No, I don’t mean the ones who might vote for him. I’m talking about the RNC which is simply campaigning for Obama every night it meets.
(For the record, I think Obama is an insane choice for a President–especially with Cheney as a running mate–and I can’t believe anyone intelligent can vote for him. I’m not going to bore anyone by explaining why.)
But I do know this: he is getting a lot of traction saying that we have been going in the wrong direction for eight years. He’s getting traction because, in general, he’s totally and obviously correct and everyone knows it.
And yet we’re supposed to believe, as far as I can tell from the RNC, that everything is just fine and we need more of it.
In my opinion, delusions about the future are much more credible than delusions about the present and past. I don’t see how Obama can fail to look more believable in this kind of contest. People are going to get desperate and gamble with a magician rather than die slowly to the chants of GOP cheerleaders.
PS. I know his name is Biden, but I’ve correctly identified him above.
I dunno. I’m not really hearing “everything is just fine” coming out of the GOP at all.
Is this hyperbole? The RNC met four nights, and one was kept low key for Gustav and another was Palin (which I hardly think helped Obama). So perhaps by “every night,” Mark means two out of the four nights. I’m honestly not sure. I love this blog, but I don’t really understand this post.
I think he’s referring to the fact that McCain is stressing change and basically running from Bush.
Bobber –
Thanks. But I’m not sure how your explantion fits this: “And yet we’re supposed to believe, as far as I can tell from the RNC, that everything is just fine and we need more of it.” Not arguing, just conversing. I don’t pretend that I know much about the subject.
I think Palin helped Obama enormously by energizing the Democratic base with her cheerfully delivered smears and half-truths. Obama brought in $10 million after Palin’s speech, including more first time donors in 24 hours than ever before in the campaign.
As for the “I can’t believe anyone intelligent can vote for Obama” comment, I think I’m relatively intelligent and I plan to vote for him. Then again, Mark, I think most of your quasi-anarchist political views are borderline pathological. Oh well.
Alex,
Yes, the RNC of course is supportive of the Bush administration but McCain is not.
Wow, Professor Garver, you will vote for the most radical pro choice guy the democrats have ever fielded??
But the message of the RNC (that’s Republican National Convention, not Republican National Committee, as is clear from Mark’s post) IS the message of McCain. So again, I can’t see where the complaint is that Bush was being propped up during the convention.
I don’t know Joel. I think most of my other pro-Obama friends knew I had to say something short and quick when criticizing the Republicans and saying that Obama has a better grasp on reality than McCain does, in order to not be misunderstood. And they were all smart enough not to cross me on a political debate on my own blog.
My anarchist tendencies of late: anger over AT&Ts big dinner for the legislators who granted them immunity for illegal spying (which Obama voted for). Horrified at the idiot attempt to recreate the cold war over Georgia (which Obama again participated in). Getting sickened over jackboot tactics in St. Paul against protesters for “conspiracy to riot.” (there may have been something to this in some cases, but the general reports seemed to indicate anyone in an area could be charged with some misdemeanor or other to justify just about any police action). Oh, and in general being sickened by the march to war with Iran, one which the Obama-Cheney machine shows every indication of being willing to lead.
Of course, quasi is right, since I don’t favor permitting infanticide, perhaps the only limited government belief that Obama holds, distinguishing him from NARAL and Hillary Clinton.
So, I’m sure some future hospital will indeed be able to diagnose people like me as pathological. It has been done by other government doctors. And I’m sure you will be able to write really intelligent justifications for doing so. But I think that would be a better use of your time than writing to me about it.
And as far as Palin is concerned, she made me like Obama more too, after that speech. I’ll find her less interesting the more she talks. But then Obama has the same effect on me as well in the other direction.
Mark,
From a political standpoint, the Republican Convention was horribly run. Most of the speeches were awful (much better at the Democratic Convention) and Sen. McCain’s acceptance speech was the worse that I have ever seen (I missed President Carter’s which I understand was equally horrible).
That said:
1. It is really hard to win elections simply by running against the other party without giving voters a clear idea about 2 or 3 concrete things you will do if you are elected (being against poverty and in favor of better paying jobs doesn’t do this). I was surprised that Sen. Obama avoided laying out such things in his acceptance speech. The Republicans have one winning issue here: Nuclear Power and Drilling for Oil.
2. Gov. Palin is a huge plus for McCain. There is an enormous backlash against the media attacks on her. I was listening to a Massachusetts talk radio program yesterday with two liberal Democrats talking about how much their wives and daughters admired Gov. Palin and resented the attacks upon her. O.k., McCain isn’t going to win Mass – but Gov. Palin will help him in the key states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. While the only other good speech at the convention was from the Gov. of Hawii; Palin’s speech was the one that people actually watched – and she hit the ball out of the park with one of the best political speeches that I have ever heard.
3. The press has largely given Sen. McCain a free pass on his awful convention speech – which had the one strong point of being entirely forgettable.
4. Democrats will have a hard time ignoring Gov. Palin even though they should. Anytime you are focusing your attacks on the V.P., your campaign is seriously off target. If the negative campaigning is directed against Palin, all she has to do is survive the onslaught to give Sen. McCain a real shot at winning.
Next Tue or Wed, go to realclearpolitics.com and look at the national polls. My prediction is that the race will be a statistical dead heat. This is amazing given how many advantages a Democratic Presidential candidate has in light of the Bush presidency and bad economy.
BTW – I’m assuming that there will be polls taken over this weekend. Otherwise, we will need to wait to see the results of the recent conventions.
Mark,
We will have to wait for more polling, and a state by state breakdown, but according to Reuters:
“ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) – Republican John McCain heads into the final stretch of the U.S. presidential campaign with a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama, a USA Today/Gallup poll released on Sunday showed”
Given where expectations were just one month ago – this is a remarkable turnaround by the McCain campaign.
David
Initial reactions to McCain’s speech were not so good. But it seems that a little bit of time to digest it has resulted in improved perceptions:
Link…