Before someone starts screaming about 'concern trolls' let me just say: Yada, yada yada. Whatever Brother.
Chris Matthews hit it out of the park twice just now. The first one is great, the second devastating. Someone needed to call McCain and the Drill-aholics on the fact that whatever oil we drill just goes into the global oil supply and does nothing to lower prices and does next to nothing in helping us become energy independent. I thought, 'Yes, this is what the Obama people need to be doing: Protecting the Constitution, exposing the lies, attacking the corruption, attacking the mismanagement of the wars, exposing the fraud of 'victory in Iraq'. Obama should be shouting it from the rooftops. "They think we're stupid."' Like he did today. Like he hasn't done. Like he didn't do when it came time to take a stand against spying on Americans and Telecom Immunity.
More beyond the bump.
He's lost some of the enthusiasm of the grassroots base of the party, primary us: the Progressives, Independents, Liberals, young voters, Community Organizers. From our prospective many of the things that make us the greatest nation on earth are being threatened and our only protection is the Constitution and elected officials committed to protecting it. So while we'll vote for Obama, here and elsewhere people are less inclined to sacrifice their careers and families to organize for a candidate who failed such a basic test, who publicly announced here that he was willing to compromise away our Constitutional rights and protections. That's not the change we've needed, it's exactly what's been going wrong the last 8 years.
Chris's second, devastating point was that Palin has energized the Conservative, Religious Right. If you haven't noticed, they're rabid at the moment. If they mobilize and vote in high numbers a lot of states we hope are in play won't be. There's not much more story to tell here except to say chew on that for a bit.
If it's not too late it will be soon, because right now it's a likeability contest and Obama's losing.
Obama needs an energized base to win this, because they're no longer in a contest where the other side isn't interested.
Obama talks a good game about moving the country forward; he needs to talk a lot more about closure, closing this dark chapter in American history. And you can't do that before fixing what he, and not only what Bush/McCain/Palin, has broken. Obama needs to find a way to turn back the clock and convince the Liberals, Progressives and Independents that he'll be they're champion, protect the Constitution, restore the rule of law and make it his mission to hold the President and everyone in his administration to the same high standards as all citizens and pursue criminal misconduct to the fullest extent of the law. Then he can move the country forward.
These are the arguments the American public have been waiting to hear for two years. It's the wave that brought the Democrats to power and it's a wave that'll carry Obama to victory if he has the moral courage to stand in Congress and say 'Enough'. Don't just say it on the trail, say it where it matters.
That the kind of leadership that will inspire people to believe, convince them to sacrifice their time and energy (and not just cast their vote) to bring about the change we all know we need.
If you got this far, thanks for listening. I really needed to vent.
UPDATE: Someone objected to the title so I changed it. Someone thinks it's all about me, some think the diary should go away. I'm talking about a winning strategy. Wake Up America. Kucinich was right.