| Just my quick thoughts:
There's been a general discussion that Obama will somehow not be able to stand up to the attacks of the GOP in the upcoming election. Doesn't that mean, then, that he isn't running a good campaign? I mean, if that were the case, how did he win in Iowa? How come none of the critiques from the HRC campaign have slowed him down?
The Clinton campaign, according to Drudge, is circulating a photo of Obama dressed as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir. According to Druge: "Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?" questioned one [Clinton] campaign staffer You think this is going to slow him down? We'll see. But nothing has yet...and that's why the "electability" argument is bunk.
**Update**
I generally think the Drudge Report is crap. But this story has been picked up by the AP, among others, and Senator Clinton's staff didn't unilaterally deny the photo. Here's what they've said, according to AP: Obama campaign manager David Plouffe immediately accused Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election."
Obama's foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, said the circulation of the photograph was divisive and suggests "that the customs and cultures of other parts of the world are worthy of ridicule or condemnation."
The Clinton campaign did not comment on the distribution of the photo, but campaign manager Maggie Williams said the Obama campaign's reaction was inflaming passions and distracting voters.
"Enough," Williams said in a statement. "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.
"This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry." Make of it what you will -- in terms of the "he said, she said." I still don't think this will stick, though, and that's my larger point: Obama has run a campaign and set himself up as a candidate where typical attacks don't work. So many people have bought into his campaign as an "outside Washington" type thing that any negatives against him -- whoever they come -- are deflected.
The strongest arguments against Obama have nothing to do with electability (which was my point). They have to do with details of policy. And once you get that specific about policy (as many statewide Texas candidates have learned) you generally lose the attention of the broader electorate -- for better or for worse. |
