“He’s been hurt by nagging questions about his leadership experience as the GOP tries to shift the election from a referendum on Republican economic policies to a test of whether Obama is up to the job of president”, wrote the excellent Glenn Thrush of Politico.com about Barack Obama.
That’s exactly what happened to Kerry in 2004. Team Rove managed to make the election a referendum on Kerry’s character, not about Bush’s wreaking of havoc. If Team Obama allows the same to happen this time, they will lose the election in a grandiose way. And they will have deserved it.
UPDATE: Arianna Huffington also hits the nail on the head. Let’s see if Team Obama will listen. But I’m starting to wonder whether there’s a new problem on the horizon… For political journalists, the “McCain is just like Bush” line is getting a little stale. Being journalists, they’re in want of ‘new’ lines. Obama will thus have to repackage his ‘McCain is Bush’ line in several new ways, or they’ll simply start to ignore it.
Communicatiestrateeg en schrijver van het boek ‘Megafoonpolitiek‘. Op Twitter te vinden als @kajleers. Politiek bewust, voormalig financieel-economisch journalist, muziekmaker, professionele kletskous, schrijver. Geeft ook social media-trainingen, denkt graag met je mee over communicatiestrategie. En ja, content is en blijft King.
5 reacties op “QUICK: Politico hits the nail on the head”
Spot on, and it’s happening. For however much change Obama is promising, he has so far run the Same Old Democrat campaign. Afraid to take off the gloves, wanting to play too nice, while Republicans have used the same Rovian tactics: dirty, underhanded and dishonest, and they WORK!
Alas, when will they learn?
This is what Team Clinton feared. But we’ll see – let’s find out if David Axelrod wised up in 2004…
that said, you have to be amused watching the blogosphere freak out when faced with a convention bounce for the R’s. like i pointed out earlier, Dems have this nasty habit of thinking their candidates deserve to be swished into office by acclamation. First sign they might have a real fight, these people fly into a panic.
I’m sorry, I’m passed being ‘amused’. I saw this happen in 2000 with Gore, and then with Kerry in 2004.
I’m passed being ‘amused’, I’m now at ‘why don’t we simply give up on this country’?
It’s hilarious to see Americans criticise Putin these days
I guess the word I’m looking for is bemused rather than amused. But, “give up?” What’s that even mean?