Re: Obama’s Aura of Unreliability
Earlier today, I wrote the following at The Huffington Post :
If you look around the liberal blogs today, there’s a lot of frustration with the Senate bill to grant immunity to telecoms who have helped the Bush administration illegally spy on Americans. High profile bloggers like Glenn Greenwald, Markos Moulitsas, Atrios, Jane Hamsher, and Big Tent Democrat at MyDD have been urging their readers to put pressure on the Senate to block the bill by contacting…Chris Dodd.If anyone from the Obama campign is paying attention, this should serve as a wake-up call. A representative cross section of the liberal blogosphere no longer thinks Barack Obama is willing to stand up to the Bush Administration. These bloggers have already been disappointed enough over the last few months they didn’t even bother asking Obama to oppose the bill this time around, instead throwing their support behind a candidate who’s trailing Dennis Kucinich and Undecided in the polls.
. . .
The Obama campaign has been playing it safe for months now, so it should be no surprise that the base no longer expects him to, in the words of his campaign, “challenge the status quo and get results”. It’s not too late for Obama to turn things around. I still think Obama would make a fantastic president, but if he wants his grassroots-fueled campaign to regain some momentum, he needs to start by recognizing that people no longer see him as the go-to guy to buck the Washington establishment and be a champion for change.
The post got picked up by DailyKos and turned into a heated discussion about the Obama campaign. One of the unfortunate things I’ve noticed when writing for sites that get as many viewers and comments as DKos or HuffPo, people tend to respond to what they think they read rather than what I actually wrote.
I like Barack Obama quite a bit, but I’m not happy with the way his campaign has been going. He’s been attracting crowds of thousands and is dwarfing his competitors in the number of people contributing to his campaign, but his often brilliant and inspiring campaign rhetoric hasn’t been matched by action. It’s as if he’s so focused on 2008, he’s forgetting that there are a lot of things he can do right now in his role as a Senator to stop the war, protect the constitution, etc.
I’m no blog triumphalist. If anything, I think it would be embarrassing for a nominee to heed every call to action that the liberal blogosphere endorses. That said, what made today unique was that liberal bloggers didn’t even try to appeal to Barack Obama. The unspoken assumption that Obama wouldn’t stand up to the Bush administration on telecom immunity (or war with Iran or any other issue) is a serious problem for any candidate that wants to set themselves apart from the Washington status quo. I don’t necessarily think Obama needs the support of high-profile bloggers to win, but I do think that what we’ve seen today is an indicator of the much larger problems facing the Obama campaign that have been playing themselves out in his diminishing poll numbers.
I personally think some of the positions that Obama has staked out for himself are nuggets of political genius, so here’s hoping that he can turn around the impression that many in the netroots (and perhaps the Democratic base in general) have of him as a candidate who isn’t willing to take a stand on any controversial issues. Finally getting around to putting together a rapid response team is a good start, but here’s hoping that Obama’s campaign puts as much emphasis on being proactive as reactive.
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I suspect the problem is that Obama’s bipartisanship message sounds like he’s running for Senate Majority Leader. If he can’t pour it on over the next ten weeks, I’ll conclude he wants to be president. In 2016.
Comment by Kevin Hayden — October 19, 2007 @ 5:09 am
The real Obama has made himself known. The careful way he speaks. His so-called bipartisan stances designed to bring along Republicans and Democrats. I’ve never felt this kind of leadership was useful in this day and age where Republicans have shifted the political center so far right. We need an honest progressive who respects this nation’s Constitution clearly and loudly.
It’s why I wished Feingold could have been our nominee. It’s why, right now, I favor Edwards with Dodd a close second.
Comment by Patrick Briggs — October 19, 2007 @ 8:15 am
I’m still UTTERLY undecided. I could even vote for that pandering Hilary if I had to. I am profoundly bothered by a couple of things though…
Gore found this out, Kerry found this out. It is very difficult to run a winning campaign when the other side is willing to LIE TO PEOPLE’S FACES. I’m not talking about poll selection, or carefully worded nuance–I’m talking about bald lies. Bush & Co. just plain lied about Social Security. They just lied. The words they said were demonstrably false. Didn’t matter. They again, lied, about WMD, swiftboats on the Mekong, Iraq war costs. Folks that knew more than they did said they were mistaken–but it didn’t matter. Lie lie lie.
There’s not much rational discourse left. It’s all backbiting, hate-laced, and puerile. Petulant children with limosines have taken over the capital; and we are all the worse for it.
Comment by Jeb — October 19, 2007 @ 9:18 am
I don’t think Hillary will allow herself to be swiftboated.
Comment by Becky — October 19, 2007 @ 10:18 am
Greg, can I ask what the “nuggets of political genius” make you like Obama? My impression of Obama coincides with that of Patrick Briggs, but I don’t actually know a ton about Obama.
Comment by Autumn Harvest — October 19, 2007 @ 10:22 am
“I don’t think Hillary will allow herself to be swiftboated.”
And how would she do that? Does she have agents in the RNC?
Comment by me — October 20, 2007 @ 5:55 am
Obama is fake and so is Hillary. So are the rest of the candidates except for MAYBE Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. The rest of them are playing for the same team as the Repubs. The establishment. They don’t want real change. Nobody that ever does gets any media attention whatsoever, instead they get marginalized. America, the political system is rigged, phony, and designed to make you believe you actually have a choice. You don’t.
Ever seen that episode of The Simpsons a few years ago when they had aliens impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, and kept the real Clinton and Dole imprisoned? Then at the debate, of course long after each has gotten his party’s nomination, Homer unmasks them and they say “Well it doesn’t matter anyway; you have to vote for one of us”. And a guy in the audience says “That’s not true, we could vote for a third-party candidate”. Laughing, one of the aliens says “Go ahead, throw your vote away”. And sure enough, one of the two wins. 6 months later everyone is wearing rags and doing hard labor, being whipped by aliens and Marge says “I don’t see why we have to build a giant laser cannon aimed at a planet I never heard of” and Homer answers “Don’t blame me! I voted for Krang!”. Bwaaahahaahahahhahahaa. See what point they are trying to make? Your political system is rigged. Nobody who gets the blessing of the supine corporate media and either political party’s nomination is anyone who will change anything for the better. Just ask Nancy “impeachment is off the table” Pelosi or Hillary/Barack “won’t say if the troops will be out by 2013 Clinton/Obama. They’re fake.
Comment by Realist — October 21, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
“…Does she have agents in the RNC?”
Remember what Larry Flynt did, during the impeachment proceedings, on behalf of her husband?
Comment by Doobie — October 21, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
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