Will a newly feisty, fired-up Obama be enough to save his party in November?

[babylonsister]

http://www.slate.com/id/2266392/pagenum/all/#p2

Dog-Day Democrats
Will a newly feisty, fired-up Obama be enough to save his party in November?
By John Dickerson
Posted Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010, at 7:50 PM ET


snip//

Before the Monday speech, it wasn't hard to find Democrats in the House and Senate who had races on their hands and were irritated with the president's level of involvement. It wasn't that they thought he was making a strategic mistake by lying low to deprive Republicans of a target. They accused him of lack of interest and neglect. "There's not a thing he's done in the last two weeks that has won us a single vote," said one strategist before listing every Obama distraction, from the Oval Office renovation to his comments about the Islamic cultural center in downtown New York. His allies searched for motives: He didn't want to ruin his chances for 2012 by getting too political. Some ascribed it to a personality flaw: He just didn't like the business of politics (they passed around E.J. Dionne's saying Obama needed to get his hands dirty).

Now they're passing around the text and video of Obama's Labor Day speech. The president has tested out the themes and jokes he used in the Milwaukee speech in previous venues (usually partisan fundraisers). What seemed to make it work in front of the crowd of 10,000 was his level of engagement. Democratic voters need to believe that they can keep control of Congress despite the bad poll numbers. Obama, who is taking a pounding in the polls, looked like a man who had a secret to the comeback. He sounded like a happy warrior, laughing at his jokes before he'd told them. He even did voices, embellishing his tale about Republicans who drove the economy into the ditch. "We're sweating, and these guys were watching us and sipping on a Slurpee," he said to crowd laughter before impersonating his uptight GOP opponents. "And they're pointing at us and saying 'How come you're not pushing harder?' "

This is the attitude we saw from Obama in the final stages of the presidential campaign, when he was opening up a big lead against John McCain. ("Senator McCain bragged that as chairman of the Senate commerce committee he had oversight of every part of the economy," Obama used to say. "All I can say to Senator McCain is, 'Nice job.' ") Now though, it is Obama and his party who, like McCain, read day after day of political coverage about their approaching doom. (Polls by the Washington Post/ABC News and Wall Street Journal/NBC News delivered more grim news today.)

Obama did more in the speech than offer laughs, though. He appealed to the crowd's emotions. He talked about the firefighters, teachers, and police officers whose jobs were saved by the Recovery Act. When he talked about people without a job, he spoke about helping the less fortunate in ways that echoed his speech to the House Democrats before the health care vote. "Those are the folks I got into politics for," he told the crowd. "You are the reason I'm here."

This is why these speeches remind people of the Obama of 2008 and even 2007. He is able to take them past the disappointments and distractions of the moment and remind them why they do what they do, why it's possible to still have hope. If the Democratic ground game is going to save the party from a big defeat, as David Plouffe explains in a video to the ground troops this week, then Obama is going to have to provide the energy and enthusiasm.

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http://www.slate.com/id/2266392/pagenum/all/#p2

[impik]

1. That speech might be a game changer. To early to tell, but maybe

[saltpoint]

2. The Pukes, in running McCain, picked an older white

military guy from a conservative Western state, and our guy whipped his butt.

I think more of Obama out on the campaign trail will be a huge boost. He is a persuasive soul and voters respond to that in a big way.

It's been all pre-season scrimmage games this summer. Now, with real-time kick-off, I think the Pukes will be exposed as the chumps, do-nothings, and failures they really are.

Recommended.

[babylonsister]

4. From your lips, saltpoint. I for one would love to see the

rethugs exposed for who and what they truly are.

:fistbump:

[saltpoint]

5. Yep. Long time comin', too.

:hi:

[backscatter712]

3. I think the August doldrums are a side-effect of his strategy.

It doesn't do much good to fire the big guns too early - it gives the GOP too much opportunity to counter them.

Obama's an awesome speaker, but he has to remain novel, so the media's forced to give him coverage. Otherwise, they'll blow off his speeches and go back to talking about his birth certificate...

So in August, he has to stay relatively quiet, which sucks, because the right-wing machine is howling its loudest.

But after Labor Day, once campaign season kicks into overdrive, that's when he starts speaking out. And that's when he can make sure his speeches and campaigning have the maximum effect. FIRED UP!!! READY TO GO!!!

The GOP may find that they've blown their wad too early and spend the last few weeks wondering why their numbers are eroding.

[Pirate Smile]

6. Timing has always been a key part of Obama campaigns. They got/get bashed for it a lot because they

are never playing for "winning the day" or the week or the hour. They know when election day (or month with early voting) is and are focused on peaking at the right time. The wait always drives his supporters crazy but Plouffe, Axe & Obama know that the poll that counts is the one on election day.

[cilla4progress]

8. If you are correct here -

and goddess knows I HOPE YOU ARE.... great strategy, and let's hope it works!

[corkhead]

7. +1000

what you said.

:toast: