Punching Above His Weight
CAPTAIN ED
The AP wonders whether the Barack Obama boomlet has run its course. According to political reporter Nedra Pickler, Democrats have been wondering where the beef is, too:
"The voices are growing louder asking the question: Is Barack Obama all style and little substance?
The freshman Illinois senator began his campaign facing the perception that he lacks the experience to be president, especially compared to rivals with decades of work on foreign and domestic policy. So far, he's done little to challenge it. He's delivered no policy speeches and provided few details about how he would lead the country. ...
The differences were on display Saturday in Las Vegas, where the Democratic candidates answered questions about health care.
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, the only other candidate to serve less time in elective office than Obama, described in detail his health care plan to provide insurance for all Americans. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton doesn't have a written plan yet, but no one questions her expertise, since she was the chief proponent of the issue during her husband's presidency. ...
David Peter, a child support case worker and member of the SEIU in Las Vegas who was also in the audience, said Obama may have been better off not participating in the forum. Peter is a local organizer for anti-war candidate Dennis Kucinich, but said he was impressed with Clinton's health care plan and disappointed in Obama.
"He wasn't prepared for it," Peter said. "I saw him speak here about a month ago and it was on his issues and just on sort of introducing himself to the people and I thought he was much better on that speech than he was in this forum."
What a shock! The candidate with an entire two years of experience in national office turns out to be a policy lightweight. Who'd a-thunk it? It had to hurt that Obama got compared to John Edwards, widely considered an empty suit himself, and found wanting.
In 1984, Walter Mondale flummoxed Gary Hart by asking, "Where's the beef?" when debating the issues. Hart had a habit of speaking in nonspecifics, and Mondale rightly pinned him down on his inability to give specifics on his policy initiatives. Of course, Hart had been in office for over nine years at that point, unlike Obama, who has more of an excuse for his superficiality on policy.
I'm not even certain he wanted to run in this cycle; he may be a lightweight, but he's not stupid. Obama has to know that his thin experience would not generate confidence in his ability to lead the nation. Obama would do better to finish his term in the Senate and then win the governorship in Illinois, coming back in 2016 for the nomination a much stronger candidate -- and still at the young age of 54.
The more Obama campaigns and the veneer wears off, the more people will understand him to be a neophyte. Those of us who can count already knew this. For those who failed to realize that a two-year track record would reveal inexperience and a lack of depth, I award the Captain Louis Renault award. Shocked, shocked they must be who find Obama and his focus on "new politics" to be as substantive as gossamer.
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