"Wonderful post, Glenn". Yeah the rightwingers like Glenn are starting to compliment Obama. That should be a big reason to have caution about pushing Obama into the top spot way too soon.
The rightwing may not know how to run wars or budgets, but they do know how to fight dirty when it comes to elections. Maybe they have had to do this since they represent the rich and have traditionally been a minority party. But whatever the case, they use the national media to put out positive messages about the Dems they WANT to run against ("Oh isn't Hillary formidable, she can really win" they say in a scary way) and to trash and smear those they fear ("John Kerry is finished after insulting the troops"), then some gullible Dems buy into that. Remember, the GOP praised Nader and Dean in the last two elections, and not enough Green lefties got wise in 2000.
Notice last week when MSNBC had a Dem and Repub talking head on to discuss the 2008 race. The Repub complimented Hillary and Obama (*like Glenn just did), brushed off Edwards as a lightweight, then slammed Kerry about how he supposedly "can't explain his Iraq position". As if the "flipflopper" smear was ever accurate or even important. And if only Bush would finally flipflop on Iraq, and everything else.
If Gore starts to look like he's running, expect him to get the same. If I were a GOP strategiest, Obama would make me nervous, but not afraid. I would construct a sly campaign to define him as "young", "brash", "cocky", "unqualified to lead" as commander in chief, then have surrogates run sleazy racist ads portraying him as some kind of a black Muslim uppity upstart with a swollen head and a past full of questionable activities, including using cocaine and dating white women. The election would be over before it began in the swing districts which are the only ones which really matter in a close national race. Also, what's to stop McCain from picking Colin Powell? Think about that. Who is more qualified to be commander in chief, Obama or Powell? |
