Posted on 03/28/2007 1:10:29 PM PDT by no dems
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, 46 days old on Tuesday, has run into some speed bumps, created because of a series of missteps magnified because he is under microscopic scrutiny.
It's too early to say whether the gaffes slow Obama's momentum -- or if they become barricades, extracting a more significant price for the Illinois Democrat's White House bid. They are getting noticed.
Consider the items that have been accumulating since Obama announced on Feb. 10:
• Marking the anniversary of the March 1965 "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Ala., Obama, speaking at a church, said his parents got together "because of what happened in Selma." Obama was born in 1961.
• Obama told Larry King on CNN -- asked about that anti-Hillary Rodham Clinton YouTube ad, a doctored version of a spot created for Apple computers -- "We don't have the technical capacity to create something like that."
Obama did not know what he was talking about. Any professional media consultant can manipulate images on video. Turns out the creator -- unmasked last week as a political operative who worked for a firm overseeing the technical side of Obama's Web site -- made it at home on a Mac.
• Obama, asked if homosexuality was immoral, in the wake of comments by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Peter Pace, sidestepped the question. After pressure from gay groups, Obama issued a statement stating he did not agree with Pace "that homosexuality is immoral."
Cynicism is like terrorism? • One of Obama's stump lines is that the biggest obstacle he fights is not any of his rivals, it is cynicism. He used a variation of it during a reception he hosted at a conference here sponsored by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Displaying a tin ear, Obama said that one of the enemies is not "just terrorists" or "just Hezbollah" or "just Hamas" -- "it's also cynicism." • The Tribune dug this up: Obama, in his memoir, Dreams of My Father, writes of a story in Life magazine that influenced him -- about a black man trying to bleach his skin white. No such article could be found in Life or Ebony.
Insider or outsider? • Another Obama stump line -- he said it again Tuesday morning to the Communications Workers of America here -- is that "I've been long enough in Washington to know that Washington needs to change." He is running against Washington yet his campaign is populated with political professionals who are Washington insiders. • Obama's embrace of some rhetoric used by rival John Edwards is getting attention. Edwards, in a 2003 speech made for his first presidential run said, "I've spent enough time in Washington to know how much we need to change Washington."
Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, said in reaction to the Obama stumbles: "If there are people looking for a candidate running to be the darling of the Washington insider crowd, this campaign is not for them. We are encouraged by the growing, unflinching support of Americans who believe we can transform our country by changing our politics."
I totally reject the premise of this article. (Sarc.)
Obama believes we can "transform our country by changing politics"?
This is precisely what scares me about liberals. They think Utopian thoughts about the potential benefits of politics. Barf.
Democrats don't have Gaffes. They are:
Misunderstood
Taken out of context
Misquoted
Lied about
Too intellectual for common citizens
Conspired against
Tricked
Deceived
Have facts twisted about them
Have their privacy invaded
Are victims of Rightwing Radical Nuts
They don't make mistakes. Just ask Chris Mathews, or any other MSM regurgitator.
Any one of these "minor gaffes" from a Republican (Classic or Lite/RINO) would've set off a firestorm in the media that'd last for weeks and entail an apology to whichever group or person that was affected.
You forgot "Swift-boated".
I smell Hillary
I just hope Osama doesn't make so many gaffes that he "gaffes" himself out of the running...
at least, not before he and Her Heinous have had adequate time to beat each other to a bloody pulp in front of the electorate. Hopefully it'll be a tag-team Ultimate Political Fight To The Death between those two and Breck Girl, and when they're done with each other no one in America would vote any of them into the dog-catcher slot, let alone President.
I can dream, can't I?
B. Hussein Obama doesn't have gaffes, he's articluate and clean and fresh.
It's storybook man.
Gaffes?
No, he's a dissembler and a liar, BOTH of which traits are not only ACCEPTED in a liberal Democrat but EXPECTED.
And the only thing piling up around this clown smells like he's been spending too much time at the rodeo.
This is coming from the Hitlery Clinton camp....
bump
Obama is doing much the same that Hillary has done -- rewriting history to suit him.
Hillary has a history of doing the same -- being named after Sir Edmund, being phoned by Chelsae at the base of the Twin Towers as they fell, etc.
And hubby Bill had a similar problem telling the truth -- his recalling Black churches being burned during his youth, his riding in the back of the school bus with the Black kids, etc.
Then we have John Kerry and his Christmas 1968 in Cambodia on a secret mission for President Nixon -- or the CIA.
Obama is more like Kerry in that Obama doesn't have much to run on, so he has to make up things. Kerry spent nearly 20 years in the Senate and had to 'borrow' accomplishments of Senator Bob Kerrey to embellish his resume.
I thought only Republicans made gaffes.
bttt
If Obama is qualified, Tony Robbins ought to run for president too.
He's a zero. Period.
If he were white nobody would be talking about him.
Democrats don't have Gaffes. They are: You missed one,
SWIFT BOATED
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.