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Election 2008

Obama and McCain: The Stakes Are Too Huge for 'Civil' Politics

By Frank Rich, The New York Times. Posted August 25, 2008.


R.I.P., 'Change We Can Believe in.' The fierce urgency of the 21st century demands Change Before It's Too Late.
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As the real campaign at last begins in Denver this week, this much is certain: It's time for Barack Obama to dispatch "Change We Can Believe In" to a dignified death.

This isn't because -- OMG! -- Obama's narrow three- to four-percentage-point lead of recent weeks dropped to a statistically indistinguishable one- to three-point margin during his week of vacation. It's because zero hour is here. As the presidential race finally gains the country's full attention, the strategy that vanquished Hillary Clinton must be rebooted to take out John McCain.

"Change We Can Believe In" was brilliantly calculated for a Democratic familial brawl where every candidate was promising nearly identical change from George Bush. It branded Obama as the sole contender with the un-Beltway biography, credibility and political talent to link the promise of change to the nation's onrushing generational turnover in all its cultural (and, yes, racial) manifestations. McCain should be a far easier mark than Clinton if Obama retools his act.

What we have learned this summer is this: McCain's trigger-happy temperament and reactionary policies offer worse than no change. He is an unstable bridge back not just to Bush policies but to an increasingly distant 20th-century America that is still fighting Red China in Vietnam and the Soviet Union in the cold war. As the country tries to navigate the fast-moving changes of the 21st century, McCain would put America on hold.

What Obama also should have learned by now is that the press is not his friend. Of course, he gets more ink and airtime than McCain; he's sexier news. But as George Mason University's Center for Media and Public Affairs documented in its study of six weeks of TV news reports this summer, Obama's coverage was 28 percent positive, 72 percent negative. (For McCain, the split was 43/57.) Even McCain's most blatant confusions, memory lapses and outright lies still barely cause a ripple, whether he's railing against a piece of pork he in fact voted for, as he did at the Saddleback Church pseudodebate last weekend, or falsifying crucial details of his marital history in his memoirs, as The Los Angeles Times uncovered in court records last month.

What should Obama do now? As premature panic floods through certain liberal precincts, there's no shortage of advice: more meat to his economic plan, more passion in his stump delivery, less defensiveness in response to attacks and, as is now happening, sharper darts at a McCain lifestyle so extravagant that we are only beginning to learn where all the beer bullion is buried.

But Obama is never going to be a John Edwards-style populist barnburner. (Edwards wasn't persuasive either, by the way.) Nor will wonkish laundry lists of policy details work any better for him than they did for Al Gore or Hillary Clinton. Obama has those details to spare, in any case, while McCain, who didn't even include an education policy on his Web site during primary season, is still winging it. As David Leonhardt observes in his New York Times Magazine cover article on "Obamanomics" today, Obama's real problem is not a lack of detail but his inability to sell policy with "an effective story."

That story is there to be told, but it has to be a story that is more about America and the future and less about Obama and his past. After all these months, most Americans, for better or worse, know who Obama is. So much so that he seems to have fought off the relentless right-wing onslaught to demonize him as an elitist alien. Asked in last week's New York Times/CBS News poll if each candidate shares their values, registered voters gave Obama and McCain an identical 63 percent. Asked if each candidate "cares about the needs and problems of people like yourself," Obama beat McCain by 37 to 23 percent. Is the candidate "someone you can relate to"? Obama: 55 percent, McCain: 41. Even before McCain told Politico that he relies on the help to count up the houses he owns, he was the candidate seen as the out-of-step elitist.


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View:
it's been proven...
Posted by: Moira61 on Aug 25, 2008 2:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
that John McCain is too much of know-nothing for him NOT to engage in dirty politics. So much for his "running a clean campaign", so much for "straight talk". And I have so little faith in the intellectual abilities and critical thinking skills of the majority of Americans (most of us are too damn lazy and in Twinkie-induced comas to actually research anything)that I'm afraid McCain will be our next president. If that's the case, then we are truly a nation of idiots that deserve every crisis that comes our way. Canada looks better all the time.

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» RE: it's been proven... Posted by: zootlux
A Programmed Election
Posted by: Last Chance on Aug 25, 2008 2:52 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The vast majority of American citizens are so disgusted with the treacherous behavior of George Bush and the Republican Party, Obama should be a shoo-in by a landslide, particularly in view of his eloquent and powerful speeches.

But suddenly, Obama slips his rhetoric to the safe center and the polls begin to reverse as some of his supporters begin to think he may only be just another politician, full of beautiful promises, but committed to serving his big campaign contributors and back-room advisors. So, now the election looks like it may be another cliff-hanger. That would make three in a row from 2000.

How is that possible? The people are ready for real change in Washington! But the question is - how ready is the Washington Establishment for real change? I'm referring to what has come to be called "the permanent government" the massive bureaucracy that runs Washington day by day, month by month, year by year, and the Senators and Representatives, and all the corporate lobbyists who bribe them for business and pleasure. Do they want real change in Washington? Nah! In fact, they want to go the other way completely, and the Republicans are their insurance for business as usual just as if there had been no election at all.

So, how can they do it? Easy, the same way they did in 2000 and 2004 - wherever Republicans control the voting procedures, strip thousands of Democrats from the registration lists and pre-program the electronic voting machines with no paper receipt.

The result will be a very close election with McCain the winner. That way, enough naive Democrats will say "Damn, we almost made it! So, let's work twice as hard to win in 2012!"

So, how many American citizens are going to fall for this scam one more time? I guess that partly depends on how many are out of work, bankrupt and hungry - a growing number from what I hear.

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» RE: A Programmed Election Posted by: seanT
» RE: A Programmed Election Posted by: Last Chance
» RE: A Programmed Election Posted by: monkeywrench
McCain has an edge
Posted by: seanT on Aug 25, 2008 3:19 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I guess the Senator from Arizona has an edge.

"LobbyDelegtes.com is a great tool, I have contacted all my State Delegates for free through email, I have come accross another tool from the same company www.statedemocracy.org its also free and I can contact my lawmakers, apply for an absentee ballot & voter registration and on election day I can locate my polling places. Great tool.... use it"

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Thanks Frank
Posted by: weathered on Aug 25, 2008 3:20 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
for having the discipline and integrity to confront where we're at.

While change is a constant, a part of the continuum, the rate of change today is a f-ckin blur.

Panic is as bad as apathy. I don't envy Barack, I hope he knows a few civil engineers.
- and little Joey Biden missed his calling as the cheating lawyer on 'Days of our Lives'.

McCain needs daycare and the media needs to experience civil and criminal class action suits to re-acquaint itself w/civic duty and their disgraceful breach of trust.

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Obama sold out a long time ago.
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 25, 2008 5:23 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
He would have been winning landslide otherwise and keeping there because then he would have actually had something to run on. Right now, he's running on empty, well so is Mccain, but if asked to choose between a candidate people know will do this or that versus an unknown, Mccain unfortunately is going to get it. Oh, and the Democrats are not even bothering to hold the media accountable for swiftboating Obama.

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Barak Obama's Challenge
Posted by: Peter Mackrael on Aug 25, 2008 6:47 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama has selected Sen. Joseph Biden as his running mate. It looks like Obama chose Biden for his experience and for his foreign policy expertise, perhaps to reassure Democrats and Republicans that he will get sound advice and possibly allowing Obama the time he needs to focus on the US economy and other domestic issues. I don't see how Sen. Biden will attract the support of those liberal Democrats that supported Hillary Clinton - perhaps he is counting on party loyalty (better to have a Democrat you don't support rather than any Republican) to win their support.

In the 2004 presidential race, 121 million votes were cast. Since there were 220 million eligible votors, only 55% voted. About 99 million eligible votors abstained. Bush-Cheney won this election with 62 million votes or 50.7%. Kerry-Edwards received 59 million votes or 48.3%, a difference of only 3 million votes. Over 2 million votes were not counted due to spoiled ballots. Based on exit polls, I think there was a strong likelyhood of election fraud, particularly in Ohio and Florida, that may have redirected over 2 million votes from Kerry to Bush. This race was very close.

Recent polls among decided votors show popular support to be about even for McCain and Obama, so if the 2008 election were held now, it would again be very close.

Studies show that the Democratic Party has alienated most of the working class and large sections of the middle class that were once solid supporters. Some of these people vote Republican out of fear and "patriotism" but tens of millions simply abstain. If Obama hopes to ensure victory, he must find a way to convince at least 5 million of those undecided and alienated votors to come out and vote for Obama-Biden in November. He needs to give them a a very strong reason. Simply promising "change" will not do it. He must convince them that the Democratic Party intends to work for these people and that he will break the grip of powerful interests in Washington.

People know that implementing real change in Washington will be very difficult, but unless Obama can present a platform that clearly differentiates Democrats from Republicans with objectives that inspire working class and middle class votors to get out and vote, I fear he will loose this election.

He needs to unite his party behind a few very specific objectives that his party will support and that can be achieved in his first term. Universal Health Care could be one, but so far Obama has not presented a true "universal plan" paid for through federal taxes. He has a lot to do in three months if he wants to unite Democrats and present himself as the "peoples" president. It will be interesting.

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Perfect timing
Posted by: LMNOP on Aug 25, 2008 7:34 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I believe that this applies to us as well with regard to how we deal with the conservative dirt that visits this site. I was just making this point on another AlterNet page which you can read HERE, and read examples of which HERE and HERE.

What do you think?

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How we dig out of this quagmire is the American story that Obama wont tell.
Posted by: Iconoclast421 on Aug 25, 2008 7:50 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama is controlled by an elitist philosophy that believes in one-world government. One where there are no guarantees of individual liberty. He is a CFR candidate. He will guide this country in the same way that all presidents have guided this country over the past 40 years. America keeps electing these false candidates because they are the only "choice" that is provided by the CFR controlled media. Either figure this out, or continue down the road to bondage and serfdom. This ship will not right itself.

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» We don't. Posted by: LMNOP
What straight talk....
Posted by: Spiritgirl on Aug 25, 2008 7:59 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sen. McCain is so out of touch with himself that he needs to go sit in a corner and eat some pablum! Really, this guy didn't even know that all Muslims are not the same (much like Christianity)! This is the same guy that was linked to the Keating 5 S&L scandal of the late 1980-1990's, though he was only criticized for having "poor judgment", it would appear that in the years since his "judgment" hasn't gotten any better!

This guy can barely remember where he sleeps at night - so why should he hold the highest office in this country.

Yes, Obama does need to take the gloves off and lay out the truth to the American people. On the other hand, he was trying to stay above the dirty politics that the current administration has perfected. However, I think if he lays bare the way that we as a country need to go and how we need to go about it, it just might encourage people to overcome their personal prejudices about him being an African-American.

My question to all white people that are afraid of voting for Obama is this, after years of voting for and putting white men in office that have done nothing for the average American - no lower taxes unless you make millions already, jobs hemorrhaging overseas, stagnant wages, healthcare crises, mortgage meltdowns, wars of choice - what exactly do you believe that this African-American man will do that is worse than what we already have!

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Get ready to lower your expectations!
Posted by: AJR Journal on Aug 25, 2008 8:06 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama? Agent of change?
Don't make me laugh.
He is where he is only because he has been cleared to not rock-the-boat. He is a go-along-to-get-along candidate and a product of the Chicago Machine.
Be skeptical, be very skeptical!

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Thanks, but no thanks
Posted by: thebeerdoctor on Aug 25, 2008 8:06 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Barack Obama story is a remarkable one, as David Maraniss has pointed out, the geographical significance of Hawaii is very important to his development, where mixed blood marriages are not uncommon.
The right wing republican attack machine have tried to portray Mr. Obama as an elitist. This is preposterous on the face of it, since Obama grew up middle class, and for periods of time, lower middle class. His crime according to the phobic zealots, is that he achieved his place in the world through his own efforts, not by "the divine right of birth" as Warren Buffet pointed out about the rich, such as George Bush, who simply inherit their start in life.
The race card attempted to be pulled, is an ugly throw back to the 20th century. Perhaps we will see if enough people in this country, no longer buy into that nonsense.
I wish I could support Senator Obama. But his comments at the AIPAC conference was the deal breaker. I simply can not vote for a candidate that states that military aid to Israel is "sacrosanct".
It is also true that voting for Senator McCain would be insane.

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The AIPAC obsession
Posted by: jebpgh on Aug 25, 2008 8:57 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have read a lot of comments in the last few weeks about Obama and his speech before AIPAC. As one who feels a lot of pain about the whole mess in Palestine, I can sympathize. But what we want and what is possible are different. Politics is the art of the possible. Israel is, like it or not, an established fact in the Middle East. And the US has a long and sordid history of using Israel to project force in the Middle East. And Israel has a long and sordid history of using the US to provide cover for their oppression of the Palestinian people. All true. The challenge for the next president is to find some way to move beyond this relationship to something different. I think Obama has a better chance of doing that then any president since Carter. He is charismatic and - truth be known - our first president with familial ties to Islam. I know it's politically incorrect to point that out - but for getting parties together in Palestine it will probably be essential. He needs to complete the end of the engagement of US military in Iraq, needs to re-engage the UN and needs to draw out the people within Israel who have come to realize that all of their policies to create security have largely not achieved a permanent peace.

The US relationship with Israel is the third rail of international politics for any US candidate - all the more so for one who has family members who are practicing Muslims. I would give him the benefit of the doubt.

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» As a Muslim Posted by: beautifulady2003
Politics are never 'civil'!!!
Posted by: jeffrey7 on Aug 25, 2008 9:54 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The kind of change we need won't come from any Party,it will come from US. We never needed these guys to guide us we just need the will to not wait for them to do nothing and sell us on the 'fact' they're doing something.
We need clean air,pure water and safe growing soils,We need jobs that pay a'living wage' not just a minimum starvation wage, We need cars and trucks and buses that are ultra high mileage,cleaner operateing, proud to own machines. We need to take healthcare away from insurance companies. We need affordable housing. We can do all this without Obama or McCain. Why? Because we're Americans dammit!!!!
We have no need for 'business as usual' morons,neocons or right wing christians.
We just need to not wait for anyone else to do what we can. History proves when we wait for the blessings of the Congress we'd have been better off with a prostate exam. We can do more for ourselves than any congress,president or international corporation could. The first step is to stop thinking we're powerless,we are the powerful and we become weak when we give our power over to some 'representitive'. Screw the system,they've been doing it to us for hundreds of years.

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McCain helped cause the disaster in Georgia
Posted by: Garvagh on Aug 25, 2008 4:47 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Great piece. Obama and Biden should hit McCain hard on his foolish encouragement of the build-up of the Georgian army when he knew Georgia intended to use force to try to suppress the separatist movements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. McCain's claim to have competence in the national security area is not true. In fact, the guy is a menace.

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Link to Biden's previous comments about Obama...
Posted by: Romans1 on Aug 25, 2008 7:29 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV14xqelWxY

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