Articles of Note for 9/10
10/Sep/08
While it is Obama's to lose, it is not impossible for
him to do just that. People asked him to be more
specific on policy and he was. In the process, he
lost his connection to people. From the Gut, an editorial
by Friedman in today's New York Times, says it
well.
I don't agree with Friedman that he should go into office as a lame duck; that would be stupid I think. A president needs more leverage than that. But he does need to connect with people. He needs to define himself as a human that people can identify with because many people vote with their emotions; not their minds. That is hard for him given his clearly very cool and calm personality, but he must to win. It is his to lose.
Friedman sums it up well when he writes, "How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as the party that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the agents of 'change?' That’s politics. There’s no shame. But what this has done is to make the word 'change' as a campaign slogan meaningless. Obama will need to find another way to connect his ideas — clearly, crisply and passionately." What is sad is that Obama did that when he started the race.
There are some signs he is figuring it out. He better as the polls are turning against him. He is getting tougher. The McCain camp would like to make you think he inferred Palin was a pig when he talked in Norfolk, VA. The Republicans demanded an appology. Did he call her a pig? Well, that is not what folks who were there heard. That did not stop the McCain campaign from trying to make political capital.
The rejoinder was swift. ""Enough is enough," said Dunn (Obama senior advisor.) She later continued: "This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run." Unfortunately, the good Bishop Berkeley said it well, "Esse est percipi". This one is going to fester.
Sarah is way up in the polls. Good thing the election is not until November. With My Fair Veep, Maureen Dowd tells it like it is with humor. Worth a read. Will she, like Eliza Doolittle, pass herself off as worthy of being president if the old man makes the cut or will she flunk once the public finds out more about her? Stay tuned. Act 2 is coming up soon.
It has been a busy day for me. Try to post more tomorrow.
I don't agree with Friedman that he should go into office as a lame duck; that would be stupid I think. A president needs more leverage than that. But he does need to connect with people. He needs to define himself as a human that people can identify with because many people vote with their emotions; not their minds. That is hard for him given his clearly very cool and calm personality, but he must to win. It is his to lose.
Friedman sums it up well when he writes, "How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as the party that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the agents of 'change?' That’s politics. There’s no shame. But what this has done is to make the word 'change' as a campaign slogan meaningless. Obama will need to find another way to connect his ideas — clearly, crisply and passionately." What is sad is that Obama did that when he started the race.
There are some signs he is figuring it out. He better as the polls are turning against him. He is getting tougher. The McCain camp would like to make you think he inferred Palin was a pig when he talked in Norfolk, VA. The Republicans demanded an appology. Did he call her a pig? Well, that is not what folks who were there heard. That did not stop the McCain campaign from trying to make political capital.
The rejoinder was swift. ""Enough is enough," said Dunn (Obama senior advisor.) She later continued: "This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run." Unfortunately, the good Bishop Berkeley said it well, "Esse est percipi". This one is going to fester.
Sarah is way up in the polls. Good thing the election is not until November. With My Fair Veep, Maureen Dowd tells it like it is with humor. Worth a read. Will she, like Eliza Doolittle, pass herself off as worthy of being president if the old man makes the cut or will she flunk once the public finds out more about her? Stay tuned. Act 2 is coming up soon.
It has been a busy day for me. Try to post more tomorrow.