Posted on 02/03/2008 5:13:20 AM PST by Kaslin
ST. LOUIS - Barack Obama speaks in a clear style that almost always leaves his audience with a sense that he stands for something – which explains those comparisons with the last “Great Communicator,” Ronald Reagan.
Some of the comparisons have been used in opposition research against Obama, though largely in vain. Nothing detrimental stuck because Reagan successfully bridged the divide between Republicans and Democrats by building a remarkable coalition known as Reagan Democrats.
If one great communicator -- the eloquent Ronald Reagan -- could build a coalition of disaffected Democrats that swung both of his presidential elections his way, can an almost-great communicator -- the fiery Barack Obama -- build a coalition of disaffected Republicans to swing the Democrat primary election his way?
It's possible, says Brian F. Schaffner, an assistant professor of political science at American University in Washington, D.C. "Obama definitely has the potential to win over some Republicans in the same way that Reagan won over some Democrats,” says Brian F. Schaffner, an assistant professor of political science at American University in Washington, D.C.
Even though Obama probably takes more liberal positions on many issues than does Hillary Clinton, Schaffner says the perception among Republicans is that he is more moderate.
“This is a matter of style over substance,” Schaffner notes. “Obama speaks so often of bringing the parties together and working with Republicans, he seems less polarizing to Republicans than Clinton, who has long been demonized by that party.”
The Pew Research Center corroborates Schaffner's inkling. It recently produced a report showing that Obama is perceived as more liberal than Clinton among Democrats, yet is seen as more moderate than Clinton among Republicans.
One Republican who isn't afraid of Obama's liberalism is John Martin, who directs the grassroots Web organization “Republicans for Obama.”
A Bronx, N.Y., native who was very active in the Young Republicans in college, Martin, 29, is in law school but serving on active duty in Afghanistan as a U.S. Navy reservist. E-mailing from Afghanistan, Martin said his group has more than 400 members since he last checked and that the Web site’s server received so many clicks the day Obama won Iowa that it crashed.
Lisa Kinzer, 30, is another rock-ribbed Republican who's gone Obama. The Norman, Okla., native has been a registered Republican for 12 years. She has nothing against President Bush. But she does have a problem with the GOP's 2008 candidates.
Their bickering over the morality of using torture while interrogating terrorist suspects in an early debate was her turning point, she says, so she went to shop on the Democrats' side and picked Obama -- who she believes stands the best chance of uniting the nation of bringing the country back together “of by "reminding us of what we all have in common, our love of this country and our hope for its future.”
Towson University science professor Antonio Campbell is a lifelong Republican -- he even ran as one in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District 10 years ago. Yet if Obama wins the Democrats' nomination, Campbell says he will become an “Obama Republican.”
“Obama’s message reads like Reagan’s playbook -- individual strength, faith and behaving in a fiscally competent way,” Campbell says.
Obama is the only Democrat he would vote for, Campbell adds. His second choice is John McCain.
“The opportunity does seem to be out there for Obama to build an 'Obama Republican' coalition,” says Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
While Obama clearly will not replicate Reagan’s policies, Jillson says, he might replicate Reagan’s larger theme of America as a land of opportunity. He might even persuade some Republicans “that government can effectively help families meeting their most serious challenges, like steady jobs at good pay, health care and college tuition at affordable prices.
Obama won in the more conservative states of South Carolina and Iowa. Now, heading into Super Tuesday, he is knocking on doors in more-conservative, ruby-red states such as those he's knocking on here in Missouri and Kansas.
His tactics build on Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy that, coupled with promising candidates, won Democrats the 2006 mid-term election.
“Reagan represented a fundamental shift in politics -- he created a majority coalition, and the voting population changed,” says Jillson, as the primaries head into Super Tuesday.
If Obama can do to Republicans what Reagan did to Democrats, then Obama really will be 2008’s “candidate of change.”
LLS
I know more than a few of these folks...
you’ve heard of “self-hating Jews”,
the Obamacans I know are “self-hating Catholics”.
On the other hand the "countryclubbers" were always more interested in party operations and internal politics so you did have folks in the infrastructure who didn't share the ideological position of the rank and file, or "base" of the membership.
Every now and then one of the party professionals (who never get beyond positions within the party structure) will pipe up and tell us what they think and if it's obnoxious enough they are encouraged to get new jobs somewhere else. That doesn't mean they are RINOS.
All of them get a government check - EXCEPT Romney...
It’s hard to imagine. I read an article on here just yesterday showing his voting record. He’s one of, if not the most liberal person in the Senate.
The money quote: “This is a matter of style over substance.”
Obama has no substance. He’s all just style.
FWIW, I absolutely *hate* his phony “uh” rhetorical style. It’s uh grating to hear his uh little affectations coming uh through all the uh time. Ugh.
Perot had some good qualities - he fought for POWs, he loved this country, and he talked about NAFTA and the budget. I think he really is a good man, but deeply unPresidential. He should have realized Bush was a better man than Clinton. He ended up electing a damaged man, unfit for office.
The problem with Obama is he is a cypher - people just see what they want to see. If he really went all out and talked policy, things would change. He also has a thin skin, and is a bit foolish on foreign policy, among other things. When he talks of bringing the country together, if he was called on it, it would be to get Repubs to bend to liberalism. In some ways, he may be more bad for the country than Hillary. She’s less opaque.
That's because you are a conservative. God help us. You may find a bit of comfort in my tagline.
Obama generates warm feelings among Republicans who enjoy watching the Clintons lose their grip on power and then lash out publicly in red-faced anger towards the one person who is standing in their way. Given the disgust so many Republicans are feeling towards their own candidates, some of pleasure in watching Obama giving Hillary her comeuppance might actually carry over to a "maybe he might not be a bad president" attitude.
I do feel that if the Democrats are smart enough to nominate Obama, they'll win in a landslide. The Clintons are bound and determined to not let this happen. They would rather destroy their party than lose power.
FWIW, I absolutely *hate* his phony “uh” rhetorical style. It’s uh grating to hear his uh little affectations coming uh through all the uh time. Ugh.
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You know, I know, you know, just what you meant, you know, I hate, you know, hearing Hitlery say you know all the time, you know? If McCain is the Republican nominee I just may start researching other countries to move to and beat the rush that will happen after the general election regardless of which party wins.
You may find a bit of comfort in my tagline.
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Nope, the part that comes after the comma is just too unbelievable!
Many Republican primary voters are as dense and uninformed as their Democrat neighbors. I would imagine that some could be won over on emotional grounds to back Oprah’s Obama.
That is a good example of how uninformed so many Americans are these days despite their formal education and Christian background.
Obama generates warm feelings among Republicans who enjoy watching the Clintons lose their grip on power and then lash out publicly in red-faced anger towards the one person who is standing in their way. Given the disgust so many Republicans are feeling towards their own candidates, some of pleasure in watching Obama giving Hillary her comeuppance might actually carry over to a "maybe he might not be a bad president" attitude.
I do feel that if the Democrats are smart enough to nominate Obama, they'll win in a landslide. The Clintons are bound and determined to not let this happen. They would rather destroy their party than lose power.
Ditto to everything you said. (Which is why I felt the need to quote the entire post ;) Succinct, and dead on analysis.
I have two nephews who are just like this guy. They are both young (32/26), both well educated, both successful in corporate careers. They were raised as Evangelicals (the rest of us are Catholic). Suddenly, both are for Obama.
These guys have been voting Republican for as long as they've been of age. They never showed any indication of even the slightest drift toward the left. There is something in Obama that appeals to the under 35 crowd. And, they see McCain as the grumpy old man who yells at them instead of talks with them.
We can insult their intelligence or their honesty or their motives but that will do us no good. There is a reason why these young Republicans are turning. If we don't find a way to address it then we risk losing much of their generation.
So well said! Thank you.
susie
Any "republican" who would vote for Obama isn't a republican.
"Republicans for Obama" is like "gay men for T & A"
That's not criteria that I concern myself with. Many decent people with ideologies similar to mine get government checks. There are some solid Republicans who draw Social Security even though they may wish that the money was never confiscated from them in the first place, freeing them to invest the seized money privately. McCain himself, would be drawing a government check because of his 21 years of service in the Navy.
It's what your character is all about, not whether you draw a check from the government, which is important to me. But, maybe not to you. Tell me, when you are eligible for Social Security, will you refuse it?
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