Campaign Links
Wednesday March 12, 2008
There are two guest op-eds in today's Seattle Times that bear reading. Alex Alben compares and contrasts John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And conservative radio host John Carlson analyzes the emotional attachment evident in the Obama campaign and asks, will it last?
But excitement is closely tied to momentum and the Obama campaign is losing both. The affection for him is genuine, but it's less a long-term romance than a crush. And everyone knows that crushes either crash or fade. Ask an Obama supporter about the senator's greatest political accomplishment and the reaction is often the same: a crinkled eyebrow, an awkward acknowledgment that they can't think of anything, but he still inspires them because he represents "change" and "hope."
Comments
What continuously amazes me is the focus on Obama’s lack of legislative accomplishment, as identified by Carlson (and others) as ‘What has he done?’ Considering the ‘accomplishments’ of those Carlson and others would sooner see in the White House, perhaps Obama’s greatest accomplishment is not getting sucked in by the hype (or the threat of being branded unpatriotic) for speaking for a different way. Let’s count up the accomplishments of the last decade (on second thought, I’ve been depressed enough). At this stage, someone who talks about bridging the divide and actually seems to mean it is more than enough for me. I cannot, for the life of me, see what McCain supporters see that will change anything. They have been taught to reflexively oppose the other party and so they do. George Bush’s resume was mighty thin before he became president (do tell: what about being Governor of Texas–in a weak-Governor/strong legislature system, by the way, prepared him to govern after 9/11?). How about this: I’d like to hope, once again.
Hi, Michael — I’m not persuaded by the “but Bush had a thin resume too” type argument. Although I’m not a fan of McCain’s Iraq policy, the fact is he has a better track record on bipartisan legislative effort than either Obama or Clinton.