I am in shock.
Serious shock and I know I am not the only one.
How did this happen?
Do Dem's just like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?
I thought, this time, it was going to be different.
Let's dissect this together....
The popular thought was...How could Barack lose?
Awesome ground game, phonebanking like hell, and a GOTV that was a sight to behold!
So how did he lose both Texas and Ohio?
Hillary was on the ropes, the 11 state losses would be insurmountable, she was "old school" and he was new and fresh.
So how did he lose both Texas and Ohio?
I honestly thought that last night, Obama would have this thing sewn up.
That we could move on to the General Election.
Instead, there appears to be more and more divide and dissent.
Hillary is now floating the idea of a joint ticket.
A. Joint. Ticket!
Everyone one for that...please raise your hand....Anyone?
I don't know about how anyone else feels, but I can guess.
And all those young people you have brought out would be unhappy with that. And lose their enthusiam and ideals.
You know, I am having a hard time blaming this on Hillary.
A lot of people didn't like the 3AM phone call ad, but let's get serious here.
That was a softball compared to what he is going to get in the General Election.
Obama has been so deft at parry and thrust that I honestly didn't think this would hurt him so much and I'm sure I am not the only one who thought that.
But on the other hand, if ONE attack ad is enough to change peoples mind, then honestly, what is going to happen in the General Election?
And her ad about being too busy running for President to hold hearings on the problems in Afghanistan, when that is somewhere you could make a real difference, was effective.
It was effective because it used your own words against you.
As President, you will be required to be able to multi-task. What are you telling the voters when you say you are too busy to help oversee the war in Afghanistan because of your Presidential run?
If Obama wants to end this thing once and for all, here are a few things that I think he needs to do and do NOW:
- Understand the difference between a love tap and a slap. If you get slapped with a hard ad, you cannot tap back. HIT back but do it on the issues. Sticking with the issues, forcefully, will show you are a strong candidate but not an attack candidate.
- Get a handle on the Rezco thing. The Chicago reporters have the long knives out and they are after you. Hold a press conference, answer all their questions honestly and this will dispense with this issue once and for all.
- Know what members of your campaign are doing. If you tell the world they had no contact with the Canadian govt and then find out later they did, then announce it. Makes you look honest and forthright. If you wait until someone digs this information out, and make no mistake about it, they will, then you look dishonest.
- Don't let Hillary set the tone or the message. You don't do as well when you are playing defense.
- Take a stand on Michigan and Florida. And remember, that no matter which stand you take there will be consequences. If you take the side of a re-vote, then the next Presidential election will have even more states trying to move up. If you take the side to not re-vote, then you will get some backlash from the voters in those states who feel they are being punished for what their leaders did, not anything they did.
What you cannot do is let Hillary take the lead on this issue.
Or for that matter, any issue.
Continue to pound that you are the delegate leader.
But more so, get those supers on YOUR side.
What happened to the fifty that were set to announce for you today?
It is, imo, the ONLY way you can avoid the fighting and dissension that the next 6 weeks are going to cause.