Posted on 03/05/2008 5:41:21 AM PST by jdm
Barack Obama could be excused for believing two weeks ago that he had nothing more than a flower-strewn path to the nomination. Women fainted in his presence, the media loved telling the story of the new Bobby Kennedy, and Hillary Clinton appeared to have all but conceded in her last debate. A funny thing happened on the way to Obama’s coronation, however — suddenly people started treating him as a candidate rather than a secular messiah, and Obama displayed a surprising glass jaw.
Now he faces an unexpected stumble, losing three of four primaries after a string of victories that should have convinced people the primaries were over. He has to fight a two-front war while both Hillary and John McCain work in parallel to derail him:
With losses in three out of four primaries yesterday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and his campaign face a scenario that a barrage of advertising, phone calls and door-knocking could not avert — a protracted, two-front war against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.
Even before the polls opened, campaign officials were dreading an outcome that would keep Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the race at least through the Pennsylvania primary on April 22. Those seven weeks will cost Obama at least $10 million, and possibly much more, campaign aides say, as he battles a rejuvenated Clinton who will have every incentive to try to force him into a major mistake. …
McCain has already made clear how he will try to brand Obama if they are opponents in November, drawing on the Illinois Democrat’s Senate votes on abortion, taxes and guns as evidence that he is out of the mainstream. But more broadly, Republicans are poised to offer what they consider a stark contrast between McCain’s lifetime of experience — in war, in the Senate, in politics — and a caricature of a young, inexperienced neophyte with little but fancy rhetoric to offer.
That is a line of attack Clinton has tried for weeks. But McCain’s advisers say they think their candidate will be more effective in convincing the public that Obama is not ready to lead the nation, especially during an economic downturn and while waging two wars overseas.
As part of the wide-ranging case they have begun constructing, they plan to follow some of the threads that Clinton has already exposed: Obama’s ties to Chicago businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko; the senator’s failure to hold hearings on Afghanistan in his Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee; his decision to repeatedly vote “present” in the Illinois legislature.
Of course, Obama had faced a two-front battle for the last month. Ever since Super Tuesday on February 5th, John McCain knew he had the Republican nomination sewn up. Even that night, his speech targeted Barack Obama instead of his GOP rivals, and McCain has focused on Obama almost exclusively. Presciently, he dropped the attacks on Hillary Clinton that he and other Republicans had used during the debates.
So what’s changed? Hillary Clinton decided to go negative over the past two weeks. Everyone expected her to do it, but no one knew it would be as effective as it has been. Many analysts wrote it off as a desperation tactic, and that had some truth to it; if she had been winning some of the states in February, she likely wouldn’t have risked it. However, Obama has some glaring deficiencies, and Hillary’s team has managed to highlight them without alienating voters, who generally like Obama.
Even then, it wouldn’t have mattered if Obama had handled the negative campaigning with any kind of aplomb. Instead, his campaign made a serious unforced error over NAFTA and essentially got caught in a series of lies over their outreach to Canadian diplomats. That undermined Obama’s political integrity, his greatest asset. He also got caught up in the expected media feast of the Tony Rezko trial, an opporunity for the press to look a little more like journalists than hagiographers.
And how did Obama react? He blew up during a Texas press conference heavily attended by Chicago journalists. He stormed off after only eight questions regarding the contacts between his campaign and Canadian diplomats over NAFTA and the Rezko trial. The national press had already been grumbling about his insularity, and Obama gave them an excuse to write reams of material about it, Rezko, and the NAFTA dance.
In short, Obama has exposed himself as a seriously inexperienced and flawed candidate. He hasn’t really been tested until now, and the glass jaw he showed in the first few days of the real bout must have the party establishment worried about a lengthy battle against either Hillary or McCain. Against both, he may soon flounder — and that slim lead in pledged delegates will not present much of an obstacle to bypassing him in Denver.
i was hoping obama would win. i think mccain could have destroyed
him. it will be much harder to defeat hillary because of her sopranos
like corruption. i think rush’s strategy is a mistake. i think the press
is doing just what the clinton’s wanted them to do by exposing
obama’s glass jaw now. i am concerned about them on a ticket
together.
WIFE-O-BUCKHEAD
You know what? I just got it.
I just McCain!! Why he said Hussein was off limits.
He knew that *we* wouldn’t let it go, so the message would still be out there. BUT *HE* would be untouchable on that front. You KNOW the poor victims of the DNC would scream RACIST or that McCain was just prejudiced against muslims (which the average guilty liberal would HATE) and now that won’t stick!!
Dang.
I think he has a Glass-Ear..................
Rush is usually right and has good instincts, but I am now concerned. I thought Obama would implode under pressure, but I didn't think it would be this soon. A Hillary-Obama ticket now looks like a certainty, and that could be tough.
I hope:
1. Obama decides he doesn't want to be a Clinton lap dog, and stays in the race in a mean way
2. Hillary responds in kind
Without blood on the streets, The dems can come out strong.
I sense the hand of Karl Rove (or a Neo-Rove) in all this. McCain's "apology" seems a political stroke of genius, looking back. The name Hussein has been out there for discussion in endless forums, but McCain has staked out the high road. MWWWWAAAHH HAAAAH HAAAH !!!!!
Exactly as I thought, eventually Obama would blink and make people realize that the emperor has no clothes.
That “blink” came with NAFTA-Gate.
Hillary has it and will stroll into the general election. and why Rush thinks we will be able stop her against full bore media support completely mystifies me.
Rush may enjoy the coming eight years and maybe more of the Clintons. I know I won’t.
Damn it, he will have his “Dean Scream” moment soon, and the Beast will end up the nominee.
I predict that behind the scenes that Hillary and Obama will decide to make the Pennsylvania Primary the “winner-take-all” contest. And if Hillary wins, Obama will be her running mate.
I have a hard time believe the two hate each other that much, and it would be easier for Obama to accept the VP because he is still young.
NAFTA-Gate was his “Dean Scream” moment, I’m afraid.
Rush is right as usual. He has said over and over that the country club Republicans will not go after Obama and will let the democrats define what is acceptable and what is off limits during the campaign. He also says that the Clinton machine will gladly do the Republican's dirty work and it is to McCain's benefit to have Clinton and Obama slug it out and come out of their primary brused; whoever wins. He also repeats the fact that Clinton has the highest negative numbers of anyone who has ever run for the presidency.
Trust Rush; his instincts are almost always right on the mark.
Rush may enjoy the coming eight years and maybe more of the Clintons. I know I won’t.
At least with a liberal Democrat in the White House there will be some GOP resistance. With McCain as President, every moonbat idea he puts forth will be rubber stamped by Congress.
That is the blood on the street we hope for.
But what if Hillary has a talk with Hussein and convinces him to take the VP spot? Then there is no blood, no floor fight, and the Rats offer the best of everything to their followers - experience AND hope.
I'm not convinced Hillary would allow him on the ticket as her VP. She needs someone less charismatic than she (think Gov. Richardson of NM), or no one will focus on her and her policies.
She's jockeying for second place on his ticket. No, I don't think she'll have him killed. She doesn't need to.
Remember, Bill Clinton fired all the federal prosecutors when he took office and replaced them with "his" people? Remember that George Bush failed to follow suit, and has had nothing but trouble from the Justice Department since then? Well, those Clintonistas are still in place, waiting patiently for the return of the masters.
How long do you think it will take Hillary to have Obama impeached once she's installed as the VP?
But Hillary needs Obama’s supporters come November. If they stay home, she’s toast.
I think he has a glass wife. She will never bow down to or cooperate with Hitlery.
And Michelle is his “chip on the shoulder.”
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