Clearly, for Obama to win, he must move further to the mushy middle to avoid offending anyone. A major speech castigating progressives and liberals for their un-American beliefs should help; or perhaps a promise to bomb Iran. At minimum, he must replicate Gore's and Kerry's approaches to a tee. Triangulate, Barack, triangulate! And for chrissakes, pander, don't lead!

Posted at July 14, 2008 12:31 PM in response to Another National Poll Finds Prez Race Nearly Tied

Aside from his less impressive receipts of late.

Posted at July 11, 2008 10:53 PM in response to Poll: National Race Tightens; Majority Says Obama Flip-Flopped On Key Issues

It's not a matter of "focusing" on that extreme twenty percent. It's a matter of occasionally acknowledging them and working in their favor.

Otherwise, you lose those voters -- a not insignificant bloc.

Your chosen strategy is exactly the one pursued by Al Gore and John Kerry. As such, it has no credibility. It's a recipe to lose.

Posted at July 11, 2008 10:43 PM in response to Poll: National Race Tightens; Majority Says Obama Flip-Flopped On Key Issues

You're 100 percent correct. Democrats have made their own bed. McCain has flip-flopped twice as much as Obama, but the latter will suffer the consequences more because of Democrats' past behavior.

The Democratic Party has a reputation of having no core values and a chronic case of spinelessness because of their unwillingness to fight for their constituents' priorities.

For internal Dem consultants, winning an election is like threading a needle. For Republicans, it's about donning brass knuckles. I have hope that Democrats will eventually be a party that stands for something, but the Obama campaign has proven over the past month that we're not there yet.

Posted at July 11, 2008 7:21 PM in response to Poll: National Race Tightens; Majority Says Obama Flip-Flopped On Key Issues

Or..., this just shows how Democrats can't repeatedly poke their progressive base in the eye and expect to come out of it unscathed.

Yes, yes, I realize that Volume 10, page 341 of the Democratic Campaign Bible states that any observable affiliation with the left in a national campaign is political suicide. It happened in 1972, therefore this must forever be the accepted political wisdom.

Of course, Ralph Nader would have been a non-entity in 2000 if Gore hadn't "moderated" himself into a walking marshmallow. He couldn't even be bothered to toss an occasional bone to the base.

Yet Democratic operatives never seem to learn. I would've bet the farm that Obama's people were too smart to let this happen again, but here you go. Might this also have anything to do with his faltering donations from small donors?

There's still time for the Obama campaign to correct its course, but first they need to crawl out from that milquetoast bath that's been sinking Democrats for these many, many years.

Posted at July 11, 2008 7:08 PM in response to Poll: National Race Tightens; Majority Says Obama Flip-Flopped On Key Issues

It's too early to tell whether there's been a genuine softening of Obama numbers out West. The primary point of my post is that the conventional wisdom of "nobody caring" about this bill may be overlooking certain political dynamics among the western states.

It doesn't require being "far left" to be concerned about this topic and Obama's response to it. The strong libertarian streak among Westerners is admittedly not what it used to be, but remains a salient force. It's why Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana -- no leftists, they -- voted against the bill.

The fact that progressives were the main opponents to this legislation is, in my mind, more ironic than predictable. Keeping government out of one's private affairs has long been a bipartisan endeavor among Westerners, and a priority among old-school conservatives. The GOP's adoration of this bill might be a case study of why they're faltering out West.

So how will this affect Obama? As I said, keep an eye on those poll numbers over the weeks to come. With luck, my hypothesis will be invalidated.

Posted at July 10, 2008 11:42 AM in response to Will Obama's FISA Cave Hurt Him out West?

There you go again.

Rather than issuing nasty retorts to every constructive criticism (albeit overly sarcastic in my case, I concede) directed at the Obama campaign, how about you and the mean little kitty acknowledge that a diversity of perspectives is a healthy thing? One might even call it democratic.

Otherwise, you risk further charges of sycophancy. Such a characteristic works fairly well with the ultra-heirarchical GOP, but is comparable to plugging a leaky dam with chewing gum among progressives and Democrats.

In short, chill out and realize that Obama and his campaign aren't always going to do everything properly. And calling him out on his errors is far preferable to gratuitous me-tooism.

Posted at July 9, 2008 4:29 PM in response to Poll: McCain Takes Lead In Key Swing State Of Missouri

That's rather presumptuous, don't you think? Even for a sycophant.

Posted at July 9, 2008 3:49 PM in response to Poll: McCain Takes Lead In Key Swing State Of Missouri

I'll be danged. Statistically insignificant movement like that can't be ignored. I retract my pessimism. If the Obama campaign wants to come out and regale us with plans to obliterate Iran, sell off public lands, restrict reproductive rights, and privatize social security, who am I to complain? Everyone knows the American populace continues its relentless march to the far right. Catering to that is only smart politics. It's true, Democrats acting like Republicans have always garnered more votes than Republicans acting like Republicans. Look it up.

Posted at July 9, 2008 3:33 PM in response to Poll: McCain Takes Lead In Key Swing State Of Missouri

Looks like Obama's move to the center (right) is paying great dividends in Missouri. I've noted, too, that his lead has recently dwindled in my home state of Washington.

And here I thought Obama's cutthroat team of Chicagoans might deviate from the Kerry/Gore self-immolation strategies of yesteryear. Good thing for us that Bob Dole, er, John McCain is running on the opposing ticket.

Perhaps as these mediocre poll numbers continue to come in over the next few weeks, the Obama team will recall the recipe that fueled his rise to begin with.

Posted at July 9, 2008 2:46 PM in response to Poll: McCain Takes Lead In Key Swing State Of Missouri