Tom Hayden Predicts Obama Will Lose
DENVER -- Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Denver Press Club at the Denver Athletic Club today, former California state legislator and '60s political activist Tom Hayden predicted that Barack Obama will lose the 2008 Election. "An African-American candidate talking about economics and a white war hero -- it's clear to me who is going to win," Hayden said. When one of the attendees at the small luncheon, attended mostly by Denverites, asked him to be more specific about why he thinks Obama will lose the race, Hayden replied, "You don't think McCain's gonna have a convention about his being an American." Hayden seemed to be referring to the fact that Barack Obama continues to introduce himself to the American electorate. Hayden elaborated. "I've known kookie Cokie, kookie Cokie Roberts for years, but when Obama vacationed in Hawaii, she said, "He shoulda gone to Myrtle Beach." Hayden turned out his hands, as if to say what're you gonna do?
Hayden went further. "[Obama's] problem is that he's lived in the world of beating the Democratic establishment for so long, it's hard to transition to being the Democratic establishment." Hayden is part of the group Progressives for Obama, but he has his issues with the candidate. "There's the pursuit of the last white man standing in Pennsylvania," he said, rather than a fierce pursuit of the Latino vote, which is what Hayden would like to see.
Given Hayden's history of confrontation with the police, famously at the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968, perhaps it's not surprising that Hayden has a generally dark view. Much of his talk, which was advertised as an introduction to his new book A Tom Hayden Reader, centered on the police presence at the convention in Denver. Since the 1999 Seattle protests against the WTO, Hayden said that there has been "a continuous police build-up that concerns me since then." The brother of an old friend who lives on Denver's 16th Street Mall told Hayden that "he had never seen anything like it before"--that the police presence there is overwhelming, intimidating and edgy.
Apparently, the police have said that they have hundreds of weapons stored next to the mall, and that they bring them out every night and return them to their secret cache in the morning. Or anyway that's what the brother has confided to Tom Hayden. "All these horses on the mall -- it's like St. Petersburg 1905," Hayden said. The Denver Police Department has received $50 million from the Department of Homeland Security, according to Hayden. What concerns him is not only the massive police presence at the convention (the cop who spilled the beans about the weapons cache is convinced that something is going to happen here) but also the newly purchased technology, which will be used "in the barrio" long after the Democrats are gone. When Hayden says that the police create "an imaginary argument with your mind and with your nervous system," he almost seems to have made the point.
There's no need for so many police in Denver, Hayden says. "With Obama having opposed the war, there's no real reason for demonstrations." Hayden also feels that the "radicals of the 60s don't get credit for what has happened for good in the Democratic Party." He thinks there's too much harkening back to 1968. "All this talk about '68 because we have a fascination with round numbers," he quips. "Our country is full of the wreckage of the 60s."
Hayden observes that "there is a new social movement on a vast scale" centered right now in the Obama Campaign. "These young people will plant seeds for the next twenty-five years." But they are "small-d" Democrats, Hayden says, and they are environmentalists and idealists. "They don't want a war in :Pakistan!" And "if Obama loses, which I think he might," Hayden says, nevertheless the Democratic Party will have grown bigger. As for Obama, "he is losing. He is gonna lose the electoral college."
Hayden does offer a taste of Obama hope. "He gets one more chance to reboot, re-orient, redeploy." He offers the example of the Obama ad campaign on the McCain houses as a primer on how rebooting works these days. According to Hayden, some young investigators financed by Brave New Films in Los Angeles went to Arizona and filmed all the McCain homes and put the video on Youtube. Although the video went viral, nothing happened politically until a reporter from Politico saw it and then had a chance to ask John McCain himself the now-famous number question. Only then, Hayden reminded us, did the Obama team jump on. "Outsiders triggering situations -- that's the only way to win."
For more Huffington Post coverage from the Democratic National Convention, visit our Politics @ the DNC page, our Democratic Convention Big News Page, and our HuffPost bloggers' Twitter feed, live from Denver.
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At the end, Mr. Hayden is pointing out what a lot of us have been saying - only by fighting back hard and taking the offensive to point out all the holes in McC's armor will we have a chance.
It seems like they're starting to come around, but more needs to be done.
Maybe Tom Hayden should have toned down the Hillary hate:
http://www
He's right that we have a new generation of people under 30 who are kick-ass. Otherwise, he's full of it, and he always has been.
Well those under 30s had better get out and vote then. That crowd of people aren't always that reliable. So get out and kick ass...
People like you wouldn't have a clue if not for people like Tom Hayden.
To say "he's full of it, and he always has been" is really announcing your ignorance.
The only silver lining I can see if Obama does loose is that it will sow the seeds much quicker for the complete revolution that is needed in this country.
AMEN!
Are you an Ayers follower too.
I know Obama is going to lose because nothing good can ever happen to this country anymore. I guess we reap what we sow--karma on a grand scale.
tom haydon predicts obama will lose, i predict he will win , haydon is a defeatist, the repubs have fought dirty election after election ,that dosnt mean obama should, if america only appreciates street fighters who are only interested in their own well being and will do anything to acheive their own ends, it dosnt say much about the american dream, i believe in the american dream dont let the repubs make life a nightmare.
If that is what you believe about your country and therefore your life, WHY ARE YOU STILL BREATHING? you've basically said that there is no hope for the future.
Fine, Tom. Thanks for your priceless pearls of wisdom. Let's just all lie down and die.....
Thing is you're wrong. Sorry. Might have been true in '68 when you were relevant.
It seems that one does not have to look far to find apathetic commentary coming from a self-defeatist. What is really intriguing is a pessimist who dons the label of hypocrite and does not even realize he is one. Mr. Hayden should resign from “Progressive for Obama” and cease wasting his time and ours with his insincere, insecure and mordant remarks. The progressives can best be served by someone who actually believes in what they are supporting.
I am sure that he wishes it were so. I am so tired of people who say that this is a racist country that will not vote for a black man in a way that makes me think that they need that to be true in order to continue to believe that they are better than everyone else. People change. The 60's are over. Get over it, get to work to change things, or get the H E L L out of the way.
Tom who?
Tom, it's a new day! No one could have ever predicted that we would have a black man running for President. Tom, you need to stop looking in the rearview mirror. God bless America! God bless Barack Obama!
Agreed, that part is absolutely amazing. I never thought this day would come in my life.
Tom Hayden would have told Martin Luther King to go home. What a sad man -- and legacy -- to be so hopeless.
As an AA who was born during SEGREGATION, I have confidence in the American people until they let me down -- and hope we spread good Karma for Barack -- not bad. The Clintons, McCain/Lieberman are sending enough of that.
Hopefully, Tom isn't spreading his Karma to our young -- who are only now getting energized and grabbing their future with both hands. Senator Obama has inspired them in ways Tom and others of his ilk, have not. Don't diminish their light, Tom -- because yours is.
Though I do agree with Mr. Hayden he did not specifically mention - or at least in the quoted section - how exactly Obama would lose.
Still a big question mark from title to meat.
jmpurser
Personally, I'm torn. I'm a liberal and/or progressive, depending on how you define those terms. I haven't had a presidential candidate to vote FOR in my life. Neither party is particularly interested in representing me or my kind.
What about Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern?
Both turned against by the Dem establishment and sabotaged, then vilified as ruining the party when in reality the party was already ruined and they dared to try and fix it.
If Obama loses, America deserves the misery that'll surely come next. The years of getting by despite bad choices are over.
After reading this article, I know for a fact that I will be having many
nightmares! There is no possible way we can take 4 more years of this crap!
Don't allow Tom's clear depression to spread to you -- and our hardworking youngsters for Barack -- to infect you. It is an unfortunate post -- and an unfortunate attendee at the Convention.
Personally, I'm torn. I'm a liberal and/or progressive, depending on how you define those terms. I haven't had a presidential candidate to vote FOR in my life. Neither party is particularly interested in representing me or my kind.
I think the country is in a lot of trouble right now and it's getting worse by the day. I also think that neither party has any plan to attempt to fix the problems. It will hurt too much and the American public has made it quite clear that it wants to vote for ice cream and cookies forever no matter how many rotten teeth we wind up with.
I can hold my nose and vote for Obama. My only reason for hoping he wins is that McCain and the GOP will do much more damage than Obama would. On the other hand, Obama, like Clinton before him, will put a friendly face on the damage he does. People will think of it as the "good times" looking back instead of realizing how much was lost. If Obama loses we might wind up in so much pain so quickly we actually consider addressing the problems we face and fixing them. Maybe. That, or we just keel over dead.
I agree. Am a reluctant Obama supporter--am for him mostly because of the "re-branding" effect he would have on the US abroad. And he seems like a nice, smart guy, which makes a swell change from the last 8 years. But as for policies--
In the middle of Biden's fantastic speech last night, my husband suddenly got a dark look and said very quietly, in reference to Obama: "He's going to lose." I almost got a chill. My husband has in common with Hayden the fact they're both politically sophisticated Old Lefties and Irish. In other words, pessimism runs deep in their veins. I hope they are wrong.
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