Wanting cool and sexy Prez: continued
From a comment at Real Clear Politics after Hillary gave her speech in support of Obama:
mccain will carry 10 states or less after we get 5 months of seeing a 6’3″ hip, young, charismatic, black man who voted against this god-awful war and a 5’8″ withered, old, monotoned-voiced, old (did I say old?), pasty, white man who calls the country to continue this god-awful war, stand together and debate health care, taxes and whatever. as the republicans lament that mccain can’t even read a telepromter, the country will be moving forward with obama (and clinton yelling the loudest in his support).
The person must read your blog, haha.
Well, we will see how loud Clinton yells in Obama’s support, but, however puerile the commenter sounds, he is on to something.
On paper McCain seems like the sure thing, but in image and style Obama wins going away.
Don’t kid yourself. Hillary has a vested interest in Obama’s loss. She can’t run against an incumbent Democrat President and will be too old in 2016. The Clinton Machine will be running hit pieces on Obama for the next five months. McCain in a landslide. Obama will be a footnote a’la McGovern. If I’m wrong and Hillary really does back Obama, it goes the other way.
MSM has a vested interest in the “contest”. This thing needs requires that they maintain the appearance of closeness between the two candidates. The reason why so little serious Obama analysis makes it to primetime is simply that it reinforces the reality that he is running on pure rhetoric and zero experience. MSM counterbalances that by simply treating Obama differently. I can’t tell you how many times I posted on CNN to no avail – in particular to that idiot Rodney Martin’s column. The race (sic.) needs to be close because there are a lot of jobs on the line here, in particular from within media. Alas, the trump card will be foreign policy. Obama and the media can not control foreign developments, and as such, the ultimate agenda. Since Obama has now blessed military intervention in defense of Israeli sovereignty, without defining such sovereignty, he will be able to do little or nothing when the Iran card is played via Afghanistan and Iraq’s strategic positions. Obama will be reduced to a talking head who simply agrees with the administration’s current actions.
We saw the votes from PA, WV, and KY. Obama enjoys little support amongst working class whites. Hillary’s feminist supporters are also defecting to McCain following her recent concession speech. The candidate of unity has divided his own party against itself.
Given how close the last two elections have been, can Obama afford to lose even one democratic constituency? There’s a palpable arrogance in the ranks of Obama supporters, a genuine hubris. John McCain is pugnacious. Underestimating him is foolish.
A coalition of African Americans, elite liberals, radical greens, peaceniks, Marxist moonbats and New Age crystal-gazers does not a president make.
“A coalition of African Americans, elite liberals, radical greens, peaceniks, Marxist moonbats and New Age crystal-gazers does not a president make.”
The part we don’t know is this:
How many people who almost never vote are going to pull the lever for Barack because he looks and sounds cool, and makes the voter feel so much better about him/herself? He will either be “black like me”, or he will allow the voter to embrace “the other” to create an America that is bigger than “the fear and hatred of the past.”
I’m about your age, neo – we’re in a minority. What kind of minority? People who remember the 70’s, for one. Remember 1976? We both voted for Jimmy Carter, I’m fairly sure (I know I did) mainly because he was the most not Nixon we had available. Also, in my case, because he was a southern boy, and so was I. And also, the Republicans hadn’t yet been punished enough for Watergate, which was the worst thing to ever happen in the history of America, wasn’t it? Remember 1976?
It never crossed my mind how Carter would deal with the real issues at stake in that world, I just knew that he promised that he’d never lie to me, and voting for him made me feel really, really good about myself. And we just loved Miz Lillian and laughed at Billy, who reminded me of all those oafish, but basically OK guys I went to high school with.
The majority of folks voting in this next election will be much more like the me I was then than the me I am now. To what extent this is true, well, we will find that out in November. To what extent will this election be shaped by pop culture and the MSM’s spewing of pro-Obama memes to turn the tide the way they want to see it turn. And if he doesn’t win, how long will we be told that we are all racists now? After all, to vote for McCain because he has a grasp of the world and experience in thinking through the big questions of how we should use our foreign policy to protect our nation and culture will mean that we have “once more succumbed to fear and hatred.” Won’t it?
All the majority will have to do is pick up a newspaper, watch a movie or TV show, or read an editorial reprinted in their local paper from the NY Times or the Washington Post – thereby validating their support for Obama. At least it will for the “serious” types that read at least that much and can be seen by their friends as a real “deep thinker.” And verify the thought that voting for Obama will make the voter feel good about what they have done.
That’s the funny part, I guess. When I think about this, and think about how I used to see things, I guess I have succumbed to fear after all. Obama scares me. It’s the truth.
I wish I could be as confident as some that Obama is unelectable. I understand the reasoning–his lack of experience and accomplishments plus his bizarre, radical background and associates.
Nonetheless, voters this year are clamoring for change, the Republican brand is despised, a majority of voters want to leave Iraq more that they want to win, and Obama is a real feelgood candidate on the surface.
“How many people who almost never vote are going to pull the lever for Barack because he looks and sounds cool, and makes the voter feel so much better about him/herself? He will either be “black like me”, or he will allow the voter to embrace “the other” to create an America that is bigger than “the fear and hatred of the past.””
Probably no more than normal. Obama really only polls well within the democrats, outside of that he is still a politician.
Even then the only reason he won the primary was because of the rules the democrats run under – had it been our normal winner take all system Hillary would have soundly defeated him.
Reality is that his two big demographics are blacks and young people. Most of those people are already democrats and they also make up a large percentage of the dems that are active in primaries in most states. Those are the areas he won, in the other demographics he lost to Hillary by 30-40 points – not good for his chances at being president.
The demographics of the rest of the country are MUCH closer to the areas that he drastically lost, in fact few places are even close to a mirror of the places he won. Considering that he mostly lost big or win by a slim margin it doesn’t look good for him – you are already seeing him at his strongest as one would expect him (based on past performance) to loose most things outside of what he has right now by 20+ points.
You are right in that his main hope is people who do not vote but that is a pretty shaky thing to depend on as, well, they don’t vote. I don’t think that Obama is anything close to good enough to get those people out for him, however he is a decisive enough figure to get some out to vote against him (though some of this will depend on who he chooses for his VP too).
Finally Obama has the following main strengths – he is tall, black, and has a nice voice. Beyond that he has nothing – if you pay attention to what he says then even his message of “hope” is weak and full of holes even kids easily see through. While those go a long way (especially in large cities where image trumps many things) it tends to not be enough to win elections. All else equal then yes that is something to worry about – however McCain will kill him in debates and once the 527’s get going I would bet we will have a new term for “swift boating”.
An interesting thing about politics is that even though party is talked about more people vote for individuals than parties – especially in presidential election. It has worked that way for many many many many years including handwringing about party hatred and such.
McCain can loose this if he campaigns badly or something unknown comes out about him. If Obama actually actively wins then he is the Chosen One as pretty much everything is set against him. He has one huge uphill battle with the largest demographics and it would take not only winning a HUGE amount of the non-voters mind but also somehow getting them to come out and vote.
You must remember that we have around 50 million voters that have progressed past BDS to total insanity. They will vote for an Arab/Black/White as revenge against Boooosh who they have been brainwashed into thinking did something wrong. They can’t tell you what he did wrong but the Lame Stream Media tells them he did so they must accept it as fact.
They can’t even see that the democrats that promised in 2006 to change the direction of the country have did just that, A booming housing industry is in the dumper, A record setting stock market is in the dumper, History making ‘low’ unemployment has crashed and is on the rise, Gas prices increased 11 cents per gallon ‘per year’ for 6 years with a Republican led congress and has increased 12 cents per gallon ‘per month’ during the 17 months of democrat control, setting record highs that make Dimmy Carter look like a piker.
The democrats in congress are leading the country down the path to a depression and the dhimmi voters are cheering them on. Go figure.
“You must remember that we have around 50 million voters that have progressed past BDS to total insanity.”
You must also remember that even if they were not fully into BDS they would be voting for the dem anyway. That they feel more strongly than before is irrelevant – they still only get one vote. As a force for “change” they are irrelevant as their vote was locked from the time they started voting and most are locked until the day the die in the Democrats corner.
You must remember that that are WAY more than 50 million that will not allow Barak into the white house if they can help it (for any of the following reasons: white hating, black, surrender prone, elitist liberal). Many of them have voted for democrats and most likely will again – however your demographic can not ever be won by a republican and if they are such a strong force that the Repubs can’t win we might as well just quit.
Obama’s does horrid on any demographics outside of either the young or blacks. Of those outside of that demographic he only does will with the BDS people. Under the crazy rules the Democrats used they made up a large enough portion of the democrats primary so that Obama got the nomination. They *don’t* make that large part of our country and that demographic is McCain’s to give away (and, again, he is quite capable of doing so but it will not be because of anything Obama did).
In fact the demographic he is most popular in is the ones that really turn the rest of the populace off. Having those 50 million “kill whitey” and “kill Bush” crowd out actively campaigning for him will do him WAY more harm than good (there are already some great internet adds out there and I’m certain there are hundreds, if not thousands being made now that the primaries are effectively over).
strcpy and scrapiron — I indeed hope you’re right, but as the philosopher, Han Solo, once said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
I have a theory. Obama is getting huge, energetic crowds made up mostly of the 30% of the electorate that would vote for satan if he promised bigger government, more income redistribution, and all the other socialist policies they favor.
They are very enthusiastic because this guy seems to be their dream candidate. Young, attractive, energetic, a glib speaker, and far, far left. After 7 years of Bush, they see this man as the equivalent of a saviour who will change all the terrible things Bushitler has done. Their joy is almost as palpable as the enthusiasm of the congregation at Trinity United Church when Reverend Wright takes after whitey and the racist America they all hate.
On the other hand we have the Republicans (including myself) and right leaning independents who are exhausted and depressed after 7 years of seeing Bush and the GWOT attacked constantly by the MSM and the dems. The Republicans also worry about oil prices, a recession, and looming inflation as we approach the election. Things do not look good as we see images of Obama and his ethusiastic supporters on our tellies.
If most of the people in our group are like me, they have this awful feeling that very bad things are coming if Obama should actually be elected. For that reason I am working harder to get out the word about Obama’s policies. I’m giving more money to McCain than I’ve ever given to a Republican political candidate before.
I am quietly determined that Obama is not going to win without a fight. I am not totally in love with McCain, but he is far and away superior on the issues to Obama.
I’m hoping there are many millions of people just like me who are quietly determined to work for McCain and any other Republican candidate that they find worthy. And that we will all actually go to the polls.
All image…no substance.
“I indeed hope you’re right, but as the philosopher, Han Solo, once said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.””
So did the republicans when Nixon met McGovern and Reagan met Dukakis – yet those elections didn’t turn out so hot for the dems for similar reasons. Though the eventual term as president was quite different for the two republicans. In both cases the Dems thought they has such a shoe in the could get whom ever they wanted (and Kerry was a similar thing).
My parents watch TV land a lot, a while back I was at their TV without the remote (and too lazy to change the channel plus I was talking more than watching TV) and All in the Family was on. Meat-head was going to the polls to watch the liberal sweep of the nation and Nixon getting his comeuppance from McGovern in the largest and most significant change in known history. Seeing that this was the mid-to-late 90’s when I saw this it was quite amusing knowing how the election turned out the day after. I always wondered if the writers just ignored it or acknowledge the election the next episode but never really found out.
So far I see more parallels with this election and those than not. Just as in those cases it is the republicans to loose – though I suppose I have more confidence that those previous republicans were more likely to pursue a win. I too have a bad feeling about it, but more because I think McCain is capable of loosing that anything Obama brings to the table. Couple that with how bad I think an Obama presidency will be and I’m not that much of a gambler. I see McCain talking about how great Obama is and telling how good a president your opponent will make doesn’t win elections.
Well, I’ve been using the McGovern analogy with friends since Michelle Obama discovered that she was proud of America for the first time.
Nonetheless, McCain would be the shortest president since Grant, the baldest since Eisenhower, and the oldest first term president ever. Plus his voice sounds whiny next to Obama’s.
Short, bald, whiny and old. It’s like running a troll against Prince Charming.
I hate that it very possibly could come down to how a voter feels about a candidate’s skin color, positive or negative. This is no basis for the hardest job in the world… The choice for me is obvious because I do believe it’s the hardest job in the world (and much harder than it was in the sixties, fifties, even forties), and I have a hard time believing Obama’s up to it with his scanty record and experience.
I’m grudgingly philosophical about McCain’s lack of top-executive experience because at least he has lots of experience generally and the right attitude about foreign policy.
The disasters ahead in the foreign sphere under a President Obama have been well covered here. But, domestically, to judge by the ideas of his associates, mentors, and his wife, I suspect a Reconstruction 2.0 would be in our future. That white cleric, Fr Pfleger, was pretty distinctly hopping and raving for what was once called “40 acres and a mule”.
Ah yes, I remember the Reagan vs. Dukakis election well.
And regarding that All in the Family episode: perhaps the point was to make fun of Michael’s naivete. There was absolutely no question in any sane person’s mind on election day that Nixon was going to win by a large margin. The polls had been pretty consistent on that score. I was a McGovern supporter myself that day (shame! shame!), but I was not so naive to think that he actually had a chance of winning.
she gave her speech alright…
even a face blind person like me could see she wasnt sincere and was doing what she had to.
That’s why I voted for Romney !! People are superficial even when they think they’re not. I sell real estate and we know that first impressions and curb appeal are extremely important. Romney looks presidential and McCain doesn’t. Simple as that. I watched with horror as McCain started winning, not because he would be such a bad president, but because he may not win !!!! Republican voters can be so dense sometimes. Worried about Mormonism or the immigration bill or rewarding McCain for his military service. What does it matter if a democrat becomes president?
Two points:
First, Ronald Reagan *never* faced off against Michael Dukakis. That was George Bush the elder in 1988. Reagan ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Walter Mondale in 1984.
My second point is that there is a more pressing crisis facing our country right now than any mere presidential election. And that is the ubiquitous substitution of the word “loose” for the word “lose” 😉
My husband, who has never voted in his life, actually has registered to vote this year and is planning to vote McCain. My stepfather who has never voted Republican in his life plans to vote McCain. Ditto my mother.
Of course, we live in Cook County, and so are slightly more immune to Obama’s charms. We’re swimming in “charm” here…
There is hope. But yes, McCain could really blow it.