I find my new career in application engineering (glorifed sales support) fascinating at times. The product my company makes, electrical power supplies, can go into practically anything, and thus my travel takes me everywhere -- from downtrodden neighborhoods in Pittsburgh to high-tech corridors in Huntsville. I cover an area from Wisconsin to upstate New York to Florida to New Mexico. I schmooze with people from large conglomerates to entrepreneurs working out of their own garages. And often, we talk politics. Yet everywhere I go, the problem with Obama is the same, and it's killing him:
"The guy says he'll do everything. He'll walk on water."
Obama's message of change and hope resonates among the choir, building up his ground game -- I respect that. On the other hand, everyone I talk to hates McCain. So if there's any clear reason why Obama isn't winning by 20 points in my region (which includes pretty much every decisive swing state this election), it's that his idealism rings false in the ears of people who, after eight years of Bush and two years of utter incompetence in Democrats' efforts to stop him, truly believe government can't work.
"Everything the government touches turns to shit."
"He claims he'll lower taxes and balance the budget!"
"Everyone's holding their breaths to see if Obama's going to raise their taxes."
"Every time I feel like I'm ready to give Obama a chance, he goes and does something totally stupid (referring to the FISA sell-out)."
"I don't think Obama's shown his true colors yet."
It's tiring to hear, but I can't deny what it looks like. After promising change, Obama sold out on FISA, hasn't spearheaded any effort to end the war (except public sniping), and picked the most embedded, bank-corrupted running mate among the pack of losers scrambling for his coveted VP slot. After the mortgage crisis and subsequent, highly bipartisan Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts, Biden was the last person any small-business conservative wanted to see close to the Presidency. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but the Obama campaign had better notice the discrepancy in his actions and message.
Granted, the types of people I run into trend conservative, but they're hardly dittoheads. The people I do business with are the true heart of America, the people that make America work -- engineers, salesmen, managers, plant workers. And every single one of them sees a typical politician promising everything and delivering nothing. I wouldn't post this diary if not for 100% consistency in this trend. Finally, this isn't exactly an image the media created. It's one Obama created himself, albeit exaggerated, and it's something he'd better do something about quickly if he wants to win any state in my region.
Obama needs to convince America he's a pragmatist. It's that simple, and that hard. But he needs to do it, fast.