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To Bear Any Lightweight

The talk now about Obama, Bush, McCain and appeasement is about Obama’s tough pushback on dirty Republican attacks. Moderate Voice admiringly rounds it up:  

So the Democrats are responding faster, they have a presumptive candidate who turned a trap into media and political gain, and the Democrats will find more rapid coverage from the new media and also be dealing with a mainstream media that has been burned by Bush and the Republicans over the past few years.

Obama may be no John Kennedy, but in this instance he proved he was no Michael Dukakis or John Kerry.

And Democratic leaders’ super-quick responses falling in line behind him also suggested that the Democrats of 2008 are….so far at least (and the campaign is still young)…not the Democrats of 2004.
 

That’s great. As a candidate he’s toughened up, grown a set. Showing he’s “no Michael Dukakis or John Kerry” is certainly a key bar to reach, if you think he’s managed that. Now all he needs to do is demonstrate that, in addition to contradicting Republicans on points of rhetoric, he’s actually willing to get tough on terrorists and nations that support terrorism, toughen up on backing allies in terror-ridden neighborhoods, bear any burden, etc. Given his statements on that, the company he keeps, I’m not sure how he does that.

Washington Post’s The Fix lists the lessons of the “Knesset Kerfuffle” as follows:

First, it showed that despite the fact that Bush is winding up his second term and battling charges of lameduck-ism, he still an unmatched ability to drive the political dialogue in this country.

Make no mistake: This was a pre-planned strategy by the Bush campaign to re-inject foreign policy into the presidential campaign in a way that many Republicans believe will ultimately be beneficial to McCain. Deride Bush — and his strategic team — if you will, but remember that Team Bush managed to get their man elected president and then reelected in the face of growing concerns about the war in Iraq and declining popularity numbers. Bush’s political judgment since 2004 has proved somewhat suspect, but to dismiss his ability to understand and effectively analyze the political landscape could be a mistake on the part of Democrats.

The second lesson of the Knesset Kerfuffle is that the Democratic presidential nomination race is over. Amid all of the “he said, he said” between Obama and McCain/Bush, the one figure that has been almost entirely absent is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Can you imagine that happening even three months ago?

The third, and most important lesson, is that Obama is ready and willing to fight Republicans over foreign policy and national security concerns.

Obama has demonstrated he’s up to a full-blown kerfuffle. Cillizza correctly picked out the key kerfuffle fact, however, something the Democrats have failed to recognize to their own detriment. Bush is still president. He can still drive the debate. It’s got to be galling. 

Protein Wisdom: Welcome to the NFL, Barack!

Hotair: Barack Obama, Neocon.

Malkin: Obama, appeasement, Bill Cosby and shop class.

Topics: pols

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:28 am on Saturday, May 17, 2008

5 Responses to “To Bear Any Lightweight”

1. Obama Response To Bush McCain "Appeasement" Charge Shows Big Changes (UPDATED) Says:
   May 17th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

   [...] For other views on this issue be sure to read Jules Crittenden, Mahablog and Oliver [...]

2. Ben Says:
   May 17th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

   Now all he needs to do is demonstrate that, in addition to contradicting Republicans on points of rhetoric, he’s actually willing to get tough on terrorists and nations that support terrorism, toughen up on backing allies in terror-ridden neighborhoods, bear any burden, etc.

   All he needs to do, to satisfy a good chunk of the electorate, is declare any suggestion that he isn’t tough on terrorists, etc, to be unfair, mean-spirited and “continuing the failed policies of the Bush admin”.

3. Michael Lonie Says:
   May 17th, 2008 at 11:51 pm

   Bush mentioned the word “appeasement” and Obama and the whole Democratic Party stood up and shouted “You’re tallking about us.” Yeah, that was a really skilfull response to a speech that never mentioned any Democratic or even contemporary politician in that context. He did mention a senator from 1939, but that was William Borah, Republican Progressive from Idaho.

   Bush exhibited a general shoe. Obama put it on and loudly announced, at the top of his voice, that it fit perfectly. Then all his followers shouted that the fit was perfect too. I thought these clowns were political pros, not neophyte amateurs.

4. MikeH Says:
   May 18th, 2008 at 1:52 am

   Shhhh, Mike, don’t wake them up( very small exclamation point at exceedingly low volume)

5. Fatty Bolger Says:
   May 19th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

   See, it’s all part of the liberal worldview. It’s impossible that anybody would actually prefer the ideas of a Republican candidate, therefore, Republicans win only through the use of dirty tactics. Said tactics need not be in evidence; using this unassailable logic, they can be assumed to exist, and rightly vilified. (Or should that be righteously vilified?)

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