Monday, October 13, 2008
Obama Gaining Ground in OK!
Ok, not enough ground to matter, but I find it amusing. In their Sept. 27 poll, TVPoll.com showed McCain with a 41.1 point lead in OK. By 10/5 that lead had dropped to 36.4, and by the 11th, it had dropped a full 10 points to 31.1. At this rate, Obama might just pull with 20 or 25 points of winning in OK!
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That reminds me that I told everyone --and was certain-- that Obama's VP would be Wes Clark after the "Securing America's Future" VP speech night theme announcement. That might have made OK blue and activated Clintonista areas like neighboring AK and MO. It would have been a different map (and Wes could have outranked McCain's "military" cred by far) but I guess Joe Biden has helped nail down PA and FL.
I liked Wes Clarke too. Not sure if it was his true but unfortunate comments about McCain's military experience or simply because he's not the most dynamic campaigner, but he didn't seem to make anyone's short lists. Even before his comments, he seemed to be largely ignored, so I suspect it had more to do with his campaigning.
On the morning interview show where he dissed McCain (A really good, Rovean idea IMO) he let the interviewer corner him, or acted cornered. He didn't take control of the discourse and calmly, lucidly explain himself so that people left the interview convinced he was right. Many left convinced he had merely disrespected McCain. Of course, he WAS right. If getting shot down made you qualified to be president, there would be many more (bad) candidates.
Full disclosure: I actually laughed at and ridiculed the idea of Joe Biden being chosen. "Why would PROFESSOR Obama choose plagiarist disrespectful borderline racist foot-in-mouth tiny blue state SENATOR Joe Biden? I figured the VP would get points for being a southern white male with executive experience. If Obama went for the older-senator-with-white-hair-effect, I figured it'd be Dodd! Schweitzer and Bill Richardson would have been be great, I thought. I still don't know what Obama saw in him, but if he can win the presidency, I guess that is it. He may have got Obama's attention as a little-known under-rated talent in the Senate.
Lesson learned: So don't believe any pundits in the comments! ;-)
I really don't think he handled it badly at all... I just went and watched it again, and I don't think he could have handled the situation any better. He was asked about a previous comment that he had made, and he explained and expanded on the comment clearly.
No reasonable person would ever argue that being a POW or a bomber pilot are, in and of themselves, qualifications to be president. But if you listen to Bob Schieffer, you would think that all of our previous presidents had had similar experiences and that no one would think of electing anyone who hadn't. That interview was shameful, and Shcieffer should really be ashamed of himself for his response, as should the rest of the media for playing along with the mock outrage of the McCain campaign. Obama should not have allowed him to moderate the forthcoming debate.
As for Biden, I've been a big fan for a while. He wasn't my first choice, but of the short list, he was definitely the best. The plagiarism charge was silly-- he had cited the source in multiple previous speeches, but neglected to cite it in the one speech that was videotaped and used against him. Oh, BTW, Biden is also a constitutional law professor.
Biden has turned out to be unnecessary as a campaigner (it's much easier and safer to let Palin self-destruct then to risk potential damage by having Biden front-and-center), but if McCain had chosen anyone else as his running mate, he would have been an outstanding attack dog. And in the unfortunate event that Obama is killed or dies in office, Biden is would be an outstanding president. Dodd would have been good, too, but he's nowhere near as good in the attack dog roll.
I think the exchange I am remembering was later, when another dumbass reporter returned to him with the same idiotic idea repeatedly and he didn't slap it down with the ridicule and disdain I thought it deserved. I remember seeing him more panicky. But thanks for the vid.
Schieffer sounds like an idiot with "Barack Obama hasn't ridden in a fighter plane!" or some quote like that. I guess this was when the media was still McCain's BASE.
"NO reasonable person would argue…" but they argue that all the time. People are unreasonable all the time, especially in politics.
What I mean is that you need to generate your own reality field like Bill Clinton and Steve Jobs.
I am warming up to Biden and his down-to-earth style. Yes, I know now he teaches law classes and is no fool.
Wes Clark could sometimes be too much of a genius, over people's heads. I just thought he would make McCain look like an amateur and screw-up. Maybe Wes has skeletons? He would seem to be good, but I defer to Obama's judgement. They did a lot of research. Was it 538 that showed how Biden helped Obama most with his lagging demographic groups?
"NO reasonable person would argue…" but they argue that all the time. People are unreasonable all the time, especially in politics.
That was kind of my point, though not expressed so well. My point was was more like "if divorced from partisan politics, no reasonable person would ever argue that being a POW or a bomber pilot are, in and of themselves, qualifications to be president." Of course in the modern hyper-partisan world, almost nothing is completely divorced from partisan politics, so I suppose I'm jut living in a dreamworld.
Wes Clark was my first choice for VP (though at the time, Edwards would have been at the top). For a while, I supported Obama/Edwards, but when Edwards failed to endorse Obama early on, he lost my support so I went back to Clark as my first choice. I was very sad on the day of that Schieffer interview, because it was immediately clear to me that his VP chances were almost certainly shot, even though he didn't say anything that should even be controversial. But in politics, speaking the truth is almost certainly a bad idea...
Oh. It occurred to me you might mean that.
I think the interview was reduced to that one-line headline,
"Wesley Clark Attacks McCain's Military Service"
or "Obama Surrogate Attacks McCain's Military Service"
and what I recall may have been a follow-up interview the next day, possibly on CNN, where the interviewer again assumed the same absurd assumption of Schieffer, (paraphrased as "Omigod! Are you saying that being shot down is NOT a qualification to be President!!?") and kept hammering on it and was not called on it by Wes Clark. I think a more conscious politician such as Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, or Dennis Kucinich would have responded with "Hell, no!" "Listen to what you are saying." or would have asked the reporter "Do you think crashing a plane qualifies someone to be president?" Bounce it back at the reporter, force them to think about it, make their bias obvious to them and anyone watching or listening. Point out how absurd that is. Win the argument. Have viewers laughing with you and at the reporter and McCain.
I'd say,
"Does being in a car accident qualify me to be a doctor?" Long pause. Wait for reporter to answer.
"Does being divorced make me qualified as a lawyer?" Another pause. Yes or no.
"Does being shot down in an airplane qualify a man to be President of the United States?" … "I didn't think so."
Then maybe follow that up with "What qualifies you to be a reporter?" (pause) "Did you once deliver newspapers? Or just wipe your ass with one?" (if you're feeling mean).
That creates a space to complain about pro-McCain bias of the reporter.
Obama said Clark's remarks were "inartful".
I felt bad that Obama felt the need to distance himself from Clark.
I thought it was a good statement, he just didn't defend himself forcefully --or "artfully"-- enough.
Compare with "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Many would have picked Clark as a better choice.
Clark did win out in some online polls such as CQ politics elimination round, so he was favored by many.
McCain is announcing his Great New Platform now. Where do you want to go today? Ripping off Obama lines again, too.
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