I fear that when the Right-Wing propaganda machine really gets going after Labor Day, Obama may regret having chided his "friends on the Left" for not listening to what he has been saying all along, and assuming that he would take adopt stronger positions on the the issues thatthey care about (War and the military industrial complex, social justice and the economy, ecology). I fear that Huffington and others will be proven correct, that it is a flawed electoral strategy to alienate Barack's base in an effort to peel off independents and moderate republicans. When it comes time to pull the lever for a black man, many "Obama Republicans" may find that they are more "Republican" than "Obama"; and many "Reagan Democrats" may find that they are more "Reagan" than "Democrat." Obama: those people will not show up for you when the chips are down, best to know who your friends are (sort of an elementary point in any "power analysis"). Rather than trying to win over anti-abortion enthusiasts at Saddleback perhaps he should be mobilizing on the South Side of Chicago - speaking to the concerns of that constituency (which are broader than 'not feeding your kids "Pop-eye's" for breakfast' (I'm still waiting for him to come out against the "egg McMuffin meal").
I don't think its too late, I think the new campaign commercial that speaks to anxieties over meeting one's mortgage payments (while McCain tries to figure out how many homes his Sugar Mamma wife owns) is a good start. Of course I'd like to see him address the concerns of renters as well as home-owners, but its a good start anyway... He needs to go after McCain hard on his supply side, trickle down/ "pissed on," neo-liberal economic policies which only exacerbate the difficulties of the middle, working, and under classes. Of course this would require a little housecleaning within the Obama camp. I don't suppose that Robert Rubin or Jason Furman are big fans of economic redistribution schemes.
Obama needs to expand the size of the electoral pie. Winning a larger slice of existing voters is not an option. He needs to bring new voters into the system (probably at least 5-10 million) and he can only do this by appealing to their economic concerns.
2 comments:
Disaffected Clinton supporters (which the media machine propaganda claims won't vote for Obama) should be encouraged to vote for Nader...at least he made the ballot in California. Channel that spiteful venomous bile into an empowering action, voting for positive policy. Not that Clintonites would ever actually cast a vote for Nader, but I hope real humans would consider third party/independent candidates before McCain. Alas, the extra-constitutional political party duopoly is such a sham, all spectacle to go with Summer Games every 4 years...and plenty of high dollar economic activity to pull the wool over the sheeple eyes. Barry America and Joe Biden of corporate shenigan haven (eg Delaware chancery court) are the perfect team for business as usual marketed as change. What do the electorate even vote for? The nominating conventions are total bs, from a constitutional perspective. Electoral college determines the president. The parties control the process determining seating of electors. The media just cheerlead for either/both parties (fair&balanced?) and run paid political messages free that millions are being spent to air in some other TV market which less people will see than the number of eyes watching national cable/satellite news programs.
As far as economic/financial advisers, Obama, after paying my consulting fee, answers, "Tony Rezko. No, but seriously...seriously," ala McCain in one of his recent responses wherein I think he said seriously like nine times in a row. Three to five million annual income is middle class nowadays. I know what class I'm in...man the dollar declined fast. McCain Obama cohorts can't change the systemic balance of payments/trade deficits so it is just a race to the bottom with the elites skimming cream off the top.
tu che... re the Hilli-crites: Hillary, Tim Wise says: "your whiteness is showing"
http://www.counterpunch.org/wise06072008.html
Reminds me of the way that women's organizations lobbied for the vote in the early part of the 20th C. under the rationale that their god white protestant votes were needed to counteract the votes of northern blacks and new immigrants. Congrats Hillary, your standing proud.
Re: The Senator from Citibank, Alexander Cockburn has this to say:
"The first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations which use the tiny state as a drop box and legal sanctuary. Biden has never failed his masters in this primary task."
Glad to know that the grand old traditions of racism and corporate domination of the political order are standing strong as we dawn a new century,
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