Moving Forward: Ignore her!
Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 12:15:26 PM PDT
It's no secret that after Pennsylvania Obama finds himself in a bit of a pickle. But where you see a problem I see a solution. You may find even in your own life, that solutions often come disguised as problems. It takes a keen eye and a quick mind to see their true potential and exploit it.
So far Obama has been pretty good at this. He turns defeats into victory's through fund raising. He turned Reverend Wright into a 20 minute speech that inspired the nation and put race on the table this election cycle. He has the ability to see problems as solutions. And this diary is about using a problem to solve a problem.
Obama's problem is that he has to deal with Hillary. But theres really no clear way to do that. One effective thing he could try would be to hold a press conference every single evening in which he debunks every single thing she has said throughout the day and answers every single question the press could possibly think of on the matter. That would end a lot of speculation by the media and kill a lot of story-lines a lot faster. But it would mean putting Obama on the defense and being distracted from the REAL issues of the this campaign for the remainder of the primary. So thats a no go.
Another very effective thing Obama could do is go on the attack. Stop playing defense and hit her hard on her ties to NAFTA the Colombian Trade Deal, hit her on the Moveon Statements, even go after Bill on Borat-Gate. Hit her every day with something new, attack attack attack the way she did. But that leaves both candidates bloodied and beaten. Plus Obama needs her supporters to support him when she finally drops out. So thats a no go.
Another thing he could do as some have suggested is attack her campaign STYLE. Don't attack her. Attack the fact that she's attacking. This is in line with Obama's campaign narrative. The old politics versus the new politics. The problem is he would be accused of what some pundits COUGHPat BuchananCOUGH are already claiming. He's WHINING! They see attacking Hillary's negative campaign tactics as WHINING and he'd be called a WHINER because Hillary Clinton doesn't play fair. Oh look there goes Barak Dukakis whining about how mean Hillary Clinton is. And on some level I guess, I kind of, maybe sort of agree people would take it that way. After all he can't really do that with McCain.....
THATS'S IT! MCCAIN! The solution to the Hillary problem is THE MCCAIN PROBLEM. Or rather, the McCain Problem is the solution. You see McCain is running a blatantly racists advertisement in North Carolina. Furthermore another ad is about to be aired which some have compared to the old Willie Horton ad run in 1988. The first ad claims Obama is unacceptable to be President because Rev. Wright said things people don't agree with. The second one claims being anti-death penalty in a state that has executed several innocent people is the same as being weak on Terrorism.
Thats the McCain Problem and the Hillary Solution. Ignore her. Just ignore her. Focus on McCain he's given Obama an opening to do so. McCain, after all is the REAL opponent here. Not Hillary, she's a fellow Democrat. Obama should embrace this McCain problem. Attack McCain, call him out the way Dean just did. Frame it as the kick off to the General Election, show people especially the Super Delegates that Obama can fight back and fight back HARD when he's against a Republican and not a fellow Democrat. Air some advertisements in response to those. And engage McCain as if you're heading into the final stretch toward November.
Show everyone how effective having $51 Million Dollars in the bank and an army of small donors really is. Make the McCain vs. Obama conflict a huge issue that gets talked about every day while Hillary fades away into the distance. And then just to add insult to injury whenever Obama is asked about something Hillary Clinton is claiming or has said (as she struggles to remain relevant) Obama can use the "attack her style" technique to dismiss her. His people can refuse to even answer the questions about her because its just Hillary being a 3rd wheel. Obama isn't concerned with her political game playing, as far as he's concerned she's a fellow Democrat, a friend, and at the moment Obama has more important things to worry about like combating Republican John McCain and these racist, misleading advertisements.
You give that answer a few times and they won't even bother to ask about Hillary's antics anymore.
If Obama wants to demonstrate how strong on a nominee he will be he can start now by using the McCain problem as the Hillary solution. I think he may already be doing this if you go by his "concession" speech the other night in which he started out by attacking John McCain and only mentioned Hillary by name to congratulate her. Think about it. Without the attention and the free media she will fade away. And as Obama fights back other Democrats can make the case that Hillary shouldn't be piling on. Super Delegates can come out to rally in support of Obama as he fights off racist attacks by John McCain.
Its the perfect solution to the Hillary problem. Thank you John McCain!
Shameless Plea:
If you want the Obama people to follow this strategy the best thing to do is recommend this diary so they might see it! And then send them an e-mail about it.
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