Obama '08?

Does this tactic work? (. . .she says hopefully)

Foxfyre wrote:

Does this tactic work? (. . .she says hopefully)

It works. It can make things much easier on you and your correspondent. I encourage you to try it some time.

Not quite, George. On top of all this, I also accused Obama of doing his nation a grave disservice by further undermining the public campaign finance system.

...and it sure makes it easier on the rest of us.

Obama got pummeled today and probably will for the weekend for his flip-flop on taking vs not taking public financing. The pundits I have heard today seem to say that his political people would be committing "malpractice" but not going the non-public financing route. He will be in a position to outspend McCain in October by a huge (2 or 3 to 1?) margin.
So far there are no 527's (eg Swiftboater's) out there, but there probably will be some showing up.

Not quite, George. On top of all this, I also accused Obama of doing his nation a grave disservice by further undermining the public campaign finance system.

Op-Ed Columnist
The Two Obamas


By DAVID BROOKS
Published: June 20, 2008
God, Republicans are saps. They think that they're running against some academic liberal who wouldn't wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn't proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country. They think they're running against some naïve university-town dreamer, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson.
But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there's Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who'd throw you under the truck for votes.

This guy is the whole Chicago package: an idealistic, lakefront liberal fronting a sharp-elbowed machine operator. He's the only politician of our lifetime who is underestimated because he's too intelligent. He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside.

But he's been giving us an education, for anybody who cares to pay attention. Just try to imagine Mister Rogers playing the agent Ari in "Entourage" and it all falls into place.

Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted "present" nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck.

Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.

Dr. Barack could have been a workhorse senator. But primary candidates don't do tough votes, so Fast Eddie Obama threw the workhorse duties under the truck.

Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don't go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck.

And then on Thursday, Fast Eddie Obama had his finest hour. Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He's spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.

But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama's got more money now.

And Fast Eddie Obama didn't just sell out the primary cause of his life. He did it with style. He did it with a video so risibly insincere that somewhere down in the shadow world, Lee Atwater is gaping and applauding. Obama blamed the (so far marginal) Republican 527s. He claimed that private donations are really public financing. He made a cut-throat political calculation seem like Mother Teresa's final steps to sainthood.

The media and the activists won't care (they were only interested in campaign-finance reform only when the Republicans had more money). Meanwhile, Obama's money is forever. He's got an army of small donors and a phalanx of big money bundlers, including, according to The Washington Post, Kenneth Griffin of the Citadel Investment Group; Kirk Wager, a Florida trial lawyer; James Crown, a director of General Dynamics; and Neil Bluhm, a hotel, office and casino developer.

I have to admit, I'm ambivalent watching all this. On the one hand, Obama did sell out the primary cause of his professional life, all for a tiny political advantage. If he'll sell that out, what won't he sell out? On the other hand, global affairs ain't beanbag. If we're going to have a president who is going to go toe to toe with the likes of Vladimir Putin, maybe it is better that he should have a ruthlessly opportunist Fast Eddie Obama lurking inside.

All I know for sure is that this guy is no liberal goo-goo. Republicans keep calling him naïve. But naïve is the last word I'd use to describe Barack Obama. He's the most effectively political creature we've seen in decades. Even Bill Clinton wasn't smart enough to succeed in politics by pretending to renounce politics.

527s are independent civic organizations. If some liberal activists wanted to start up a Swiftboat-like organization against McCain, Obama would have no power to prevent them. At best, he could let them carry out their smears and apologize later if necessary. Kind of like he did when his people denied seats to Muslim women with headscarfs.

So how can 527s be part of any enforceable agreement between two presidential candidates? They can't. They just serve as a convenient pretense for Obama to break his own deal.

It is amusing to see how his fervent followers justify this clear break with his promises, but each time he reveals himself to be nothing more or less than a good old fashioned American politician, he shakes, if not repels, the interest of moderates and independents.

The irony is that McCain, while no political lamb himself, actually takes this stuff seriously and is liable to sink his own campaign because he will not engage in a bare knuckle fight with his opponent.

With each passing week we can see more and more evidence that Obama is nothing more than a Chicago politician...without the experience of his elders.

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

It is amusing to see how his fervent followers justify this clear break with his promises, but each time he reveals himself to be nothing more or less than a good old fashioned American politician, he shakes, if not repels, the interest of moderates and independents.

The irony is that McCain, while no political lamb himself, actually takes this stuff seriously and is liable to sink his own campaign because he will not engage in a bare knuckle fight with his opponent.

With each passing week we can see more and more evidence that Obama is nothing more than a Chicago politician...without the experience of his elders.

You obviously are not aware of the art of politics......winning elections is all about seduction of the public. The gift does not require experience, is not harmed by the seducer being a ruthless in dong in his opponents, and since most people believe what they want to believe there is little risk of people peaking behind the curtain.

Of course that's just my opinion and as we know my opinion is worthless

I have arrived at the conclusion that this is all anti-republican/anti bush sentiment. People are so angry over what's happened during bush's presidency.... with good reason... that they want change at all costs. Obama represented the most change of the candidates and he talked a great idealistic game. Of all the dem candidates he was the one (seemingly) most unlike the current power structure and the color of his skin included in that, although far from the main factor.

Now he has the nomination and can become more of a regular politician and still get support because ideals matter less and the hatred of and anger towads bush matters more. Obama can show himself to be just a politician because nothing matters now except to WIN, and anything done towards that end is a-okay. Which is all that ever mattered to Obama or any presidential candidate anyhow.

Of course that's just my opinion and as we know my opinion is worthless. :wink:

I have been called a McCain supporter and conservative by people who should know better after 5 years..... simply because I don't like Obama as a candidate.

If you understand that his self-developed transcendent image is a crock, I give you credit. And if you don't particularly care because you are happy about his professed positions, good for you --- at least you're honest.

However, there are literally millions of people supporting this guy because they believe he is above seduction, ruthlessness and deception, not because they are ignorant fools but because they believe him when he lies about what he is, and they believe his lies because they desperately want to.

If you can pass this incredible cynicism off as political art, you are quite jaded. This is not such a bad thing, but you are in the minority of the Obama supporters, and the folks he has to count on to elect him president have to believe his lies.

My hope is that like you they will see through them.