Obama’s Nightmare
Jennifer Rubin - 09.11.2008 - 7:18 AM
This detailed bit of reporting from the McCain-Palin rally in Virginia explains why the Palin phenomenon is so dangerous for Barack Obama. Marc Fisher writes:
Eight working mothers from the Virginia Run development in Centreville went together to the Palin-McCain rally yesterday because Sarah Palin is “just like us.” This is something new. Nobody ever accused Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan of being just like us. “She justifies what we do every day,” said Beth Tweddle, who works in sales and carried a sign she drew herself, saying “We [heart] Pit Bull Palin.” Tweddle was already a McCain supporter, she said, “but Sarah just energizes us and got us out here because she does what we do, she lives like we do.” . . .For hours, I walked through the crowd talking to people, mostly women. Again and again, I heard variations on this idea: “She’s more like us than Obama, McCain or any of the others . . .She knows what we go through.”
Why is this potent stuff? Because Obama’s chances, in large part, rest on convincing average Americans that he understands their plight better than those rich, out-to-lunch Republicans. But if these people identify with Sarah Palin more than any of the other three presidential ticket participants, that’s not going to work.
It’s more than gender and it’s more than fascination with a political newcomer. It is Palin’s appeal as a real, not faux, member of the working class that strikes at the heart of Obama’s effort to reach middle and working class voters. It is no accident that Palin introduces her husband at each event (”a production operator in the oil fields up on Alaska’s North Slope, and he’s a proud member of the United Steelworkers Union, and he’s a world champion snow machine racer”). Todd Palin’s resume further emphasizes that these are regular people, not Washington creations.
How does a Harvard educated, Hyde Park resident who insulted Bible-clinging, gun-toting voters convince these very voters that he is on their side? If he can ever get back to talking about taxes and healthcare, I suppose he can tempt them with a bag full of goodies, but right now he can’t even get their attention.
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