After Obama's speech, Howard Wolfson came out with a moving piece about how he finally "got" Obama's appeal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
There's a hidden lesson there for the Republicans, but as of last night they said loud and clear that they don't get it. That blindness is going to be the difference in this election.
Maggie22's diary :: ::
At the end of the piece, Wolfson writes:
Progress in America is never cheap, and even today history exacts a price for Obama's victory -- the dreams of electing the first female president, the dreams of so many who rushed toward Hillary Clinton on rope lines across America and refused to give up her hand and their hopes. Today these dreams are giving way to another kind of progress.
For me, the presidential campaign began in a crowded Iowa hall, where I saw a man my age lift up a daughter around my daughter's age and tell her that one day she could be president. Last week things came nearly full circle, when I saw another man my age lift up another child and say the very same thing.
He finally saw the hope and the uplift. Good enough. But what was the mistake? As Wolfson details in the first part:
Most of us never heard him speak in person. At work 14 hours a day in the war room, we focused on his perceived faults and deficiencies. Our time was spent sharpening and advancing arguments. Skepticism was critical to our efforts. Insulated from Obamamania, I met few Obama supporters and distanced myself from the ones I knew. I lived this way for 18 months.
They were so focused on opposition that they never studied the man enough to get past surface attacks. So the attacks misfired, and down to defeat they went.
Last night Palin and the Republicans made the same mistake. Palin gave out a ringing speech meant to rally the base by re-igniting the culture war. The Republicans have decided to ride the culture wars into office. The elite is bad; Obama is part of the elite; vote for McCain. They used the classic mode of attack in the cultural wars: mockery of the elites in an (ironically) completely self-righteous tone of voice. Us vs. them all the way baby.
Today there are some people arguing that Democrats should be scared because Palin taps into something primal that rural America can identify with, and this is the territory that defeats the Democrats every time:
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/...
But there's the mistake. If you look at Obama's campaign, and especially his appeal to Independents (even pro-life Independents like myself) it's that he is exactly against the culture wars. The enthusiasm for Obama is the enthusiasm of those, even some of us who are more red than blue, for a new kind of politics. New politics isn't campaigning against lobbyists, though it's part of that. New politics isn't about rooting out corruption, though it's part of that. New politics is about lifting up our debased political culture. New politics is about replacing fear-mongering with hope, division with coming together.
Like the Clinton campaign, the McCain campaign has just signalled that it's playing by an outdated playbook. And it's making the cardinal error of not taking the time to understand the opponent's strength. So they played into Obama's wheelhouse last night. To an electorate that wants to move past culture wars and spitball politics, it gave us culture wars and spitball politics.
And unlike the Clinton campaign, they don't even have the real strength of being able to tap into the economic dissatisfactions of the working class, because their policies can't speak to that group.
Maybe a way to put it is this. There are three America's at the moment.
(1) There are the cultural warriors on the right. McCain and Palin own that vote and it is now an energized vote ready to go to war.
(2) There are the voters who are sick to death of the culture wars. Obama owns them. They have been energized and they remain energized.
(3) Then there's the battle ground. The voters who are more red than blue culturally. But they've been taking it on the chin economically for a long time now. Hillary found a voice for speaking to those voters. And, yes, she got them pretty darned energized. But you see where this is going, right? The Republicans have always won these voters by playing on the cultural issues. It's worked because they never met a Democratic party that has an authentically populist message at work for them. But they do now.
At the DNC, the Obama campaign emerged as a campaign with two strengths, not one. Obama has adopted Hillary's themes. And Hillary is on board. A party that opposes the tactics of the right and the policies of the right. In messages that are easily understood. The Republicans haven't paid attention. And that's why they are going to lose.