Thanks to Ohio and Texas, it seems that Hillary campaign is still alive and kicking.
I am looking forward to a great 2008 when Fox news pundits grind their teeth when they see their guy 10 points behind all year in 2008.
I cannot wait to watch Fox news and see the vein popping on the heads of O'Reilly and Hannity. In fact, you can see it already in their obsession with Hillary.
Why Obama lost today:
1. Wrong Message : If I hear one more time "I want to bring people together" I am going to puke. Really Senator, you want to spend the precious airtime on television in sending a message that no one cares about. Go around America and ask people if the real problem debilitating the country is that "people are divided". So what? Big fucking deal. People have always been divided. Both parties need them to be divided and people have geniune irreconcilable difference that divide them. One must live with them rather than trying to chase a parked car by attempting to bridge them. What really matters is the 435 Representatives and 100 Senators be brought together. And that wont happens unless you overturn Gerry mandering. Gerry mandering breeds partisanship and rewards partisanship.
2.Taking the high road - A self-inflicted wound : The fact the Obama has boxed himself into a corner by saying "this will be a different kind of campaign, a positive campaign" is really going to hurt him now and in general if nominated. People can live with negative campaigning. It mostly works. What people cant live with is a Self-proclaimed gentleman going negative.
3. Lack of courage and leadership, lack of actual FUCKING WORK. : I was a big Obama fan until last year. When I learned that he skipped the vote on Iran and then turned around and criticized those who voted in favor - doesnt sit well with me. And it doesnt sit well with anyone. Dont tell me that he was dog sick that day. It is not an excuse. It wont work. Also, he voted "Present" on partial birth abortion. Now, maybe he was thinking and didnt have time to make up his mind about that issue. However, the way the electorate sees is (and the electorate is a lot more up to speed and lot more cynical in general election than in primaries) that he wanted to have it both ways and want to keep the option of having it both ways. Also, have we ever heard of a single big piece of legislation in his last 3 years in Senate. Did he initiate healthcare reform he touts now? You dont need majority leader's permission to write and float a bill. During immigration reform, when heavy-weights like Kennedy and Durbin were on fore-front, Obama did act like a junior senator who wanted sit on sidelines and watch the big boys play. And while I was waiting for months for him to attack Hillary, he was so busy playing nice. WHY? Cant he take an initiative? Why did he have to wait for Edwards to go negative first?
And oh, by the way, he hasnt done a thing in senate with his subcommittee chairmanship on European issues. You know, hearings and inquiries and studies and stuff. The usual boring senate business. But he gives great speeches. Who needs workers anyways. We need great orators and talk will sprinkle fairy glitter all over Washington DC, Republicans and Democrats will hug each other, and Broder, Obama and Bloomberg will do a Kumbaya dance on the floor of the house singing songs of bipartisanship.
4. Speeches arent worth a bucket of warm spit when you are jobless:
Let's assume for a moment that there is no plagiarism and since Obama and Patrick are friends, and that they share rhetorical speeches and lines. But then, the next question is : If both of them are getting same speeches from speechwriters and a common campaign managers, then doesnt that mean that Obama is getting speeches written by someone really good at writing speeches and rhetorical lines?
And if that is the case, then doesnt it mean that "uplifting, inspiring and uniting" message is a product of some genius who works for David Axelrod and this genius is apparently delivering golden lines to Patrick and Obama. In that case, which of Obama's thoughts are real and which ones have been produced by professional rhetoriticians ? Is any of that uplifting message a product of Obama's own brain ?
Does this mean that if we find a candidate who is taller and better looking than Obama, has a better voice than Obama and if that candidate can hire this speech writer being shared by Deval Patrick and Barack Obama, then that hypothetical candidate can be an even bigger uniter and hope-monger than Obama is?
I think if George Clooney runs for President and hires this genius of a speech writer that Patrick and Obama hired, then we would have a 50 state blowout in 2008.
UPDATE 1 : PLEASE NAME ONE OBAMA ACCOMPLISHMENT. JUST ONE.
Can anyone name ONE Obama accomplishment in the Senate in last 3 years? Does any bill have his name to it? Oh, dont get me started on the ethics reform bill. The ethics reform bill that Obama led has so many loopholes that lobbyists are still getting lunches and dinners to members of congress, only either they put toothpicks in a steak and serve as appetizer (coz the law says you cant serve meals, it says nothing about appetizers and appetizer is not a "meal"). Another loophole, they cant book expensive vacations for congressmen. But the law says nothing about lobbyists' assistants booking vacations. Thru this loophole, lobbyists' assisstants are still booking golfing trips to Ireland and Hawaii for members of congress. - THAT is the quality of work of Obama's ethics reform. Other than this crappy and hillarious bill, Obama has 0 bills to his name in the Senate. An exact 0.