Posted on 10/31/2006 10:16:13 AM PST by SirLinksalot
The Obama Boomlet
John LeBoutillier
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006
In the past ten days, we have been assaulted and/or inundated with a pro-Barack Obama campaign unlike any seen since 1995, when a similar book-related, inside-the-beltway-driven campaign urged us to ‘draft' Colin Powell to run for president.
The Obama campaign tells us much about the Left, from whence it comes, and about the wrenching internal morale problem of the Democratic Party.
Let us explore:
Time's Joe Klein and the New York Times' Bob Herbert and other proud-to-be-liberal writers are leading the Obama effort. Why are they doing this - especially for a young man with just 18 months in the Senate who has previously said he would not run for president in 2008?
The answer is simple: the Left does not want Hillary in 2008.
There is great trepidation over the Clintons, their endless ‘spins' and ‘triangulations,' and over whether she can actually win a national election. Long wary of the GOP attack machine, these Democrats fear what can be done to Hillary in a general election. They fear she will become chopped hamburger - just as John Kerry was ‘Swift Boated.'
Plus, the Left has never been happy about Hillary's pro-war vote on Iraq or her fudging on the gay marriage and ‘choice' issues.
So, unhappy over her seeming inevitability, they have fixated on someone brand new, scandal-free, and apparently acceptable on liberal issues: Barack Obama. In other words, to the Left he is the mirror opposite of Hillary.
Thus, they have used the occasion of the publication of his new book to ‘launch' another campaign: to convince this seemingly nice young fellow to run for president. And so far this ‘seduction' seems to be working; he now admits he may change his mind and run.
OK. Fine. So far, it is all logical. But then comes one other factor: Obama cannot win a general election. Period.
In 2008, an African-American liberal democrat is not going to win a general election for President of the United States. And that is not a commentary on Senator Obama, who seems like a straight-shooter and an honest man; this is strictly political analysis and a reality check.
Why do the Democrats lurch from one un-electable candidate to another? Hillary would be the first woman president were she elected, but then they want to switch to Obama, the first African-American?
Why not look at recent history: in an increasingly Red-State country, the only two Democrats to win were Carter and Clinton, both white, southern, somewhat ‘moderate'-sounding Democratic governors.
All their other candidates - Mondale, Dukakis, Gore and Kerry - were seen as ‘out of the mainstream' on political philosophy, geography or values. They were easy targets for the Republicans.
Hillary and Obama fit right into this target list; they are too Left and too ‘different' from Red State voters.
So, while the Left is correct to shy away from Hillary, they are jumping to the wrong alternative. Instead of Obama, they should be searching for a new candidate who is just bland enough so as not to offend Red State voters.
After eight years of Bush and Iraq, even these pro-GOP voters are disconsolate and ‘down,' but they will be re-energized if the Democrats nominate someone so totally far-out in left field.
For the past forty years - with just two exceptions, the Democrats have had a death wish when it comes to the White House. They can't win it - and the harder they try, the worse they do.
Barack Obama isn't their ticket back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - at least not yet and not for a while.
And neither is Hillary Clinton. Ever.
The MSM's in love... He's the new JFK!!!
And if they ever use his full name, that's another strike against him.
Other than being black and reasonably attractive, what are Obama's qualifications to be President. NONE. Media driven affirmative action.
Obama will not be the Dem nominee for president anymore than Jackson or Wilder was.
Like their's his "campaign" is just a charade to keep black voters happy on the Democrat plantation. This is year they are especially disappointed, the Dems haven't given them them anything for years.
It demonstrates that the Left is REALLY the party OUT OF TOUCH with American voters. Cheeech...
Does ANYONE know if this clown is a muslim?
If so, the current world situation SHOULD absolutely bar him from holding ANY public office in the U.S., his liberal/socialist philosophy aside.
Being from Illinois I would say I'm at Obama ground zero. He might be a decent man, but the white libs who are pumping him are doing him no favors with this second or third coming act.
They never learn, do they?
-media manufactured hype.
Be a REAL American....Dump OSAMA OBAMA!!!
I haven't heard one way or another. So I can't make a properly informed decision or statement.
But his full name is Barrack Hussein Obama.
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