After some thought, I'm going with a slightly different take on this. I think Barack made a mistake. While it is true that this has been mentioned many times during his primary campaign... during the primaries, now that he has the nomination, a heck of a lot of people who don't follow that part of the process are still getting to know him. Many of them just now beginning to pay attention, unlike many of us here, who are politically engaged. I don't see how bringing this up, without it being a response to a specific incident, helps him at all. He should have waited for a new, post-primary GOP incident concerning his race, one that clearly called for a response, to make comments of that nature. All it does is give those in the GOP looking for something, anything, to attack him with some ammunition. They will say that he's using his race in the campaign without provocation, for some kind of political advantage. They will decry, just as basso gleefully did, Obama's use of the "race card." He should have waited. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but you don't hand the other side something that might be used to attack you, even if that attack is based on something many of us would see as nebulous, unless it is a response to an attack upon you. Then you can make it clear that it is a response. My opinion, of course. Impeach Bush.
1. Better to get it out now and I think the laws were such that he had to make a decision sometime soon anyway. 2. When the attacks inevitably come, he can say "See, that's the reason." 3. He wanted to force the issue with McCain. McCain either accepts public financing, which allows him some good pub but puts him at a long-term strategic disadvantage or he goes private in which case Obama says "See, I told you so."
Did I post this in the wrong thread? (wouldn't be the first time!) I wasn't talking about public financing, but about his comments during a stump speech about the GOP's plans to use his race, etc., against him during the campaign. Impeach Bush.
http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/a/p/1131/06-23-2008/20080623012005_3.html Obama braces for race-based ads By CHARLES BABINGTON Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - A presidential candidate who's named Hussein and wears a turban? A building that's called the White House but run by a black guy? Those political images and ideas already have found their way onto TV airwaves and campaign buttons, possible harbingers of racially tinged messages in a general election involving the first black candidate to head a major party's ticket. Though the election is more than four months away, the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are shaping their strategies for dealing with such appeals. The Obama campaign vows to fight back fiercely and fast, not repeating John Kerry's mistake of waiting to respond to the 2004 "Swift Boat" ads that Democrats saw as a smear of his military record. McCain's camp is alert for attacks on its man, too. The McCain campaign promises to condemn any race-based political appeals. But it also insists it won't stand still for false charges of racism or for allegations merely aimed at preventing criticism of Obama on legitimate issues. "Every word will be twisted to make it about race," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a McCain friend and adviser. When he and others confront Obama on issues such as national security and the economy, Graham said, it will have "nothing to do with him being an African-American." Obama adviser David Axelrod said the Democrat's campaign will be on high alert for code words or innuendo meant to play on voters' racial sentiments. "We're going to be aggressive about pushing back on anything that we feel is inappropriate or misleading," he said. It's not enough for McCain to say he cannot control independent groups airing racially charged ads on his behalf, Axelrod said, noting that the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" was independent of President Bush's campaign. "We've seen this movie before," he said. "And we're not going to be passive in the face of those kinds of tactics." Racially charged criticism of Obama already has surfaced in several states. Shortly before North Carolina's May 6 primary, the state Republican Party aired a TV ad linking Democratic candidates to Obama, who was described as "too extreme" because of his ties to the retired Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Obama eventually ended his relationship with Wright, his longtime pastor who had been criticized for sermons in which he cursed America and accused the government of conspiring against blacks. The state party ignored McCain's repeated calls to kill the ad. In South Dakota, a TV station briefly aired an ad that was edited to show Obama saying, "we are no longer a Christian nation, we are also a Muslim nation." It omitted his saying, in the same speech, that the United States is not solely a Christian nation. The ad, which included a photo of Obama wearing a turban as part of a traditional outfit given to him in Africa, concluded with a man saying: "It's time for people of faith to stand against Barack Hussein Obama." A group called the Coalition Against Anti-Christian Rhetoric paid for the ad, which stations quickly dropped after the Obama campaign complained. The Texas Republican Party recently cut ties with a vendor whose political buttons at a party convention included one saying: "If Obama is president ... will we still call it The White House?" Texas GOP spokesman Hans Klingler said, "we will neither tolerate nor profit from bigotry." Political professionals differ on how much racially tinged campaigning might emerge this summer and fall. Terry Holt, a GOP strategist who worked on President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, said Republicans know that McCain has no tolerance for such tactics. For the McCain campaign, he said, "it's not about what Obama looks like, it's about what he's going to act like." "I think we can have an honest and tough debate without race being a major factor," Holt said. U.S. politics has a long history of racially charged campaigns. Opponents hit Democrat Michael Dukakis with a now-infamous TV ad showing Willie Horton, a black inmate who raped a white woman while free on a weekend release program that Dukakis had supported. Former Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., defeated a black opponent after airing an ad in which a white man's hands crumpled a letter informing him that he had lost a job he deserved to a minority. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an authority on political communications at the University of Pennsylvania, said overt racial references are risky. But more subtle ads might stir doubts in voters' minds that could lead, in part, to racially tinged subjects, she said. "The appeal that suggests that Senator Obama is 'out of touch with American values' invites audiences to ask what 'American' means," Jamieson said. Are voters being asked to link Obama to Wright's anti-American remarks? she said. "To question his patriotism? To fill in their fears and stereotypes? Foreigner? Muslim? For some, that appeal may elicit race-based reactions." Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio said McCain and his supporters would be ill-advised to focus on issues such as Obama's ties to Wright without first tackling other topics. "You should undermine Obama's credibility on things that are not debatable," Fabrizio said, such as his willingness to negotiate with adversaries and his call to wind down the Iraq war promptly. Once questions of Obama's experience and judgment are raised, he said, "the Wright issue would have more bite." Holt, the GOP consultant, said third-party groups may play a smaller role in this election than last, but he would not be surprised if someone hit Obama with ads comparable to the Swift Boat criticism. Those ads were highly effective against Kerry in 2004, he said, because they fed into existing voter doubts about his sincerity. "It was in our message framework," Holt said, even though "we had nothing to do with it." "I think the Democrats will try to tag McCain with whatever irresponsible advertising comes out of these groups," Holt said. "But McCain has a reputation with the American people" that will largely insulate him from such criticism, he said. 2008-06-23 08:03:34 GMT
Concur. He also made a huge gaff today when he called for Hillary supporters "to get over it." He also needs to quit harping on McCain's 521s when his 521s have raised three times the money (he didn't repudiate a government workers 521 attack on McCain just before he addressed that group). However, if those are his worst mistakes, he is still in good shape. He does need to be more careful.
Are you talking about this? http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5215668 That was last week.
thumbs John McCain has possibly broke his own law, all Barack has done is changed his position on an issue. But we don't hear the outcry on that.
I'm not all that worried about the McCain race. I'm just pointing out where Obama should be more careful. These little things are nothing in and of themselves, but bundled may lose him votes. However, his energy policy is the riskiest part of his campaign.
I still don't know that much about his energy policy, which is my own fault, so I can't comment on that. My point earlier, on which we agree, is that his comment about the GOP (and I'm assuming he's including surrogates) using his race against him was something he shouldn't have said at this time. It's not that big a deal, but it could be used against him. Rush was bellowing about it today. I listen to the chump sometimes, simply to know what his large radio audience is hearing. Why make the comment until you get a widely publicized attack of that kind against you? Could be that he was referring to internet "whispers" about him and race, but what he needs to realize, and his campaign and supporters need to realize, is that while the use of the internet by the Obama campaign has been an incredible success, the fact remains that millions of Americans, many being people he needs to reach, older, working class, rural, and the like, simply aren't that tuned into the web and wouldn't know about these "whispers," if they are occurring. Impeach Bush. Thumbs Down!
Yes, and as usual (there's someone else here who should be irritated with me), have forgotten to reply. (if you were able, I wouldn't blame you, or him, for kicking me) I can't! Impeach Bush. Keep Him Away from thumbs!
There may be a psychological benefit to bringing it up in advance. I think people tend to remember and process what they hear first. So if they hear "the GOP is going to make this attack", then when the GOP makes the attack, it has less effect as people are expecting it and are more likely to recognize it as an attack. If the attack happens first, people process that instead and then Obama's statement afterwords is perceived as defensive. The funny thing about it is that by mocking it initially, it makes it harder to actually launch the attack, so some fringe GOP group that might have done it may find themselves less able to do so, allowing the GOP to say "see, we didn't make those kinds of attacks - Obama is crazy". A similar parallel on the GOP side is the whole "October surprise" idea. Because so many people have talked about an October surprise (say capturing OBL or some milestone in Iraq), if it happens, it may have far less impact for McCain. If it hadn't been talked about already as a possibility, then capturing OBL in October would have much more of an impact. It's sort of like numbing people to the idea so it's less of a big deal if it happens.
I was nodding my head until I came to the part about a possible "October Surprise." That would be a huge deal if Osama was captured, regardless of how it's talked about prior to the election, IMO. Especially if he were captured, as opposed to killed, where if might be hard to identify his body quickly (very likely blown to bits in some kind of air strike). Heck, it would knock the election off the front pages of America, and elsewhere, for a time. How long a time? I don't know, but there wouldn't be much time left until the election by then. Impeach Bush.
Oh certainly - I didn't mean it wouldn't have a huge impact still. But because of all the talk about it, there will be more cynicism than there would be otherwise ("oh, they knew all along where he was and held off so McCain would win") and things like that. It would still have a big impact - just less so than otherwise. Or at least, that's my guess.
Agreed. I also believe that any GOP groups that bring it up will cause harm to the GOP. How much so, and if its ultimately worth it in the end for them I can not say. I know for ME, as a somewhere in the middle class(closer to lower than higher) white guy, I dont care what color Barack Obama is, or that his middle name is shared by America's favorite bad guy the last 15-20 years. So to me, this comes across as pandering to the (for lack of a better word) uneducated masses who have not moved passed the color of a man's skin. Which is slightly offensive. (insert your own elitist/snobbish remarks about me here)
