On July 4th, I wrote this journal.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/254 Obama is a Typical Politician: How to Spot It, How to Fight It Turns out that you will not need the pointers on how to spot it. I even got the name right. There is a thread right here at DU at this very moment in General Discussion Presidential telling us to hold our noses and vote for Obama because although
Obama is Typical Politician he might throw a few crumbs our way.
And did I tell you that Gore is the same as Bush? And that John Kerry is such a waffler? This Big Lie comes from the same folks that brought you those as well as Edwards is a Phony and Hillary is a Bitch.
There are two flavors of
Obama is a Typical Politician . On sites like DU, Daily Kos and Huffington Post you will see the
Vanilla Flavored Big Lie. That is the one for us liberal types. This Big Lie will emphasize FISA (he won't filibuster it---don't recall the last time a major party nominee filibustered his own party's bill) and faith-based social programs (which Obama cut his teeth as a community organizer on) and the NYT's deceptive Iraq Story (which Obama immediately corrected but which the NYTs is still pushing) . This story will be all about how Obama has abandoned progressive principles and has made a mad dash to the right---so that
he is now the same as Bush. No difference at all. Please stop sending him money. You might as well stay home this fall. Or maybe vote for Nader. Yeah, that's the ticket.
McCain and Co. are counting on liberals to act like fashion victims. People on the left love to keep up with trends. In order to be fashionable, one must hurry to be the first to blend in with the herd. So, if the NYT reports that prominent, wealthy progressives like Arianna Huffington are angry with Obama, all the little Arianna wannabes are supposed to get angry with Obama, too. The Daily Kos will do one of its dogpiles---aided by hard working Freeper moles.
I describe the other type of
Obama is a Typical Politician Big Lie (let's call it
Caramel Flavored ) in my July 5th Journal,
The Media Lynching of Barack Obama. This one is intended for independents, apoliticals and Republican voters. In this story, right wingers and conservatives who write in papers like the Washington Post will exploit lingering racial prejudice to portray Barrack Obama as a caricature corrupt inner city Black politician straight out of some KKK propaganda pamphlet.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/255You will not see the Caramel Flavored version of
Obama is a Typical Politician in progressive blogs and journals, because in that version they are calling him things like "the most liberal Senator in Congress" and a "baby killer" and they keep talking about how he wants to "cut and run" from Iraq. When they are not making veiled allusions to corruption and crack and voting fraud, they are superimposing his image over that of Che and talking about how he wants to
talk to Iran. They do not want liberals to get the idea that Obama is still a progressive politician. That kind of stuff is strictly reserved for the Free Republic.
You will not see the Vanilla Flavored version of
Obama is a Typical Politician in right wing blogs (except phrased as "Obama is a waffler"), because in that version they are calling him things like a moderate and an advocate of faith based programs and an advocate of handgun rights---and they do not want independents to get the idea that Obama is a moderate politician. That kind of stuff is strictly reserved for Democratic Underground.
Funny, I see a whole lot of waffling going on---from the McCain campaign. Seems to me they can not decide how they want to portray Barack Obama. Do they want to try to paint him as too moderate (white)in order to deprive him of funds and the support of his base while he is trying to amass a war chest? Or, do they want to portray him as too liberal (Black), now that he is trying to appeal to a general election voting public?
Just to cite on example, within the space of 24 hours, we had Right to Life announcing to liberals that Obama has changed his position on abortion (gasp!) though NARAL says he didn't (and someone posted the article on DU for progressives to shake their fists over). On the other hand, Karl Rove was quietly reassuring conservative voters that Obama was the worst baby killer in the land.
I understand why the people on the right---the conservative bloggers and writers are playing along. But why are people like Arianna and bloggers at Daily Kos going along with this anti-Obama attack strategy? Are they naive? Are some people not what they profess to be? Have they had second thoughts? Buyers remorse? Are they afraid that Obama may lose, and they do not want to have their celebrity tainted by association with a loser, so they are dumping him now rather than later?
At this stage in the campaign, Barack Obama's main job is to allow the other half of the electorate---the non Democrats---to get to know him. The issues matter less than his character and personality. Anything which diminishes his character--his honesty, his courage, his compassion, his intelligence---aids John McCain in his quest to become president. I have seen more character attacks against our Democratic nominee from self identified Democrats----on this board and on other progressive sites---than I have seen in any election since 1980.
Now, it is quite likely that most of these character attacks are from people who only pretend to be Democrats. And the press has developed a tendency to inflate criticism of Obama on certain issues by well known liberals as character attacks. But the effect on rank and file Democratic support can be devastating.
The phrase "Obama is a typical politician" needs to be recognized as McCain oppo---his campaign said last winter that this would be their attack strategy against Barack Obama. No one who hears the phrase "Gore is a liar" now thinks of anything except malicious RNC pr. The same thing should begin to happen now with the McCain campaign's new tag phrase--not next year, when the presidential race is over.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." SUN TSU