As I am sure most of you are aware by now we have a new poll showing McCain +5 over Obama in the new Reuters/Zogby Poll. While I am not overly concerned about one poll, this certainly confirms a trend over the past month of a downward slide by Obama in the polls. A look at the Electoral College is showing either a close Obama lead or him running slightly behind McCain, this is NOT a good thing. McCain should be down by at least 8-10 points. I know race is an issue, however, I think tactical and strategic blunders are also to blame for Obama’s current poll position. Now, I will admit that my criticism is easy to make from the vantage point of an outsider looking in but the fact is I think the Obama campaign made some significant missteps.
- While Obama is the source of more coverage it is McCain who is driving the campaign agenda. They have successfully made this campaign about Obama and not about the failure of the Bush/McCain policies of the last eight years. The message needs to be simple and clear, give the republicans four more years and we might not recognize the country. There is so much red meat to play with, mortgage crisis, energy crisis, job loss, decaying infrastructure, I could go on and on. From an issues standpoint it cannot get any better. The truth is we are not capitalizing on this advantage.
- The Clintons are silently campaigning against Obama; they want him to lose plain and simple. These people and their supporters are sore losers and would rather subject this country to four more years of the Bush/McCain agenda that continues to destroy this country. Frankly, I think this "catharsis night" at the convention is bullshit. I have no idea how to deal with these people, but I will say this, I would rather lose with Obama than win with the Clintons. Kind of makes me wish we had forced Clinton to resign over Monica, give the mantle to Gore and maybe he would have won a bigger victory in 2000 that the Supremes could not have stolen.
- The inability to hang Bush & Cheney around McCain’s neck is hurting. Calling this old windbag a war hero does not help either. Stop doing it! Lets face it, getting captured does not necessarily make one a hero. I respect people who serve in the military, whatever their motivations are. However, the fact is McCain was in the service based largely on legacy rather than some deep seated desire to serve. Wesley Clark was right about McCain’s ex-POW status not equating to being qualified to be CIC. I think this was a very good argument. Why did the Obama campaign muzzle this guy? Everyone knows Obama did not serve in the military, I don’t think the country is looking for a warlord; we are looking for a leader.
- The trip to Europe and the middle-east at the same time was overkill. I know Obama needed to do both but being out of the country for so long and not effectively answering these ridiculous charges by the McCain campaign hurt is standing. Also a week in Hawaii, not sure if this was a good idea as well. I think the rule of thumb for us Democrats should be that is the convention wisdom, aka the MSM thinks it is a bad idea we should do or vice-versa. We tend to lose election in August, not November.
- The VP selection process was too long; the fact is Obama should have rolled this out soon after he came back from his trip to Europe. I was expecting an all-out assault on McCain during the entire month of August reinforced at the conventions and leading up to the debates. In my opinion settling on a running mate fairly early and refining the message with sustained attacks on McCain’s character defect and poor policies is what was needed.
The bottom-line is that we are heading into the fall campaign much closer than I would have expected. Don’t expect Obama to get a big bounce out of the convention or the debates. The way this thing is shaping up is that the only way that Obama will win is if he really does have a superior ground game. Now, in fairness I trust Obama and his team, but even really smart and capable people make mistakes. I hope I am wrong, but I have been around politics a very long time and the fact is we are Democrats, no one knows how to screw up a sure thing like us. I have volunteered and contributed to the campaign so I am doing my part. Hope you guys will do so as well, contribute, volunteer, talk to family, friends, and neighbors, lookup old contacts especially if they live in a swing state and convince them to vote for Barack. I really cannot deal with another four years of these republican assholes running this country. I just can't!