From Hope and Change to Divide and Conquer

[Magox]

Nothing inspires Democrats like the Barack Obama swagger the supreme self-confidence on stage, the self-certainty in private.

 

Thats the unmistakable reality for Democrats since Obama officially launched his re-election campaign three weeks ago. Obama, not Mitt Romney, is the one with the muddled message and the one who often comes across as baldly political. Obama, not Romney, is the one facing blowback from his own party on the central issue of the campaign so far Romneys history with Bain Capital. And most remarkably, Obama, not Romney, is the one falling behind in fundraising.

 

To top it off, Vice President Joe Biden has looked more like a distraction this month than the potent working-class weapon Obama needs him to be.

 

National polls, which had shown Obama with a slight but steady lead over Romney through April, moved into a virtual tie this month - despite Romneys clumsy conclusion to the GOP race.

 

Surely, all of this could prove to be ephemeral and meaningless in the arc of a long presidential contest. One Democratic consultant who often advises the campaign said that although Obama has spent a few weeks on the defensive, top Obama aides are unfazed.

 

These guys dont panic, dont turn into a circular firing squad, dont doubt their strategy, the consultant said.

 

But for now, its impossible to overlook the early struggles of a White House and political team notorious for discipline and effectiveness. Consider the rocks that piled up in Obamas backpack this week as he and Romney moved into the opening phase of the general-election campaign:

 

* Romney has surprised his many critics with a clear and consistent focus on the economy, hands down the issue of the race. After months of missteps, the guy looks steady and disciplined again, much like he did in the early days of the GOP primaries. By playing to his strength, he has masked his weaknesses - for now.

 

By contrast, Obama has looked unsteady. Some Democrats have watched with dismay as the focus of Obamas public comments bounced from student loans to tax cuts for the rich to trade to Bain Capital.

 

* Bain has turned into pain this week. For the first time, some top Democrats are questioning the strategy coming out of the reelection campaigns Chicago headquarters, with some agreeing with Newark Mayor Cory Booker that Obama is making it too easy to paint him as anti-business. Ed Rendell and Steve Rattner have also publicly voiced concerns, echoed by many others in private conversations. The result has been a minor, but very public, split in the party on an issue Obamas camp hoped would tag Romney with a series of crippling labels: elitist, mean-spirited, anti-worker.

 

I feel like they are overly relying on the have-nots out-voting the haves, said one well-known Democrat close to the campaign. The economy has gotten a lot better for a lot of people. Instead of making those people feel good about growing businesses, the campaign seems to assume that angry people will prevail. There were successful business leaders in the 2008 coalition, who wanted to use their success to do good. Were losing that inspiration.

 

An Obama campaign official responded: A few elites in the Northeast Corridor have had a different reaction to the discussion of Mitt Romney's record than most Americans. Hundreds of thousands of voters have seen the full version of [the Obama's campaign's] 'Steel' [ad] online, and the response has been such that we expanded the buy in Ohio. … Mayor Booker's comments weren't anticipated, but they did drive a discussion of Romney's history of profiting off of bankrupting companies onto all three network newscasts."

 

* Some key Democrats say they have been dismayed watching Obama become a divider not a uniter, trying to incite anger among women, students and older voters. Its striking how, in private conversations with Obama advisers, they openly talk of chucking the feel-good politics of 2008 for a very conventional form of political warfare this time around. A low-grade friction has emerged among advisers on whether the hack approach is damaging the brand.

 

This guys narrative is to be big, complained one veteran of the 2008 campaign. How do you capture that in a campaign when all anybody is focused on is the daily tit-for-tat? He has to get up and out of it. … The campaign jumps so quickly into these fights that it distracts from what the president is doing.

 

But the Obama team anticipates a nasty campaign on both sides, one that will look different from 2008 in another way: Obama cant expand the map the way he did last time out, so hell need to grind out close victories in tough states to prevail. Thats all about ginning up the base with us-versus-them politics, not high-flying, high-minded oratory.

 

* Romney has galvanized the right more quickly than expected, and has shown discipline in sticking to an economic message, even when gay marriage was dominating the headlines. His Boston headquarters is more confident than ever, at the same time that so many Democrats are getting the willies.

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76752.html#ixzz1vsx6XCCc

Edited May 25, 2012 by Magox

[IDBillzFan]

I saw that this morning at RCP and after reading through it immediately dismissed it because we all know Politico is nothing but a media tool of the far rightwing extremist islamophobic establishment.

 

No. Wait.

[B-Man]

More Politico nonsense;

 

 

If between now and Election Day unemployment numbers improve, particularly if they dip below the 8% barrier, you know President Obama, with an MSM assist, will be out there pounding his chest about the number of jobs "he created."

 

But when the unemployment numbers remain weak? Well, that's not Obama's fault. Just ask Mike Allen of Politico. On today's Morning Joe, trying to explain Obama's early campaign stumbles, Allen declared that certain factors, including the bleak job numbers, were "beyond the control" of Obama.

 

NewsBusters

 

.

 

If its good................He did it.

 

If its not.................its not his fault

 

Dem plan.

[IDBillzFan]

If its good................He did it.

 

If its not.................its not his fault

 

Dem plan.

It's impossible to act surprised by this when the left spends most of its time mocking people for bringing up things like personal accountability and responsibility.

 

So at least they're consistent.

[Magox]

More Politico nonsense;

 

 

 

 

NewsBusters

 

.

 

If its good................He did it.

 

If its not.................its not his fault

 

Dem plan.

 

I do agree, that the main risk this economy is facing right now, are outside of Obama's control. But hey, that's politics, I mean the 08 Obama campaign, blamed Bush's deregulation and tax policies for the financial crisis, and as a result, that crushed McCain. When I ask some of the mouthbreathing wingnuts from the left, which regulation did Bush deregulate that caused the financial crisis? Of course there is no plausible answer. Then when I ask, how did the Bush tax cuts cause the crisis? Then the answers get even sillier.

 

The point is that, to a degree, if the economy slows down further, it probably would have a good bit to do with Europe. However, it's politics and the one at the helm is the one who usually the one held accountable.

 

Having said that, the Obama's economy is a 2-2.5% GDP growth economy, it is a stagnant one that has virtually no dynamism or vigor to it. So what I would say is that if the economy remains the same as what we are seeing today, it will be a matter of who wins the messaging war. If the economy improves from where it is right now, Obama most likely win, if it slows, Romney wins.

[meazza]

I do agree, that the main risk this economy is facing right now, are outside of Obama's control. But hey, that's politics, I mean the 08 Obama campaign, blamed Bush's deregulation and tax policies for the financial crisis, and as a result, that crushed McCain. When I ask some of the mouthbreathing wingnuts from the left, which regulation did Bush deregulate that caused the financial crisis? Of course there is no plausible answer. Then when I ask, how did the Bush tax cuts cause the crisis? Then the answers get even sillier.

 

 

Glass steagall obviously but that wouldn't take into account the fact that the firms that were close to insolvent weren't under the wing of GS.

[Magox]

Glass steagall obviously but that wouldn't take into account the fact that the firms that were close to insolvent weren't under the wing of GS.

One problem with that argument, Clinton signed the repeal in 99 along with the expansion of CRA.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Magox

[meazza]

One problem with that argument, Clinton signed the repeal in 99.

 

Yep that is another gem.

 

"But deregulation by Republicans caused the financial crisis!! "

 

"You mean Glass Steagall?"

 

"Umm oh, Iraq!!"

[/dev/null]

From Hope & Change ® and Yes We Can!® to W's 2004 re-election Red State/Blue State strategery

 

But hey as long our team wins, that's the important thing right?

 

[B-Man]

The Awful Truth about Obama begins to break through the liberal bubble

Thomas Lifson

 

 

It has gotten so bad for the Obama campaign that even Politico is starting to notice that Obama's got nothing much to offer voters and can't articulate an appealing message. Of course, in order to break this news to inhabitants of the liberal bubble, it casts the problem as a "stumble out of the gate" -- sticking to the beloved horse race metaphor. Heavyweights Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei write:

 

Obama, not Mitt Romney, is the one with the muddled message - and the one who often comes across as baldly political. Obama, not Romney, is the one facing blowback from his own party on the central issue of the campaign so far - Romney's history with Bain Capital. And most remarkably, Obama, not Romney, is the one falling behind in fundraising.

 

{snip}

 

 

The real problem the Obama campaign has is that their strategy is distraction. The fundamentals of the economy are so terrible that voters are well aware that he has failed to deliver on his campaign promises on the economy and much else.

 

Obama personally seems immune to negative feedback. Valerie Jarrett and Michelle keep him insulated from negative information, and to the extent the campaign follows his directives, it will continue to believe that his magical personality will persuade voters that piling on debt and demonizing business are just the medicine our ailing economy needs. It will work about as well as his magical personality has worked with the Iranian mullahs.

 

There's lots of interesting horse race detail in the Politico piece, by the way. The Awful Truth about Obama is sinking in throughout the Democrat establishment. Many of these people fear an electoral wipeout, with discouraged Democrats staying home.

 

 

 

American Thinker

[BillsFanNC]