Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Obama: Just Another Politician?

I see Obama is trimming on the matter of offshore drilling. You read it here first. In spite of his European Feel the Love tour, it is clear that, since the primaries, Obama has been turning gradually into just another politician . This is called moving to the centre, but, like everything ever dreamed up by policy wonks and marketing peons, it doesn't work. McCain is moving ahead. I note that Guido and Danny Finkelstein are divided on McCain's tactics; the former thinking that the negative ads are working in the heartland, the latter believing they are self-destructive. The key ad is this one which starts by saying Obama is 'the biggest celebrity in the world'.  This is, indeed, a startling manoeuvre since a cynic might think that the American masses would want to be led by a Paris Hilton or Britney Spears surrogate. But, in fact, they don't. I tend to think, therefore, that Guido has a point; McCain is playing to Obama's weaknesses and it's working. The response should be strength, but Obama's wonks have evidently gone for feeble trimming. Much more of this and he'll lose, which will, in the circumstances, be a remarkable achievement.

9 comments:

  1. The achievement is that they managed to find two with agenda other than winning. And following JFK, for god sake, he was shot dead. It was an FDR they should have been looking.

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  2. Wait, wait, do you mean after he shifted his position on wiretapping, Iraq, the 2nd Amendment etc etc? In Chicago he came over all radical to build his power base, now he's trying to come over all centrist. Just another opportunist, who'll say anything (or more often nothing, see his Berlin speech) in order to get elected. And I do think his absurdly cocky global victory lap 3 months before the election probably did a lot of damage. He's starting to believe his own hype. Soon he'll do a John Lennon, declare himself 'bigger than Jesus' and then spend the entire day in bed with Michelle to end war, stop global warming and save the panda, all at once.

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  3. I thought you enjoyed his dancing on Ellen, Bryan. We tend to despise politicians when they realise idealism doesn't work and they realise they have to please as many of us as they can. Maybe this is because they reflect the thoughts and preferences of the broad mass of us more accurately than we think? They're only doing it to please us, after all.

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  4. I have to say Brian that I couldn't disagree with you more on this. Obama has always based his campaign on a big tent that takes in sane liberals and conservatives, and it isn't just a cynical ploy: it goes to the heart of his political philosophy.

    McCain has major problems. He can continue to blow dog whistles to try ans shore up the base without scaring off too many independents but it is hardly enough to win the election, unless Obama makes an unforced error.

    The fundamentals are with Obama. It is his to lose. Nothing I have seen suggests he is losing it.

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  5. Yes, Bryan, Barack Obama, like all the other candidates in all the previous 55 elections for the Presidency of the United States of America is, as you so sagely note, a politician.

    Some of us did try to point this startling fact out to you earlier. But you were young and in love....

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  6. I enjoyed the Big O's little-reported comments on inflating tires as a way to bring down oil prices. Genius, a bit like bombing Pakistan after pulling out of Iraq. What a deep thinker!

    Saw that McCain is pushing hard for nuclear power, and Cheeky Obama is no doubt positioning himself for a mealy-mouthed possible reversal/'but then again maybe not' stance on this question also as soon as he sees whether it might score him a few points or not. Watch this space.

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  7. Little-reported? Thankfully, Obama took the liberty yesterday to describe those who are using that same mischaracterization of his tire tip as being proud of their ignorance. It saves me from doing so.

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  8. Gawker has a nice eye candy piece on family portraits- including a recent Obama family portrait, which is a carbon copy of an earlier Kennedy one.

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  9. Not only is he just another politician; he is also, media adulation notwithstanding, not a particularly good politician. Also, the first person to compare Barack Obama to Paris Hilton was Barack Obama, back in 2005 in the Washington Post: "... I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse."

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