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Panic sets in for Obama, Democrats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | Friday, September 12, 2008, 09:04 PM | By Jim Wooten

Posted on 09/12/2008 7:47:36 PM PDT by 11th_VA

Barack Obama knows it. The election he had in the bag is slipping away.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has so thrown him off stride, as it has most other Democrats, that all the momentum he had has vanished. He’s getting panicky advice from everywhere. He intends to launch more and sharper attacks, abandoning any pretense of a new and different, more civil campaign.

Democrats know something, and desperation is setting in. They have a novice campaigner who wanders off message. With every advantage in the primaries, Obama couldn’t win the big states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania — against Hillary Clinton, even when he got to define the rules for running against him. She could never risk alienating the base she’ll need in 2012; John McCain and Sarah Palin have no such constraints — hence the panic.

For a “change” candidate, Obama appears to be a man locked in time, unable to move past criticism, unable to move from the grip of the Democratic left, unable to adapt to the changed reality that the campaign is not the referendum on the war in Iraq or on the administration of George W. Bush that he’d envisioned.

He’s begun to sound dated. Last week, for example, he devoted valuable campaign days — less than two months remain — into explaining a silly “lipstick on a pig” line. The McCain campaign had reacted, accusing him of making the reference to Palin. “I don’t care what they say about me,” Obama responded. “But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and ‘Swiftboat politics.’ Enough is enough,” he said. (The Swiftboat reference is from the 2004 campaign of John Kerry).

The Democratic left is still seething from the Kerry campaign’s loss and is determined to see Bush expelled from the White House in disgrace — the reason it is locked in to making this a referendum on the administration now ending.

It barely worked when the maverick McCain, no darling of the Bushites, got the nomination. With Palin, the Washington outsider, the “third term” argument is plainly absurd. But Obama can’t let go, just as the lefties can’t let go of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth defeat of Kerry. He can’t move on.

Obama has the habit, too, of reminding voters of their doubts about him, as he did in reminding a Detroit audience that he’s been accused of being less interested in protecting you from terrorists than reading them their rights. And, when he professes love of country as his basis for refusing to allow the McCain campaign to attack his words, he raises questions about why he finds the affirmation of love necessary.

Obama will lose because with less than two months remaining voters won’t be able to get comfortable with him. He can’t stay on message and he can’t avoid sending signals that interfere with the message when he does.

McCain, on the other hand, has been superb going back at least to Obama’s European tour. Mainstream America is comfortable with him and, with Palin’s selection, conservatives who had their doubts are onboard. The GOP is energized and suddenly an unwinnable election is reversed.

Obama got this far by winning small states and Southern states he has no chance of carrying in November. In Georgia, for example, the latest Insider Advantage poll has McCain pulling 56 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Obama, numbers that are not likely to change more than 4 percentage points in November. The undecideds and those who intend to vote for third-party campaigns are at 6 percent.

In this election, voters will decide early. Obama’s been in a yearlong campaign; McCain’s familiar. The two are sufficiently exposed and known for voters to make a decision now.

It’s not over. But it’s getting there — and Obama knows it.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; demmeltdown; dempanic; demsgoingape; electionpresident; elections; mccainpalin; obama; obamabiden
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To: PghBaldy

Link to one of my favs of our Sarah. Wish I knew how to put it up here.

http://www.palmerelks.org/images/wwp-photo2.jpg


221 posted on 09/12/2008 11:29:44 PM PDT by IL1949
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To: RightFighter

Love ‘em!


222 posted on 09/12/2008 11:32:51 PM PDT by PhatHead
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To: appeal2
And finally any political operative worth his salt, knows that this thing has been lost

Really? I don't think a political operative would concede such a think 7 weeks from an election. I think there is still some time. Also, lets not forget, we just had our convention last week...so this week is still the result of the convention bounce. At least Rasmussen said we should see the bounce hit around Wednesday of this week.
223 posted on 09/12/2008 11:40:20 PM PDT by snarkytart
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To: 11th_VA
McCain, on the other hand, has been superb going back at least to Obama’s European tour.

*FINALLY*, the Left is seeing what I've seen for a while now. *THIS* one event, was the actual "beginning of the end" for "The Zero". While it played well with the Europeans, it did *not* play as well here, and gave the McCain team their initial opening, which they exploited well.

Each ding on the "immaculate" image of "The (Self) Anointed One" led to an error on his part, which was in turn, exploited for another shot. This pattern continues to this very day, and where once, it wasn't being noticed by people, *NOW* everyone is seeing it.

He is being totally dismembered before our eyes, and it can no longer be hidden...

the infowarrior

224 posted on 09/12/2008 11:43:57 PM PDT by infowarrior (“Let the voters decide if Palin is laughable.”-Tublecane)
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To: Darkwolf377

So if Bush was in the lead all through September in 2004, why is everyone acting as if this is going to be some romp or blowout for us, when 2004 was close?
Why is McCain leading now such a big deal?
I’m glad he is, but we need to wait to see if he can keep the lead through the next two weeks.


225 posted on 09/12/2008 11:50:25 PM PDT by snarkytart
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To: infowarrior
Info , isn't it amazing what can happen when the leader strikes back . No turn the cheek jive from macs team. If the pubs win by 1 0r 2 points there will be some kind of challenge but so what . If it's a blow out it will be hard for the O's faithful but no riots.
226 posted on 09/12/2008 11:55:07 PM PDT by fantom
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To: fightinJAG
I also thought it quite strange that Michelle did not accompany Obambi to the Ground Zero ceremony on 9/11.

On a previous thread, during the visit to Hawaii, there were a series of images posted that showed both of them walking far apart, not communicating. The image below is one from that same period IIRC, sorry I can't find the others now...

below is another occasion when Michelle was missing...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., second from right, walks with Bobby Titcomb, second from left, and Greg Orme right after throwing a lei in the Pacific Ocean at the point where he scattered his mother's ashes in Honolulu, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. Sen. Obama is in Hawaii for a vacation.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

227 posted on 09/12/2008 11:56:05 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM)
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To: ModelBreaker

Bookmark!


228 posted on 09/13/2008 12:00:32 AM PDT by PosterQue (Pumped about Palin!)
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To: jwalsh07
I would like McCain to not just beat Obama but to crush him. And I have a feeling that is what McCain will try to do.

I think so as well. I wasn't certain he could pull it off though, but now? I get some, I don't know, call it gut-level feeling that he may well pull it off, something completely unexpected, a crushing, landslide victory.

Last week, I believed this impossible, but today? It might just be possible, so I'm awaiting McCain's next few moves with some anticipation. Since I'm now certain he had every moment of this campaign meticulously planned from jump, the next few moves will be doozies, as well. This whole election cycle, has been surreal, and it isn't over yet, so keep your eyes and ears open, and your powder dry...

the infowarrior

229 posted on 09/13/2008 12:04:22 AM PDT by infowarrior (“Let the voters decide if Palin is laughable.”-Tublecane)
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To: snarkytart
why is everyone acting as if this is going to be some romp or blowout for us

Not me. Can't speak for anyone else.

230 posted on 09/13/2008 12:15:44 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Sarah Palin--the man Biden and Obama wish they could be.)
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To: Fred Nerks

Now that is strange, that the wife would not be there for the lei ceremony.

Hmm.


231 posted on 09/13/2008 12:22:13 AM PDT by fightinJAG (Rush was right when he said: "You NEVER win by losing.")
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To: newnhdad

In Virginia and Kentucky, stations opened with $3.60 a gallon and closed at over $5 a gallon. My parents called and told me to fill up. We only got a 10 cent leap here in WV today.


232 posted on 09/13/2008 12:24:54 AM PDT by christianhomeschoolmommaof3 (3 kids always at home, not enough time to think up a clever tagline.)
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To: Fred Nerks
Out of curiousity, I googled and found this:

Why (and why and why) Michelle Obama was not at the 9/11 ceremony.

Hmmm.

As usual, the Obamas never did answer the question.

233 posted on 09/13/2008 12:27:23 AM PDT by fightinJAG (Rush was right when he said: "You NEVER win by losing.")
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To: 11th_VA


234 posted on 09/13/2008 12:31:49 AM PDT by XR7
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To: fightinJAG
My impression is that since the Hawaii trip there's something seriously amiss in the obama household. Recall, it was reported that Michelle and the grandchildren did not visit with Madlyn Dunham...

MIKE BURLEY / MBURLEY@STARBULLETIN.COM Democratic presidential hopeful Illinois Sen. Barack Obama waited yesterday afternoon for the doors to close in the elevator that would take him up to visit his grandmother in a Punahou-area apartment.

STORY

235 posted on 09/13/2008 12:49:33 AM PDT by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM)
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To: Publius

LOL. But we don’t want or need their Moonbat base..... we just need a landslide with votes from all the rational, patriotic people in this country. Obama can have the other 30%....... :^)


236 posted on 09/13/2008 12:59:31 AM PDT by Enchante ("Troopergate" = Obama Democrats Working Hard to Smear Governor Palin in a Non-Scandal)
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To: fightinJAG

Clearly MSM journalists need to start asking whether Michelle Obama can handle the duties of being First Lady while raising young children. /sarcasm


237 posted on 09/13/2008 1:02:49 AM PDT by Enchante ("Troopergate" = Obama Democrats Working Hard to Smear Governor Palin in a Non-Scandal)
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To: goldstategop

57 days, 57 states. Oh the irony.
hehe


238 posted on 09/13/2008 1:23:47 AM PDT by hewhowaits
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To: Jeff Head
I hope you don't mind but I forwarded your post to my brother, an avowed Obamaniac. (I have pictures of him campaigning in New Hampshire with Selly) Ugh! I guess theres one in every family
regards
239 posted on 09/13/2008 1:51:19 AM PDT by hewhowaits
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To: Roscoe Karns

OMG! LOL!


240 posted on 09/13/2008 2:09:19 AM PDT by hewhowaits
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