Neighborhood Brawls Encouraged
Uniter, for divisiveness after he was against it, wants his adherents to become more obnoxious. via SF Chron:
“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face,” he said.
Of course, a lot of Obamists don’t need much encouragement, but I think he’s aiming his message at the somewhat more normal, civil Americans in his ranks. The same article buries that lede, starts off with some gratuitous McCain bashing as Obama blames the GOP candidate for the crisis on Wall Street.
“Sen. McCain bragged about how as chairman of the Commerce Committee in the Senate, he had oversight of every part of the economy. Well, all I can say to Sen. McCain is, ‘Nice job. Nice job,’” Obama said at a rally at a baseball stadium in Las Vegas. “Where is he getting these lines? The lobbyists running his campaign?”
Sounds like the last thing Obama wants now is experience, because that might put him in bed with … hang on, he’s already there.
As Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers shrivel into history, Barack Obama, John McCain and many other politicians are calling for more Wall Street regulation.
Perhaps campaign donations shelled out by both firms had something to do with the current state of the law.
Not surprisingly, Obama and McCain took in top dollar from the three firms: $625,409 for Obama and $579,000 for McCain …
McCain has at least three major volunteer fundraisers who bundle donations from others on Wall Street and environs. McCain voluntarily discloses the occupations of his bundlers. Obama does not.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who are running for president as economic populists, are benefiting handsomely from Wall Street donations, easily surpassing Republican John McCain in campaign contributions from the troubled financial services sector.
It is part of a broader fundraising shift toward Democrats, compared to past campaigns when Republicans were the favorites of Wall Street.
Some Democrats worry that the influx of money will make their candidates less willing to call for increased regulation of financial markets, which have been in turmoil after a wave of foreclosures on sub-prime mortgages.
These concerned Democrats argue that their candidates, and presumptive Republican nominee McCain, should be willing to push for financial institutions to accept more government regulation – in exchange for likely future bailouts, such as the recent deal the Federal Reserve orchestrated for JPMorgan Chase & Co. to take over Bear Stearns Cos.
“I want to hear Clinton, Obama and McCain talk about a quid pro quo,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist with the Democratic-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “If we don’t hear it, especially from Democrats, it makes sense to ask why not and ask if they are inappropriately cozy with the financial services industry.”
The flow of campaign cash is a measure of how open-fisted banks and other financial institutions have been to politicians of both parties. Concern is rising that “no matter who the Democratic nominee is and who wins in November, Wall Street will have a friend in the White House,” said Massie Ritsch of the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign donations. “The door will be open to these big banks.”
Sen. McCain of Arizona got off to a slow start in presidential campaign fundraising. Having clinched the Republican nomination, he could gain momentum in attracting Wall Street money.
For now, though, Sen. Clinton of New York is leading the way, bringing in at least $6.29 million from the securities and investment industry, compared with $6.03 million for Sen. Obama of Illinois and $2.59 million for McCain, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Those figures include donations from the investment companies’ employees and political action committees.
Pretty impressive for a first-term senator who hasn’t actually managed to do much on the national stage, but knows how to rake it in. It’s been a priority for a while. Washington Post, April 2007:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama ran ahead of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) on their home turf in the first quarter, raising cash from the biggest investment banks on Wall Street.
Anyway, back to SF Chron, which notes “The feistier, more sarcastic tone came as worried Democrats urged Obama to get tougher and show more passion. Obama has tried to assure donors and voters that he’s been schooled by Chicago politics.” Fornutately for McCain-Palin, Obama appears to be following the advice of the lefty rabble, which has shown its ability to elevate previously little known pols to great heights, making them folk heroes in the minds of American voters.
Related, Henninger to McCain at WSJ: Don’t Waste Palin.
The media is turning the news into a presidential video game. “Hurricane Ike” or “Wall Street Meltdown” appears onscreen, and the media boots up Barack Obama and John McCain to see how well they talk the problem. Mostly they are speaking gobbledygook about things they barely understand. Whatever a credit default swap is, I’m against it. The public is left to wonder if they are voting for a commentator in chief or commander in chief.
The credit-market turmoil is serious, but no campaign has the information Treasury or the Fed are using to work the problem.
Rather than be dragged into the path of the financial storm, the McCain campaign especially needs to refocus on its postconvention momentum. It needs to worry about wasting the political capital Gov. Sarah Palin deposited in the Bank of McCain three weeks ago.
Once Mr. McCain picked Mrs. Palin as his running mate, he demoted “experience” and elevated a government “reform” message. It was the right thing to do. Presidential voters are ambivalent about Beltway-marinated senators like Mr. McCain and Joe Biden. John McCain’s edge is his famous reputation as a reform maverick. So far, though, he is not casting his reform message in large enough terms.
John McCain should be playing up Palin’s popularity and resume of reform, Wonder Land columnist Daniel Henninger tells Kelsey Hubbard. (Sept. 18)
Washington is arguably at its lowest ebb in the public mind since before World War II. Join that fact to Sarah Palin’s personally gutsy and professionally strong reform credentials, and Mr. McCain has the chance to offer voters a reform presidency in historic terms.
Yes, the Obama campaign is trying to hang the Bush presidency around his neck. Mr. McCain knows — and should give — the answer to that: Voter disgust with Washington goes far beyond George W. Bush.
The rest here.
Meanwhile, newly minted FOO* Karl Rove at WSJ with advice for Obie:
The idealism and discipline that led to Mr. Obama’s early primary victories has been replaced by unattractive attacks on Mr. McCain. Both campaigns have engaged in a tit-for-tat, but because Mr. Obama ran on “turning the page” on “old politics,” he suffers more than Mr. McCain, especially since his attacks are more fundamentally unfair.
It is a mistake for Mr. Obama to spend a lot of time attacking Mr. McCain. In the past week, he, his surrogates or his ads have mocked Mr. McCain’s inability to use a keyboard (an activity, like combing his hair or tying his tie, that Mr. McCain has difficulty with because of war wounds), claimed his administration would be riddled with lobbyists, tried to make an issue of his age and successful cancer treatment, missed no chance to suggest he’d be President George W. Bush’s third term, and called him “dishonorable.” This last charge is particularly foolish. It’s one of the last things voters will believe about John McCain.
The people who can be won over by shouting “McCain is Bush” long ago sided with Mr. Obama. That message does not resonate with undecided voters. The Democrat should instead spend every moment spelling out what he would do to address the country’s challenges.
This election is not fundamentally about Mr. McCain. It is much more about people’s persistent doubts concerning Mr. Obama. The only way to reassure them is to provide a compelling, forward-looking agenda. That sounds obvious, but the Obama campaign seems to be betting on making Mr. McCain an unacceptable choice by striking at his character. Mr. McCain has absorbed many harder blows than anything the Obama campaign can throw his way.
In a revealing slip in an interview with ABC recently, Mr. Obama said, “If we’re going to ask questions about who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily.” That he is in fact winning the contest for the most negative campaign could well spell his defeat.
* FOO: Friend of Obama. Rove’s prior considered briar-patch counsel; Train in Vain, Rove Dissects Obama.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:55 am on Thursday, September 18, 2008
6 Responses to “Neighborhood Brawls Encouraged”
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September 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Obama appears to be following the advice of the lefty rabble, which has shown its ability to elevate previous little known pols to great heights, making them folk heroes in the minds of American voters.
Ah, I love the smell of sarcasm in the morning.
Hey, anyone heard from DKos heartthrob Paul Hackett lately?
Didn’t think so.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:37 am
The economy is about to take another direct hit, what with Hurricane Ike in Texas and its accompany almost-hurricane storm in Ohio. Millions without power for days, and many without even running water, unable to go to work, and children using up their snow days because the schools had no power. I’m not sure how this will affect the election, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that people will see the urgent need to reform the way our government operates (and I don’t mean Obama’s hopey changey pie in the sky, either).
September 18th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Rebecca, that entire paragraph is a non sequitur.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Forgive me, I was unclear. It comes with being rattled by being three and a half days without power. Let me rephrase:
I am afraid that the recent natural disaster hits on the economy, coupled with the mortgage crisis, et al, will aid Obama’s negativity campaign — the usual, it’s all Bush’s fault, and McCain’s fault by default. Frankly, I believe that if anyone could tank the economy, it would be Obama and his pseudosocialist/Chicago machine ideas about how government ought to be run.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“Beltway-marinated senators”
Excellent term.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Now I got it - and spot on.