists and the Screen Actors Guild and the last living members of the Weather Underground, throw up a bunch of pictures of Obama and Hillary, grab one and go with it!"

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[EVO X]

If the press would of did there job in 2004 there would have been no need for the swiftboaters.

Agreed. Also there would be no Obama in the Senate. Illinois is pretty far gone. But I don't think suburban and downstate democrats would have voted for him, with what they know now...

[Nonstatist]

voters want .. reinforcement that jobs will be available, that those will pay a living wage and will not be outsourced to foreign soil. Those voters are looking for a fighter.

Oh, is that what Hitlery is nowadays? She's a defender of the lunch bucket factory worker and not just the Commie academic/ feminist misandrysts? She was agin Nafta before she was for it?

You Pittsburgh Trib guys are really in the bag for this phony baloney, arent you? Hitlery will be whatever she needs to be! And she's a fighter with 35 years of experience!!

[RipSawyer]

“Obama if nominated won’t pick Clinton.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

At least if he wants to live two weeks past his inaugaration, he won’t!

[RipSawyer]

“If the press would have done their homework on this guy, he would still be a community activist in Chicago.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If the press did their job he wouldn’t even be a community organizer. If the press did their job the citizenry would not believe all the empty promises they have fallen for.