The political Quote Of The Day actually is a variety of quotes of the day from Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, who stands back and takes a good look at the variety of mistakes Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama has made and — which is why he is facing increasingly rocky political terrain…terrain not rocky due to the manufactured flap over lipstick on a pig.
Let’s go through his list with a few quotes from his key points and some comments of our own. Click on the link above to read his entire must-read analysis:
For two years, Obama played the golf course of presidential politics with the ice-cold self-assuredness of a Tiger Woods. But since securing the Democratic nomination, he’s made a series of strategic errors that could jeopardize his chances in November.
These are blunders that indicate he is a) being poorly advised b) has sloppy advisers c) isn’t reaching out to truly get a variety of viewpoints on the pros and cons of the high-stakes political advice he is getting. A bigger issue: whether his campaign team and Democrats are simply outfoxed (again) by GOPers who know how to make the right strategic moves and win at all costs.
After traveling with him on the trail, watching him in Denver and talking to Democratic operatives and insiders, here’s my list of his errant shots:
Declining to take federal financing for the general election
This mistake is two-pronged. Obama stands accused of flip-flopping on the matter, saying in 2007 that he’d accept those funds and the cash limits that come along with it. In relying solely on private money, Obama appears to have ceded some higher ground to McCain, who, with his public funding, appears slightly more immune to interest groups. On a more practical level, Obama will have to leave the campaign trail more often to headline fundraising events…
Symptomatic of not well-thought-out analysis — a decision based more on the pros and than taking into serious account the cons. Or based on overconfidence.
Failing to go all the way with the Clintons
Yes, I know, Bill and Hillary got prime speaking roles in Denver. And yes, I know, the Clintons are difficult to deal with and probably hope Obama fails. Still, it’s Obama’s task to latch on to them, even against their will. But he was too proud. Although he’s going to see the former president this week, Obama should have broken bread with Bill months ago. Obama needs the Clintons to defend and work for him. They are not eager to do so, but it was still Obama’s task to trap them into displays of political enthusiasm.
A sign of a smart politician is that he ropes-in his past foes and gets them to do his agenda work while they are thinking they are doing theirs.
Lyndon Johnson once said of a foe that it was better to have him inside the tent peeing out, rather than outside the tent peeing in. If you look at the Democratic landscape now, you see that Obama is in campaign mode with a lot of Democrats outside the tent….(you fill in the rest)…A SMARTER politician would have moved ASAP to do whatever it took to make the Clintons his top priority. And done it so that the Clintons would have known they were being politically used, but would not have minded since it would advance their own long term goals.
But there is a longer term danger for the Democrats. If Obama does lose and it emerges that a segment of the Democratic Party is partially the reason, then that segment can expect a battle-royal in 2012 if it pushes a candidate since the Obama wing of the party will then be out for the same political revenge that some Clinton supporters suggest they will seek at the ballot box in November.
The 22-state strategy
For months, the Obama campaign invested advertising time and organizing money in an impressive array of red states that haven’t been on the Democrats’ radar in recent elections. This made for great press clippings. But, for the most part, it was a waste of assets.
Political history has other tales of candidates who tried this and failed because it burned up energy and money that could have been put to wiser use.
Failing to state a sweeping, but concrete, policy idea
It is not enough to be for change – everybody is, or is trying to be. To make it stick, Obama needed, and needs, to put forth an easy-to-grasp grand proposal, one that would encapsulate what his central message.
Hollywood calls this “high concept.” That’s part of what’s helping GOP Veep candidate Sarah Palin. She has a “high concept” identity already as a hockey mom, hunter and blunt speaker of conservative voter values. Whoever thought in the 1950s that failed Democratic Presidential candidate (twice) Adlai Stevenson would become a pejorative political adjective? But Obama’s danger is he could seem too Stevenson-esqe for a 21st century America thriving on controversy, blunt multimedia-disseminated sound bites and “GOTCHA” exchanges versus low key, serious issue discussion on such trivialities as the economy, ailing banks, and health care. What’s the reality about how our politics operates and how messages need to be promoted and marketed? Is he doing that?
Remaining trapped in professor-observer speak
When you listen to Obama, it sometimes feels like you’re hearing a smart but distant analysis of the political scene. He sounds like a writer or teacher, but not the leader of a political crusade.
See all of the above. Like it or not, voters WILL go the candidate with whom they feel more empathy. Trite but true…
Failing to attack McCain early
Obama was wary of attacking a man who had suffered so much during the Vietnam War – an understandable emotion. But that wariness, combined with Obama’s natural inclination to be seen as the nice guy (one who lets others do the knifing) lead to an unfortunate result.
OR failing to attack and waiting too long to respond and then being on the defensive. For more than a year many Democrats have harped on two things (1) they will not fall into the same trap this year as in many other years of not responding or being on the defensive (2) a top priority is getting someone into the White House who can halt the Supreme Court’s tilt to the right.
The fact is: the Obama campaign seems to be inexorably heading down a road where it seems bound and determined to repeat past Democratic campaign decision (or non-decision) failures. And many Democrats who talked about how crucial the Supreme Court was seemingly don’t consider the Supreme Court that vital a factor anymore.
Fineman’s verdict:
Obama seems to want to do things on his own, and on his own terms. It’s understandable. Obama has his own crowd – from Chicago, from Harvard, and from a new cadre of wealthy, Ivy-educated movers and shakers.
“He’s an arrogant S.O.B.,” one of the latter told me today. “He wants to do it his way, and his way alone.” But politics doesn’t work that way. And as Obama should know, or is about to find out, that everyone needs a little help.
Help…before it’s too late…
Is it too late already?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.