Letters to the Editor

• NOT ABOUT SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITIES

  [Read the article: Whose fault is the Clinton-Obama stalemate?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Haven't figured out by now that the Obama initial strategy was to create the effect of momentum with a win in Iowa, get the small state caucuses flooded with newly bought and paid for faces, and naturally grab the Southern states' predominantly African-American Democrats, show a math model that looked victorious enough by March, and declare the process over before anyone figured out it really wasn't?

  The Obama campaign has been working what I call the "Field of Dreams" strategy, "If we build it, they will come." If they created large rallies, great speeches, new faces, and hi-jacked the nomination early enough, then the Party regulars would have no choice but to accept him. Well, they didn't "come" in Ohio, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersy, California, and now Pennsylvania, to name a few. And if they hadn't gotten stupid in Michigan and Florida by ignoring the DNC, the Party regulars wouldn't have "come" there either.

  The Obama campaign bragged in the early months about how many new voters he was "attracting" - younger voters, new voters, etc. The experts should've been suspicious of an Obama campaign using so much time and money to register new voters. Massive and extensive voter registration is usually an activity reserved for other organizations. Now we know that it was the only way Obama could get around the fact that he didn't have the support of the Party's regular voters.

  The Obama campaign also created an "us vs them" mentality. Too bad the "them" wasn't the Republicans. It was his own Party. There was a kind of hate-mongering attitude born out early in the blogs of young Obama-supporting males calling Hillary everything but a white woman and trashing who they thought were Establishment Democrats supporting her. Nevermind that those so-called Establishment Democrats were paying the college/living expenses of most these young snots. Obama all but declared war on his own Party. "You're likable enough, Hillary."

  Clinton's major mistakes remained rooted in her campaign's inability to understand they had to run a Primary campaign before they ran a General Election. They got caught standing flat-footed in Iowa when Obama flooded in more new faces to offset the regular faces.

  The Clinton campaign had to figure out first what kind of battle they were fighting. Probably insecure about her negatives, they of course started "fixing" her first, wasting time and money. She got no better media coverage by doing so. The problem was their inability to understand what battle they were fighting against Obama.

  Clinton's campaign was also shocked and set back on its heels when statements made by both Clintons in February were thrown back in their faces as Obama's campaign played the race card: Her statement that it took both MLK and LBJ to get Civil Rights legislation passed. And there was Bill Clinton's continued General Election mentality when he said that Jesse Jackson won South Carolina so they expected Obama to win it too. The Obama campaign was ready, willing, and capable of further dividing the Party by suggesting people in their own Party are racists.

  Then there's The Bitterness remark. Obama all but answered the nagging question as to why he can't get the votes of white, working-class, small town Democrats. He blamed THEM for their not supporting HIM. Spoken like the elitist he really is, Obama all but diagnosed them with a "condition," that keeps them clinging to guns and Jesus. Obama, of course, got his "religion" at Harvard, not in Jeremiah Wright's church. Regardless of his background and upbringing, I predict it will take both him and his wife another 10 years, or about age 50, to recover their "conditions."

  The Obama campaign also knew the minute it became about race, their days were numbered. And where was Obama on Easter Sunday? He was not in his church - the one with the Pastor he "could no more distance (himself) from than (his) Grandmother." He ducked out of the country to the Virgin Islands.

  The reason for this stalemate is clear: The Obama campaign had a strategy that would run the risk of being exposed the longer the campaign went on. I predict he won't recover. Clinton had a strategy that didn't work out early on but is recovering from her early gaffes. Clinton came full circle, weathered the cheap shots, and has demonstrated that she understands that it's about what the voters want and need. Obama just wants to lecture everyone on what's wrong with the process, his Party, and Hillary Clinton.

  It was smart of Clinton to remind Pennsylvania voters of her Scranton roots, the fact that her family owned guns and she learned to shoot one, and to drink a shot with the crowd. Obama making fun of her once again showed he was a snob who "didn't get it."

  Sure, voters are tired of the gridlock and the divisive politics. But I would bet they are more tired of the gas prices, food prices, losing jobs, and yes, getting a small, but meaningful, break on the federal gas taxes (Holiday gas tax).

  Is Obama inspiring? Not necessarily once you see the strategy behind the words. I think Americans will be more inspired by having a better standard of living and real economic opportunities again than in Obama hiring Republicans to work in his White House.

  The reason for such high percentages of voters who will not support Obama is not because they are racists, but because they don't see themselves having a damn thing in common with the guy - and don't want to have anything in common with a guy who has spent 6 months ignoring them, bashing them, and accusing them of having "conditions."

  Those superdelegates who have not yet declared their preference need to take a hard look at who can best represent the Democratic Party this November and who is more likely to develop the rapport needed to win those small town, suburban, and rural independent voters. Sorry, but it's not Obama.

  Permalink Friday, April 25, 2008 01:36 PM