Barack Obama's Worrisome Campaign

In the latest Washington Post poll, Barack Obama continues to lead John McCain among likely voters 50 percent to 46 percent. This, after sinking hard in the polls from the summer through the respective political conventions.

That Obama leads at all - and that lead has diminished from the previous survey - has more to do with, as the Post reports, "negativity about the country's financial prospects" than any particular proposal or piece of rhetoric the candidate has put forward. Despite his clear ability to energize people and haul in buckets of cash, there have been and there continue to be elements to Obama's campaign which are troublesome harbingers of what kind of president he could be. One who's distracted and reactive, rather than focused and proactive. One who's constantly moving to a rhythm set by others.

In the Democratic primary Obama was constantly reacting to nontroveries - Jeremiah Wright and his vanishing lapel pin - and was unable to decisively "finish off" Senator Clinton.

He bit at McCain's accusations that he had not spent enough time overseas. He traveled to the Middle East and Europe to great international acclaim but a public yawn here at home. That cost him. Obama had enjoyed an average 7 point lead over McCain in the polls in late June. By the time he held his rally in Berlin that differential was cut in half.

When the conflict in South Ossetia began, Obama read tepid remarks and equivocated.

The force of Obama's monumental acceptance speech was blunted by McCain's selection of Sarah Palin, then made worse by Team Obama's seeming inability to coherently respond to Palin on the Republican ticket.

Early September saw a ten point shift in favor of McCain.

Then the bottom dropped out of the economy and John McCain could not hide from the stink of deregulation run amok.

Between now and November 4th Obama may need to do literally nothing to get into the White House. Just let John McCain arbitrarily suspended his campaign when he sees fit (or in the case of Michigan, fully suspend it), and let the Couric/Palin interviews continue.

Perhaps there is some sweet science to be admired in the tactic of merely allowing your opponent to implode. The rope-a-dope of politics.

It may be the only campaign style Obama knows.

The bolt of the decisive fight isn't in Obama's quiver. In his last major campaign his opponent, Jack Ryan, was forced to drop out of the race prior to Alan Keyes getting airdropped into Illinois as the great black hope.

But the presidency in general - and I believe 44th presidency in particular - does not and cannot suffer come-what-may-isms. It doomed Jimmy Carter, and it doomed any number of Democratic candidates who never made it to the White House.

Let's hope president Obama, different from candidate Obama is more proactive rather than deus ex machina.

For more Obama news and opinion, visit www.thatminoritything.com

Comments

[PT6]

If YOU WANT A "HOT HEADED RESPONSE" GO FOR McC!

I read OBAMA as an "OPEN MINDED" and clear thinking decision maker who takes advice from very smart people, then finds ways to bring people together to create action.

He is constantly learning and improving himself and accepts "constructive and useful" critism!

Look at his improved performance in the debate!

Thank GOD he is not a STUBORN, "I AM ALWAYS RIGHT", "MAKE UP SOMETHING SO I LOOK GOOD", and "BANG THEIR HEADS TOGETHER" politician LIKE BUSH/ROVE AND CHENEY.

Obama is JUST WHAT WE NEED!

A COOL HEAD IN CHARGE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL BUTTONS AND OUR ECONOMY!

[jimme]

I like and agree with your posts.

[alonzo24]

SOMEONE HELP ME OUT WITH MY LINE OF THINKING AS IT RELATES TO HOW I WILL VOTE IN NOVEMBER. I AM A REGISTERED REPUB. i HAVE A MCCAIN.PAL­IN SIGN IN MY YARD. I HAVE ONLY VOTED FOR A DEM ONE TIME (CARTER) MY THINKING IS TO VOTE FOR THE "O" BECAUCSE IF DEM'S WIN A MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE AND SEN. MCCAIN/PALIN WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET ANYTHING DONE. V.P. PALIN AND HER FAMILY WILL CONTINUE TO BE SAVAGED AND MADE FUN OF IN THE PRESS. THE PRESS WILL BE SO DISAPPOINTED IF THE "O" LOSES, MCCAIN WILL BE SUJECTED TO THE SAME KIND OF CRAP AS HIS V.P. IF ON THE OTHER HAND IF THE "O" WINS HIS INEXPERIECE WILL BE ON DISPLAY FOR ALL TO SEE. WITH A DEM CONTROLED CONGRESS AND DEM PRESIDENT THEY HAVE A FREE HAND TO ENACT ALL KINDS OF STUPID POLICY. THE REPUB. WILL HAVE A MUCH BETTER CHANCE TO WIN IN 2012. SOMEONE HELP ME, PLEASE

[dagdavid]

The only help anyone can provide you is a stiff dose of reality. The reason Palin is being skewered by the press is because she deserves it. Period. She has shown herself to be a woman of no class or substance and even less principle. The Republican party and puppets like Palin are on their way out. Forget this year, forget 2012, when Obama wins and the Dems pick up complete control of both houses, the divisive, hateful and negative reign of Republican will end ushering in a 20 year stretch of Democratic control. Neo-cons beware, you can join the revolution of hope, or become its victims. Go ahead and vote Republican, it will make no difference. Then take a step back and watch the world change for the better.

[alonzo24]

THNAKS, dagdavid, you have certainly presented a well thought out answer, but if you don't mindI will I will see what others have to say.

[PhDiva]

Since when is running the most diverse and transformative and lucrative campaign in American history evidence of poor leadership? Ridley, your idea of leadership is based on a bad tv series, all show and no substance. Being a good leader in real life means knowing your goal and knowing your power. McCain made a fool of himself pretending like he had more power than he does. Obama knows his goal and his power; he knows he has to win this election, and he's been brilliant and aggressive in pursuing that goal. What you don't understand is that if you work smart and you work hard, you don't have to "perform phony leadership," you can actually BE a leader. Obama is doing that.

[2farnorth]

Like if you were in that position you would of actually done differently right?

[JustJoan]

Some say passive, I say steady, resonable ,calm and intelligent. Just what I want in a President. Maybe Mr. Ridley is so accustomed to the ignorance of Bush, the irritable and confused McCain, the can you be more ignorant and quaint than George Sarah Palin, that when he gets next to calm strength he doesn't even recognize it. Mr. Ridley has been for the most part critical of Obama from the beginning, and he likes to do it in that passive aggressive way.

[CeeCee]

Ditto.

[Pattycakes90]

I take issue with the pundits who say that Obama has not done enough to show leadership, etc. I think he has done the exact right thing....o­bserve and find out the facts before he acts. Afterall, he is not president yet...we have a sitting president so he is the one who should be looking strong and decisive. McCain trying to look presidential and trying to do Bush's job makes him look....er­ratic to say the least. I think Obama will be a decisive president.­..just wait and see.

[medi22]

obama cant afford to lose. maybe that's why he often ends up playing defense a lot, taking "unifying" positions and limiting his agenda. because so much is at stake. even if it's not the "best" response, it's understandable. mccain is not more of the same. he's much more extreme than bush. he and plain are no joke--they're a real threat to this country. an obama presidency could create a "centrist" firewall for systemic change at the local level, and internationally too.

[onlyThis]

So tell me again who beat the "unbeatable" Clinton machine? Sen Obama is a political Aikido master.

[maidenofdforest]

This is a fair comment of candidate Obama and I hope his campaign is listening to be able to rectify any of the missteps he has made in favor of the American people. The American people should be the first to benefit after Bush has bungled not only the economy.

John, your line saying "EVERYONE" is largely absolute and has no credence though. See this: "Everyone seems to have an opinion about why Obama is where he is today. Most of it lays the credit at the feet of various events instead of the man himself and you know I think Barack likes that just fine....if it will win in the end." - This is a mediocre president you are shaping, if that is true but I think it isn't so. We need a president who can think clearly, resolutely, not by chain of events as you so put, but can move around difficult situations without aggravating but solving.

Hillary has placed some solutions on kitchen table issues during the primary, and McCain is tepid on his sub standard ideas brought entirely trivial by his appointed VP. If McCain is willing to go negative just to win the presidency, then that is a much more dire situation we do not need in these difficult times than just you writing Obama won because of circumstance.

[WritusMaximus]

No need to wonder as to what kind of prez Obama will be. Having foolishly thrown his support for the Wall Street bailout (with an additional $150 billion of UNFUNDED pork) which took a trillion dollars off the table and thereby scuttling Obama's expansive agenda, Obama will be forced to act the role of caretaker of a sick economy. A No vote on the bailout bill was an easy vote---he woulda gotten the credit for trying to stop a huge ripoff of taxpayers' money. Better yet, as leader of the dem party he coulda insisted on a real solution and get his own bill passed---who would dare oppose his rescue package in the midsts of an economic crisis? Didn't the bailout bill succeed precisely because we are in an economic crisis AND there was not another competing bill on the floor?????

Me thinks Paulson pulled the wool over Obama's eyes, for how can a bill that does not address the problem solve the problem? If the economy doesn't recover within Obama's first term/stock market calls Paulson a liar by sinking ever deeper, Obama will look like a fool. Word now is that billions more will be needed sometime next year to actually address the problem. Obama will shoulder the blame twice; his Yes vote on failed 2008 bailout and his signing of a SECOND multi billion dollar rescue package early in his first term.

I hope I'm wrong because if I'm right, everybody will suffer.

[zizyphus]

Paulson and Bush dropped a financial IED on the campaigns. They knew the 700 billion dollar bailout would help the banks and leave the little people hungry. If Obama had voted against it, and it had failed and the economy got worse, he and the Dems would be blamed. Election lost. Paulson and Bush know that the economy will continue to head south, and they don't care, as long as they are still comfortable. They wanted the opportunity to steal quickly during the last months of the administration.

After another thousand banks fail, maybe then the idiots that be will listen to the common sense plans that Kucinich and Sherman offered, which actually would address the problems of unemployment and rotting infrastructure.

[ByersL]

John, you worry too much.

[liberalrebuttal]

What ?

What is this stuff ?

Sometimes I wonder if people write these things so that they could get quoted on Morning Joe or something. In any event , Barack Obama is going to be a superb president because he has been a superb candidate. He is up because the American people trust him. The current crisis only solidified and confirmed that.

[Gib]

I think you've nailed it (on the motive issue).

[cobobs]

You remember this 1970s poster? Maybe you were not there but this is what it said about stress:

"Stress: The confusion created when one’s mind overrides the body’s basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it."

That is the feeling I have had several times this campaign when Team Obama did not deliver a viscerally robust response to some outrage. I have had to swallow my 70s poster so many times that I am in desperate need for a purgative. I suspect John, that you might soon be doing the same.

I am actually learning something and rethinking old thought patterns.

[AtlantaBill]

Reactive vs Proactive ?

John - you must have been watching a different campaign than the one i've watched these many months. What i have seen is a campaign that has been 'out front' in a number of areas. That includes a significant set of policy positions, organizational strength, campaign funding, and campaign strategy. In each of these areas, i think the obama campaign has exceeded expectations and has placed the candidate in what appears to be a insurmountable lead in the EV count as of this date. That said, I think a campaign that builds its strategy around a purely proactive approach would be doomed from the outset simply because no one (rovian tactics included) could have predicted the state of the economy at this very moment. To the contrary, it seems to me that a campaign whose strategy includes sufficient structural elements that allow for the pursuit of both proactive as well as reactive objectives is as good as it gets.

Certainly, you would agree that Obama's funding decision was proactive and thus positions the campaign to handle a variety of unanticipated events. It is also true that the fifty-state stragegy adopted by the campaign add a significant structural advantage that appears to be paying unanticipated dividends.

Finally, should he become POTUS, let's hope an Obama administration would not embrace rigid, inflexible policies that are pursued even if circumstances suggest a change in direction. That, my friend is exactly what the bush administration has brought to the nation.

[TP2]

This has to be the dumbest analysis I have yet read regarding Barack Obama. If he has proven anything over the past 18 months he has been running for office it is that he is a brilliant strategist who sets the right goal and then is flexible in employing tactics to achieve them. He has positioned himself just right for this election and has beaten all the odds thus far. He may very well win this election by a landslide. Three national polls put him up by 7-8 points yesterday so please don't be selective in citing polls that only support a narrative you want to write.

[respectingothers]

I have to agree wholeheartedly with TP2!

[BOQ1]

Well said. I would only add that were Obama a white man he would be much further ahead than he is. And this comment is not from an angry black man but from a while middle-aged, middle-class woman.