Im not really an expert on politics, but I'm seeing a certain trend developing which I don't think is a good idea and I thought I should share it. The problem, in my opinion atleast, is that many liberals are trying to discredit Bush while simultaneously heaping praise on Obama. From a purely political point of view, I agree with the latter, but not the former.
The problem is that simply mentioning Bush changes the conversation to one that not only is not important, but one that distracts from a more crucial conversation that we need to have. See, if we talk about how Bush didn't do his job, some conservative will get on Fox news and deny it and rant about how Obama only built on Bush's success and how this would not have happened without Bush. No amount of facts will change their minds and it is pretty much a useless conversation.
It will also bolster the credentials of Bush. Who knows? I mean, right now we dont know enough. Maybe Bush did do something important, the full story is not out yet. But if we focus on that conversation, and the facts come out, that changes the messaging war, and it continues to waste time on an unimportant conversation.
Right now, in my opinion only one thing matters: that many white, poor Republicans who should be voting for their interests by voting Democratic, are voting for Republicans because they are scared of Obama. Maybe the reasons are based on race, maybe not. Im not going to postulate and frankly I don't care. My only goal is to convince them to vote for their interests and vote of Obama. And if I can't manage that, I want to deflate their vigor, and give them no reason to vote Republican.
Think about it, what other reason is there for the birther movement than to make him seem as an outsider? The idea that he is not American festers the idea that he is unamerican in his values and beliefs. His unusual name and dark complexion adds to this fear. What reason do they have for voting for Republicans besides the fear they have for Obama?
Obama's single act in ordering the death of Osama demonstrates to these people that Obama can infact be trusted. That they should vote for him. And even if that's impossible and they would never vote for him, this act will dishearten them; they will no longer be as excited about voting republican. Fear is the only motivation they have. Take that away, and they won't come out in droves to vote Republican. Nothing else matters. Forget about trying to prove that he is born in Honolulu, no one who already believes he is not born there will trust any evidence he provides.
On the other hand, the evidence for this- if the messaging is done right from the outset- cannot be debated. No one can deny that Obama, as the commander in chief, made the call that killed Osama. In fact, so far, no one has. Let's keep it that way. Republicans will be forced to admit that Obama loves America. If we focus on Bush, then we will have one more cable news partisan debate that lasts for 5 minutes without any conclusion. I would rather that we spend those 5 minutes focusing on how Obama is an america-loving, apple pie-eating, baby-kissing patriot. That won't be a partisan debate.
This single act is the only thing that can come close to garnering the trust of those republicans that look at Obama as a socialist or a nazi or a muslim or the antichrist. So we need to push the messaging war and talk about how he clearly demonstrated that he loves america and have everyone in cable news, both republicans and democrats, talking about it.
Just my opinion, let me know what you think.