As Hilary's campaign continues to struggle, we see more negative campaigning, more accusations, more dissension in the ranks. And while the mistakes have been many, I do offer an opinion on what I think is the single most compelling reason that she has not only fallen in the polls, but unintentionally enabled Obama's dramatic surge.
I think there are three general attributes that almost all americans are drawn to when it comes to any public figure:
Americans Love a Winner.
Americans Love an Underdog.
Americans Love a Comeback.
I think this applies equally to almost any public figure, and crosses boundaries from politics, to sports, to entertainment, to business.
So what does this have to do with Hilary and Obama?
Simply put, Hilary's campaign has allowed Obama to lay claim to any or all of these attributes, while denying 2 if not 3 of them for herself. The reasons: By continuing to lay claim to frontrunner status, she allows Obama to remain the underdog, even as he begins to look more like a winner. By insisting that there are alternatives (i.e. Superdelagates) to gaining her party's nomination, she fails to she fails to engage the voters when it comes to mounting a comeback—and even now, still fails to engage this sort of language. She has only the hope (seemingly fading) of not only winning the big states remaining, but outperforming expectations. In short she's waiting for results to define her comeback, rather than mounting a comeback that brings results. Instead, she is allowing Obama to be perceived as mounting an ongoing comeback—he is still rarely referred to as the frontrunner, and certainly not as a clear frontrunner.
And as for a winner-11 straight is a winning streak that's hard to deflect in any language.
Hilary has enabled Obama-by continuing to act as the frontrunner, and establishment choice, to lay an almost unchallenged claim to underdog positioning, and comeback positioning. What's most important about this is that those attributes are perceptions on the part of the electorate. If Obama does close the deal, I think the above reasons will have played an important role in that outcome.
Just an opinion, but I'm interested in hearing how it's received.