Obama's Axelrod Is Busted

There is a discussion going on at Talk Left (which has banned me as a commenter - boo frickin hoo) about Obama playing the race card. Some of the comments are quite amusing. I'm going to pick the best of the lot (something like 200+ in the lot) and post them so you needn't spend as much time in the fever swamps as I did.

The bigger irony
by gyrfalcon on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:15:15 AM EST

to me is that the Very Serious charge against the Clintons initially, by Josh Marshall very strongly and by others in actual media, was that the Clintons were dropping subtle racialized hints precisely in order to provoke a defensive reaction from Obama on race so that he would end up having to define himself as a black man (which of course nobody had noticed up to that point).

And now here we are in the general, and who starts talking about race with zero provocation?

Huh. Maybe McCain would
by Cream City on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:31:35 AM EST

not have noticed that Obama never had a whit of experience -- in the military, on a committee, even one where he showed up -- for CiC. That's what an Obaman in my family told me when blaming Senator Clinton, she of armed services committees and such, for bringing Obama's inexperience to McCain's attention.

Ah-ten-shun!

Ludacris still on his iPod, even though Obama said
by catfish on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 09:08:19 AM EST

he was concerned about his daughters hearing those types of lyrics (but Ludacris is a "great talent" and a "great businessman.) Notice they had a spokesperson denounce the lyrics of the latest rap, where he called Hillary a b**.

Have you noticed how Michelle and BO
by Shainzona on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:54:05 AM EST

slip out of their "Harvard diction" into AA speak when they appear before certain audiences? I remember seeing one video of Michelle (I think in SC) when you would have thought she was right off the streets of some big city, talking about "folks" and "you know".

It was. It was also very wrong of
by masslib on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:25:17 AM EST

Obama to run around SC and imply to african american audiences that the Clintons were trying to "hoodwink", "bamboozle" and play them the ole "hokey doke". I think BC was pissed and he handled it poorly.

Well stated!
by EL seattle on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 11:03:52 AM EST

I agree completely that "Yes, it was racial but not racist."

They say that when you're carrying a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. This campaign is bound to have a lot of challenges for the Obama team. Some of these challenges are not related to race at all. Some are slightly related to race. And some will actually be racist matters. But for folks to cry "racist!" at every problem is as productive as using a hammer to fix a crack in a windshield.

They are quite a pair of actors/frauds.

and the revisiting
by ccpup on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 09:07:45 AM EST

of how the media played the race card against the Clintons with Obama is yet another unfortunate and angry reminder to those who supported Clinton just what kind of candidate Obama really is and how the Clintons were unfairly and savagely maligned.

Not exactly the best way to get all aboard the Unity Express. Funny, though, how it looks like the underside of a bus.

Huh.

And to shut down legitimate criticism
by BernieO on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:26:56 AM EST

by making opponents fear they will be portrayed as racists. I have heard several pundits say that calling Obama arrogant is racist, even though this was and is a common criticism of Bush.

Ah, must have been pundits here
by Cream City on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:42:41 AM EST

coming to visit TL when they tied up threads with the same line here the last couple of days, saying that "arrogant" is racist.

Unfortunately, I know a lot of arrogant folks. Wait 'til I tell them that they're black.

Bet they will be shocked
by BernieO on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:49:47 AM EST

to find that out.
Hilarious!

And Dems fight back
by ruffian on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 09:47:28 AM EST

by whining about Paris and Britney in the ads.

Didn't obama compare himself
by PssttCmere08 on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:43:21 AM EST

Paris or Britney waaaay back when?

Yes, he compared himself to Paris Hilton
by Cream City on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:45:27 AM EST

a week after he got into the Senate. The link is on an earlier thread. Haven't seen it in media yet . . . but give it time. McCain camp has got it, I betcha.

However
by MichaelGale on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:44:26 AM EST

he will give a speech today to explain it all and the followers will be grateful and everything will be ok.

He will speak about being taken out of context and he will say that America has changed in re to race and he is grateful for that. He will state that this is the Old politics of the Republicans and McCain and he is for changing that. He will accuse McCain of dividing America when we all have to stick together. Then he will offer many comparisons to McCain and Bush and old politics.

In the end, everything will be okay and he will be hailed for his exceptional speech on Aug 2, 2008.

This is the crap I knew
by Stellaaa on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:05:13 AM EST

was going to happen. McCain now dominates the discussion and swoops all the Democratic issues under the table. Adios, replay Gore and Kerry.

After Axelrod swiftboated Hillary, I tell you, he has no play book for the GE. For such a "brilliant team" they are struggling with a cadaver and the cadaver is getting the best of them.

And
by cmugirl on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 11:03:13 AM EST

If this theme continues, it is not good for Obama. Many people, who are not racists, but just plain, regular people of all stripes, do not like hearing that they are considered racists. If that is the subtext coming from the Obama camp (And I believe it is - "If you don't for Obama, you must be a racist"), then people are going to think twice about voting for him -even those who might be disposed to do so.

Trying to make people feel guilty for something they haven't done or don't feel is a sure fire way to tick them off.

The race narrative you propose
by Valhalla on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:43:49 AM EST

is the same assuage-white-latte-liberal-guilt undercurrent that did work well for him in the primaries.

But now it's the GE. That riff does not work nearly so well with the general voting population, since the major demos that are susceptible to it are already supporting him, and made up a much higher percentage of Democratic voters than they do the general population.

Since that sub rosa meme has already been circulating for 6 months and has not been successful in garnering any significant additional support so far, it seems unlikely to be a winner going forward.

Yep, gays next
by lambertstrether on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 09:40:36 AM EST

Too bad Obama threw them under the bus, too, Reverend McClurkin.

Unless there's a subtext I've already missed.

He already threw "no off shore" drilling
by Radix on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:01:05 AM EST

under the bus. A big win for McCain, I might add.

I believe obama just "modified" his
by PssttCmere08 on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 11:02:15 AM EST

stance on off-shore drilling. Could "modified" be code word for flip-flopped?

Actually
by Steve M on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 11:04:37 AM EST

It was just a "refinement." And everyone agrees we need more oil refining.

Platform
by Miri on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 10:47:36 PM EST

"They want to win on a 'platform' of vague hopey-changey rhetoric, Millenial self-esteem boosterism, latte liberal white guilt expiation, and rapidly shiftable political platitudes regarding bread-and-butter issues."

This is not a political platform. It is an Oprah/Dr Phil show.

Obama is not running on ideas or policy. He is running on Hallmark card slogans like lets hold hands and get along.

This is why he is constantly flip flopping. He doesn't really stand for anything other than getting along. Which means if drilling will make us get along let drill!

This is the opposite of the FDR model. His presidency was based on ideas and policies. He was not worried about getting along. He didn't care if the republicans hated him.

Whew. That is more than enough for one day. Maybe two weeks. I think the consensus of these lefties is that the race card has been played and it can't be played again unless the deck gets reshuffled. i.e. Hillary gets the nod or in 2012.

I think Obama has dropped another point in the polls and the race (har) is all tied up. That is a very bad Omen for the Obama campaign this early in the season.

Obama has a very big handicap. He has only been in significant campaigns against Democrat opponents. (Alan Keyes was/is not significant) He doesn't know how to campaign against a serious Republican. Campaign tactics that work in Chicago and other Democrat enclaves (New York - Elliot Spitzer) are not going to work nation wide. Some one needs to tell Axelrod.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values