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On Obama's Message
I'd given up reading Jay Cost's articles because I'd concluded he was biased (to the right) and he thoroughly t'd me off during the primary. But today Poblano (fivethirtyeight) recommended a blog of his on the RCP page - incentive enough to check it out.
I'm glad I did - well worth the read. It's analysing Obama's speeches, his website. It may well infuriate people who can't bear any critiques of Obama or his campaign that aren't solely fulsome praise, but I hope his campaign reads it and at least thinks about it.
As Poblano points out, "A greater problem is that
Obama can come across as aloof and arrogant -- or messianic, in the
right's favorite phrasing.
It's a thoughtful analysis: worth checking out since it's not just a hit-piece, it has some ideas for combating it as well as discussing the ways in which the campaign is reinforcing this favourite GOP meme..
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2008/07/on_obamas_message.html
Comments (17)
if you really want to wish to help, send the link to obama via www.barackobama.com
trust me, they read!!!
July 29, 2008 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you think? I'd assumed they didn't bother to read the blogs - too time consuming.
July 29, 2008 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
just read it and i didn't find it that helpful to obama..the article assumes so much....it pretends to know how we feel...i can respect his interpretations, but they are in complete disagreement to mine!
for all its worth, at least obama has another perspective...the problem is, those who feel that way about him would have felt that way no matter what he does....
when he says we should believe in our ability to change and not his, i am in agreement all the way! the guy is a snappy dresser, so what...that notion that he should get down and dirty to appeal to uneducated is a catch 22...try as he might, his mother's bloodline didn't do him any favors in the melanin area..no matter what he does, he will NEVER BE one of them period!! all the bus touring, handshaking, poor-english slangin' or down homey country-sounding wont help a bit! obama is different..he is a bright city slicker with humble beginnings who happens to be brown!
obama's only hope is pray that at the end of the day, the bigoted and the uneducated goes for lining their pockets over lack of melanin! let's just call a spade a spade and stop pussyfootin' around obama's perceived problems!!!! i have been calling it from day one and these countless excuses as to why some dems and some other demographics who stand to benefit most from an obama presidency are witholding their support is anything but genuine!!!!
July 29, 2008 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see it differently from you. I don't believe the campaign has to worry about people such as us who are already in the tank for him. They need to be preoccupied with how they are going over to swing voters in swingable states.
I don't accept that *all* of this is racism. I'd be the first to argue that he's up against racial prejudice, but where that's true, nothing can be done about it. What we have to care about is where it *isn't* true and why he might be pressing negative buttons there.
I, for one, DO believe he's vain. And, no, that's not swallowing Rovian propaganda: it's based on my own perception of him for various reasons all stemming from HIM. (Not the least being the very fact that he would run for president as soon as he did - check out his OWN assessment of that - he had to start running almost from the moment he got to the US Senate.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gexyfVpFMU
Add to that that he himself actually thought of himself as a future president at a very young age. How's that for hubris - let's face it, coming from an African American in the US in the early days of affirmative action?
Multiple reasons. Perhaps the most important is one you'll scoff at: he's a Leo. It's a classic characteristic of the sign. Leo men are vain! (I've been out with three of them and, believe me, they are vain. And they can't stand being shown to be wrong.) I suspect he knows it himself. (Hence his prayer in the wailing wall where he talks about helping him guard against pride.)
So no-one's perfect. But I think the huge crowds and, yes, I believe, sometimes messianic rhetoric doesn't sit well with very practical type people - the types that Clinton was targeting. We've all seen his `uplifting` stump speeches - they're getting old hat. I thought his very best speech was at a rally in Indiana: that was a wonderful speech because it was practical. He was talking about the American dream and how it was slipping away. That's the speech he should be giving, is my take. That's the speech that has content that isn't about him but focuses on the reality people are dealing with: Main Street -v- Wall Street. I wish he'd stay with it.
July 29, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep... the audacity of that uppity unqualified, affirmative action-gettin', ungrateful Negro. How dare a black boy dream he might grow up to be President over white people and live in the "White House." Don't that just take the cake?
You have made my case for me.
July 29, 2008 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
You said it, Jade. A lot of these commentators seem to have a quick key for "uppity nigger" on their computers.
July 30, 2008 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Yep... the audacity of that uppity unqualified, affirmative action-gettin', ungrateful Negro. How dare a black boy dream he might grow up to be President over white people and live in the "White House." Don't that just take the cake?"
Whincing here, Jade.
To put this in context, James Clyburn, talking of the day Obama won the primaries, said he never thought he'd live to see the day - and that was in this social climate - not twenty odd years ago.
For the record, I don't think Obama's `uppity` in the sense you mean it: the historical racial context. I simply think he's vain and overwhelmingly ambitious. I think that back in 2004 he had a reasonable, balanced perspective on running for the presidency. I don't in general, and he himself seemed to share my perspective then, respect people trying to con their way into jobs they're not qualified for. I think it's hugely egotistical and they usually stuff it up at significant cost to other people.
Discussions like this can get out of wack - distort the balance of one's ideas/opinions. I like the best things about Obama a great deal: his intellect, his perspective on America in the world (leaving out Israel, which he's forced into). I just don't like the consequences of what I see as his major character flaw: that he's vain and overly ambitious. I wouldn't admire those things in a white candidate.
For the record, I think it would be absolutely marvellous to have an African-American family in the White House - including the Obamas. I just wish he'd waited a while longer to try for it so that he wouldn't have the glaring gaps in his resume there for the repugs to exploit.
Also, while there's no doubt that there's a racist factor in the current lack of white support, I also think it's tragic that, if he doesn't win the election, people will overstate it: he had significant white support before those ghastly Wright videoclips started being played endlessly and Hannity started ranting about his relationship with Ayers.
July 30, 2008 3:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can you list a few US presidents who weren't overwhelmingly ambitious? Or, can you explain how a non-ambitious person can become president?
July 30, 2008 4:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Overwhelmingly ambitious." Really not clear on why that bothers you so much coming from Obama but, apparently, did not bother you in the least coming from Hillary or, I'd be willing to bet a twenty, Bill.
July 30, 2008 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm MARRIED to one (a Leo, that is!), and although he does have what seems to be his arrogant moments (many of them, actually!) it really is more confidence and competence!
I see the same thing in Obama...Would we really want a Pres who is unsure of himself? I love the way he is so low key, slow to anger, thoughtful...I love that he isn't a cowboy or drenched in the stench (sorry guys) of testosterone (I'm actually one of those women who believe that you should have to earn your testosterone, getting larger doses of it as you prove you can handle it.)
I digress...back to the point...it IS charisma...he has it big time, and those that don't are just flat out jealous! He is now and probably always will be, even when he is President, damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
July 30, 2008 12:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
I found the article pretty insightful. I may just e-mail it to the campaign, as cher suggests.
The overseas tour emphasized the Obama-centric quality of the campaign. The whole business of "introducing" Obama to voters, and countering attacks on "inexperience," inevitably creates a risk of looking megalomaniacal.
But I very much hope that Barack realizes the risk, and will take a more populist tack in coming weeks.
July 29, 2008 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
sorry folks, but i must just disagree.
I defy anyone who says Obama is arrogant, aloof, presumptuous, self-centered, audacious, elitist, or any of the other synonyms in use for the "uppity ______" to provide one specific example of where Obama has committed the sin of whatever you want to call it.
The Obama campaign is "Obama-centric" because it is about Obama, not McCain or anyone else. The McCain campaign on the other hand is also Obama-centric.
But there is beginning to be an underlying problem with train of thought which, for me, is, well, only "skin deep." It is a continuing theme of fake standards and phony goals and ever-changing bars, thresholds, benchmarks, percentage points. While McCain gets graded Pass-Fail, Obama gets straight percentages. He does a world tour, gaffe-free, and is faulted for doing so well: Go be presidential. Ah, but you did it perfectly; how arrogant of you.
What would be labeled "confident" on one candidate is called presumptuous or audacious on Obama. What is merely a good education for most Harvard grad is elitist on the Obamas. Every week some hare-brained talking head suggests Obama needs to "introduce" himself to the American because he is so "exotic" and his story is "so compelling" but voters are not paying attention and need to know more about him. Every week, some dolt says "he needs to do town halls, enough with the big speeches and the rallies." Yeah, right. "He needs to be around these NASCAR dads so they can see he's a regular guy." Sure. But no amount of NASCAR or boilermakers or bowling is going to make Obama white enough for them.
In short, all of this "advice" to stop being so damn good at what he does is an unspoken plea for Obama to be more white and be more mediocre while at the same time being more black and inferior.
Never gonna happen. Let Obama be Obama. Given their track record, they know what the heck they're doing.
July 29, 2008 10:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well put.
July 30, 2008 12:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
alex, i like your reasoning...you clearly weighed the good with the bad...
fran, i do believe you that article got to you hon......
it is clear obama has that superstar effect, some people just have it and others don't! i think it is a thing called charisma....he has huge numbers of supporters behind him, it helps to fill up stadiums with regular folks and make them feel as if they are truly pushing forth this CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!!! now, my question to you, if mccain was drawing in huge crowds or bill clinton (who is still pretty popular), would you be so quick to bring them down a peg or two and remind them of where they came from or where they should be????????
July 29, 2008 10:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
"now, my question to you, if mccain was drawing in huge crowds or bill clinton (who is still pretty popular), would you be so quick to bring them down a peg or two and remind them of where they came from or where they should be??????"
sigh. I don't think that any of them would ask to give a speech in Germany as a nominee in another country's election. It was an odd thing to do.
All this has made me think it through yet again. I think my main problem with his style of huge rallies started after Wisconsin. He himself has said his campaign made a mistake doing those in Ohio instead of smaller townhall type events. And again, I stress, his event in Indiana was wonderful, I thought. It was very different. None of the high flown rhetoric but talking to people in terms of their actual lives: the fading of the American dream that if you worked hard, you could make it for your children. Like everyone else I loved his speech to the 2004 convention. Loved his 2008 stump speech the first time I saw it. But after a while it began to seem `same old`.
I think that if he wants to appeal to the heartland he needs to come down out of the clouds and talk to them in their language about their problems. As Clinton did. And I think that's what Cost is arguing.
July 30, 2008 4:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
jade, i agree with your comment 100% and you put it in eloquent words that i couldnt formulate for the past 7 or 8 months..i feel as if every post of mine comes back to this very thing--WE, meaning collective United States, will never be happy with Obama..even Dems who should be supporting him 100%, the way they would hrc or did for kerry, gore, clinton etc, are riding him and throwing him under the bus when he succeeds and god-forbids, when he falls short...he just cannot win...
thank you for your post---obama is not white enough, but yet, he has the audacity to win and beat the perceived gifted ones...when they say he is arrogant, they are indeed saying he IS FORGETTING HIS PLACE and it rubs me raw....
non-whites are not inferior and when we succeed, it shouldn't be at the cost of losing one's self!!! OBAMA has proven time and time again that he is BLUE BLOODED AMERICAN..we need to start paying more attention! he respects the world, but at the end of the day, he wants AMERICA to lead, American children to succeed, America to take the reigns again...cut the man some slack and accept the fact that he is a black man and no amount of ass-kicking will ever be enough...the non-whites (i am a non-white/non-black) feels insulted b/c obama is the epitome of humility and he is constantly kissing mccain's azz and praising others (hrc for instance) who constantly throw him under the bus...
stop it already!!!
July 29, 2008 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree w/Jade. It is just so apparent watching these bubble headed talking heads that they either cannot or will not get it. I truly think that after all of the years of watching that dumb ass legacy entitled bully Shrub, that the contrast with a human being who is actually intelligent, competant, confidant and comfortable in is own skin and image is just a bit jarring for people to take.
I find it amazing to watch time after time the "bar" set for Obama being met and surpassed. My husband and I truly appreciate and are amazed that he does this time after time seemingly with ease.
I get so frustrated listening to these parrot heads calling him presumptuous that I just want to scream.
If you approached Obama with an open mind, I think that you would recognize him for what he is; a truly intelligent, thoughtful, confident and humble human being.
July 30, 2008 2:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
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