Is it just me or has the democratic party been victim of a surprising number of acts of violence this season?

The tragic death of Bill Gwatney at the hands of a distraught man should not be seen as an isolated incident resulting from a completely innocuous sequence of events but as the logical result of the Machiavellian right’s systematic manipulation of the general public to blame the liberals in general and democrats in particular for all the country’s woe.

Completely ignoring the fact that, for the last eight years, they’ve successfully run this nation into the ground.

If you’ve lost your job, it has nothing to do with  catastrophic economic policies of the Bush regime, it’s because those heinous liberals have been secretly undermining the foundations of the economy by demanding worker’s rights! If oil prices are high, it’s entirely because those heathen tree-huggers won’t let our patriotic oil corporations, those paragons of civic-mindedness, to drill for oil in ANWR or offshore and has nothing to do with a catastrophic war in the middle-east against one oil-producing country and the idiotic sanctions against another.

The right-wing hate machine has been industriously feeding the seeds of tragedy for years. Of course, tragedies like this have nothing to do with their demented vitriol. After all, they only speak the truth against the evil, unpatriotic liberal media.

The innocence didn’t last even beyond July. To be fair on McCain, it’s been painfully clear that he needed to shape up his campaign into a leaner, sharper-edged machine compared to it’s amorphous and sedate nature to this point. I’m not privy to the quiet machinations behind the Republican’s campaign, but I’m pretty sure he’s been doing his own homework. While it would be nice to think that Obama’s current weaknesses (and I use that word relatively) are due largely to external events, I don’t think anyone should be deluded into thinking that the Republicans are going to take prospective defeat lying down.

It’s been fashionable to compare the elegant, eloquent Obama campaign to McCain’s apparently bumbling, stumbling advertising, pandering and roundhouse gaffes. It’s also fashionable to propose that the panacea to Obama’s current travails is to present concrete, detailed policy positions. By contrasting himself to the bumbling McCain and demonstrating his intellectual and personal gravitas, so the story goes, Obama can counter the Republican’s clumsy, offensive swipes at him.

That’s a big mistake.

Over the past few days, the Huffington Post has had a couple of interesting posts concerning the Republican’s advertising tactics: E-mailing, swarms of ‘flailing’ attack ads, and (and I think this is the most telling of all) simple keyword messaging.

I think the last one sums things up pretty well. It has nothing to do with people “not paying attention” or not being discerning enough. It’s actually a well known science in marketing circles, particularly e-marketing circles, that certain words can subtly influence a reader’s/listener’s/viewer’s attitudes. It’s a  game of putting people in a frame of mind (more…)

First of all, I should apologize for the horribly inconsistent posting. Jim hasn’t been able to follow up with me much and I personally haven’t had the inspiration to write anything good about the campaign. The last few attempts at humor and personal potshots fell flat and I never posted them in the end (I thought about making a crack at Obama and his 300, but THIS IS SPARTA jokes are getting old)

Anyway, on to the post - in the TIME magazine’s tribute to Nelson Mandela, author Richard Stengel listed 8 lessons of leadership. No.2 was; lead from the front, but don’t leave your base behind. I can think of two ways where this can apply to Obama.

The first and most obvious is the implicit lesson of “dancing with those who brought you”. The far left has been seriously riled by Obama’s perceived moves (more…)

I mentioned it in passing that Obama’s greatest challenge would be to hold his disparate coalition together long enough to win. As the campaign wears on, he’ll be forced into more concrete positions that will almost certainly alienate a portion of his current base.

That seems to be what’s going on right now with FISA and the faith outreach.

Tacking to the center would seem the safe route for any politician, but in Obama’s case, it may merely be one of two exceptionally risky routes to the Presidency. He’s (more…)

The Obama campaign does an excellent job of organizing its base of support and keeping people focussed and motivated. People generally think of the GOP as the party of discipline, marching in lockstep behind its candidate. This cycle, though, if the GOP has been the Wehrmacht of American politics, it’s just run up against the Democrat Red Army - a proverbial horde of young, inexperienced and somewhat rowdy campaign combatants held together by an almost fanatical belief in their cause and the leader at their helm.

So the comparisons aren’t flattering. Whatever. Barack Obama is (more…)

Now that he’s secured the nomination, Obama’s next challenge is transform his nomination platform into an electoral platform. I have no doubts that he’ll manage, neither do I have doubts that he’ll win the election. What I’m wondering is if he can hold his disparate coalition together long enough (more…)

Whew! It’s been a long fortnight since our last post, but we’ll be returning to our regular schedule…well, not really. Now we’re in the great build up to the general. Clinton has dropped out - graciously enough in the end - and Obama has picked up the bounce from it. And what have we been saying all this while? That McCain needed to make hay while the sun shone? We’ll have to see how well he’s built his defenses and he’d better hope they’re sturdy, cuz’ the big, bad Barack has just moved in next door an’ he’s gonna be a huffin’ an’ a puffin’. 

No offense intended to Obama. I’ll have a bigger post up soon enough.

It’s been a quietly busy week on the election front. I think a lot of people are rather more engrossed in the furor over Scott McClellan than watching the fading drama in the democratic race. Clinton is still there and posturing, but Obama has clearly been quietly shifting the gears and it really is only a matter of time before he seals it. McCain also probably recognizes this, hence his increasing criticism of the like- oh screw that - the democratic nominee. Team Obama isn’t going to be taking their eyes off Clinton, but their attention is now set on managing the finale and not on beating her.

I’m a little concerned about Obama, though. For (more…)

The Huffington Post had a little piece about Clinton’s current tactics; trying to demonstrate that Obama still needs her. I have no doubt that Clinton can wreck magnificent havoc on the Democrat’s chances in November, the issue I think should be what Team Obama should do about it.

There’s been lot’s of talk about a unity ticket between Obama and Clinton as (more…)

Now yes, Clinton is still in the running, but I think everyone is settling in to the thought that she’s finished. Obama will certainly act that way (though he’s also likely to continue to keep an eye on her and smack her down if she gets too uppity - he’s not going to repeat New Hampshire, not now.) I think Clinton is also adjusting to that reality, or at least the reality that she’s (more…)