In casting himself from the beginning as a fresh-faced candidate who has not spent a great deal of time in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama clearly sought the “outsider” mantle in the 2008 election. Running as the outsider promising “change” and “hope” was a politically pitch-perfect strategy for an electorate who are largely dissatisfied with the current administration and its policies. This was also a deft tool for countering claims that Obama lacked the experience or qualifications required for the presidency. By contrast, Hillary Clinton’s inability to read the collective mood of the voters resulted in a campaign with the wrong tone and message, and is a primary reason why she lost the race for the nomination. By the time Hillary realized that “change” was the buzzword of this election year, Obama had already opened up a considerable lead in delegates that he has never relinquished.
Left largely unaddressed as Obama campaigned was the issue of his race, and that was exactly the way he and his strategists wanted it. Obama did not want to be known simply as “the black candidate”, a label previously applied to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and one that does not paint a portrait of electability. It was an effective gambit as indeed, part of Obama’s wide-ranging appeal initially was his ability to seemingly transcend the issue of race, fashioning himself as a “post-racial candidate” and attracting the support of African-American and white voters alike. This carefully crafted strategy was executed to near perfection until March, when the controversy over his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, threatened to derail it. In response to the media firestorm over Wright, Obama gave a speech in Philadelphia designed ostensibly to serve as damage control. He also shrewdly used the opportunity and attention to address the much broader and more complex issue of race relations in America. In some sense, his efforts paid off and, with the help of the majority of the media, he not only managed to (at least temporarily) put the Wright fiasco behind him, he also managed to deliver a speech that was almost universally lauded. It may have been a Pyrrhic victory of sorts, however, because in taking the issue of race head-on, he lost much of the transcendent, “post-racial” magic he had previously enjoyed.
As Obama’s strategy for his General Election battle with John McCain begins to take shape, watch for Obama and his campaign to attempt to use his inexperience and his race as veritable shields against any and all criticism. If this act of political jujitsu is successful, it very likely will lead to an Obama victory in November.
The strategy was first evident when Obama gained “front runner” status and began to attract the scrutiny and political barbs that accompany it. If Hillary Clinton attempted to contrast herself with Obama or questioned his readiness for the highest office in the land, the Obama Campaign immediately accused her of employing “old-style Washington politics”. For someone with negatives as high as hers, Hillary could not risk being viewed any more unfavorably than she already was, and so she was forced to curtail asking questions about Obama that are absolutely relevant in a presidential election. Is a first-term senator who has been running for the Oval Office since essentially day one in the senate really qualified for the presidency? This is a legitimate question. But if Hillary asked the question, she was tagged as just another cynical, mud-slinging Washington politician. The media, largely “in the tank” for Obama, allowed the questions to go unanswered and perpetuated the impression that Clinton was out of bounds in asking them.
When Obama’s association with Reverend Wright threatened to torpedo his campaign, the same strategy was employed, with race now injected into the mix. In his Philadelphia speech, Obama himself arguably played “the race card” when he seemed to imply that the anger expressed by Wright was something that white Americans should not find surprising, and something that could not be understood or appreciated by those who were not black themselves:
If John McCain wants to defeat Barack Obama in November, he would be foolish not to contrast his decades of experience with Obama’s lack thereof. And while it is unlikely that McCain himself will raise the Reverend Wright issue, it will certainly be raised by independent “527 groups”, and perhaps even by the Republican National Committee or other groups not directly affiliated with the McCain Campaign. When pressed on either, however, watch for Team Obama to attempt to turn these potential vulnerabilities into strengths, and to cast Obama as being above the fray by branding the contrasts and questions as more of the same Washington politics, as simply distractions from the issues that matter, or even as racist in nature. Should the majority of the mainstream media continue to be complicit in this effort, it is a near certainty that Obama will never have to fully address many questions for which the American people deserve answers.
(This post can also be seen at Splice Today: http://splicetoday.com/)
If Obama actually uses inexperience as a shield, it will cost him the election. Obama will want to differentiate himself from McCain by saying he is a fresh face; he will not want to emphasis his inexperience. On the other hand, McCain will utter inexperience every other word when talking about Obama for the next 6 months. Ultimately, the country will literally decide between a fresh face and an old face. Because McCain is as far left as a Republican can be, the differences in policies will blur in the eyes of the general electorate and the focus will come back to their faces.
ReplyDeleteBrando: Thanks for reading, and thanks for the comments. I agree with you for the most part, however I think that the policy differences between McCain and Obama will be greater than you expect. While it's true that McCain is a fairly centrist Republican, Obama is NOT a centrist Democrat. The National Journal -- a completely nonpartisan publication -- ranked Obama as the #1 most liberal senator in the entire US Senate. (See the article here: http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/). So while I think that Obama may attempt to move to the center once he has officially/finally secured the Democratic Nomination, I think that his clearly very liberal voting record will be an issue, and I think the differences between Obama and McCain -- on policies and principles -- will be evident. Again, thanks for reading AND for commenting! -Bragg
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