Letters to the Editor
MaddieP
Published Letters: 708 Editor's Choice: 9
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Voice of Reason
[Read the article: Obama Strikes Back]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Calm down. We don;t have an official nominee yet. Obama responded to Bush's (and McCain's) statements as did Hillary and every other democrat of note. Obama got the most press because be is the democrat most people believe will be the nominee and because he was the one who said he's talk with world leaders - including enemies. (Hillary did too but said she's send an envoy first).
If you really believe the dems won't be the ones forcing the repubs to be defensive consider this:
We will bring up the economy - who could we not? We'll force McCain to outline EXACTLY WTF he means when he says 'deserving homeowner' and talks about tax relief and bailout for BUILDERS. Yes he said this.
We will bring up health care. We'll take him to teh mat about WTF he means by a 5000 tax break for families to CHOOSE their health plan. We'll challenge him to EXPLAIN how that helps whne 47 million don't even have it at all and a large percentage of those who do are under insured and the FACT that the health insurance costs for the average family is 12,000 PER YEAR. We'll demand an answer to that.
We'll expose his equivocation on Hamas, an organization Obama NEVER said he'd talk to ,but who McCain DID. We'll ask theme the simple questions: How's NOT talking working for you anyway?
We'll expose his FLIP FLOPPING on so-called issues he "cares SO MUCH ABOUT" like GLOBAL WARMING (of which many repubs don't even believe the science!) and POVERTY and EDUCATION (more private schools for the wealthy - yes he's said as much as well)
Combine this withe a tremendous financial resources advantage, a superior ground organization base already establish during our primary, voter enthusiasm and overall weariness of Americans to fall for the same old BS (remember the gas tax holiday exposure?), access to the internet and you have a situation where the republicans can VERY EASILY be placed on a never ending defensive.
Count on it. It's coming. Nothing's going to slide this time out and people aren't going to be sidetracked by bullshit as easily this year.
Pull up a chair.
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Exposing stupidity is always good....
[Read the article: High standards at the Washington Post Op-Ed page]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Two thoughts:
1)Exposing stupidity is always good. During the civil rights movement it was the televised images of the violence toward peaceful demonstrators that ignited the sensibilities, passions and anger of the decent white populace and moved them to the cause. IMO the fact that the Washington Post prints this is not a negative in and of itself. It won't convince anyone who isn't already a racist to become one, but it may shock some otherwise decent people who really cannot believe that there are still people who think this way. These are white folks who aren't racists but who may be on the fence about voting for Obama because they are a bit "uncomfortable" with how "unfamiliar" he is to them. These are the decent folks who can be moved to do the right thing when they see the ugliness of true racism first hand.
2)The one good thing about Senator Obama, and what we've learned from his primary season, is that he takes nothing for granted. Despite Hillary being the one who branded herself as a fighter (and she is) he is the one who took not one state for granted and fought as hard as he could in each of them. I think his strategy for populations of whites who are 'unfamiliar' involves a heavy ground game with people IN those communities actually recommending and discussing issues with these potential voters. We all know that in marketing, word-of-mouth or the recommendation of friends is more effective than advertising. These Obama supporters (20 something percent, even in a place like WV) will be heavily relied on to engage in on-going discussions about the candidate, provide educational information about the issues and where the candidates stand on them specifically. It won't be simply a "can we get your vote" phone call. (I'm not being trite here. Many rural Americans get their news only from christian and/or right wing radio and right wing talk radio and a few TV stations. They do not have the internet and do not watch cable. So educating them will be very important to counter-balance the impact of McCain's TV commercials and messages they hear every single day). Everyone jokes about how 'stupid' these people are and how they'll fall for anything. I don't mean to be an ass but if that's true...the work to persuade them to our side should be relatively easy. (Incidentally I DON'T think they are stupid I think they lack access to the volumes of information we have in other places in the country). I DO think tha if they have good information, presented in a way that allows them to think critically, they (some) can be swayed. In certain ares of the country it will be much tougher (WV) in others, maybe a little easier (PA).