Obama May Just Be The Luckiest Politician Ever

[Yavin4]

Outside of Hillary Clinton, he has never had a truly worthy opponent. He ran against Alan Keyes for the Senate. He then drew John McCain and Sarah Palin for the presidency in 2008. Now, he draws Master of Foot in Mouth for the presidency in 2012.

Unreal.

[XemaSab]

1. I swear he's got wizards on his staff

The man makes it look SO EASY. His opponents just self-destruct while Obama sits there on the front porch drinking a beer and chuckling softly to himself.

[JI7]

2. it's not foot in mouth, it's just the real Romney

foot in mouth, gaffes etc is how we can describe what Biden or Rendell does at times.

but this tape just shows all his comments like how he doesn't care about the poor are the real romney.

[sakabatou]

3. Lucky? Possibly.

That or the GOP is full of crappy debaters/officials.

[tk2kewl]

5. the gop self-immolation is nearly complete

[Spazito]

4. I would posit it's not luck, regardless of whom Obama was running against...

he is brilliant in his campaign execution, chooses the best to be part of his campaign and would cause most opponents to self-destruct to one degree or another.

[frazzled]

6. But not the luckiest president

From day one, he got dumped on his desk a mammoth financial and economic crisis, two wars that weren't paid for, and a Congress hell-bent on preventing him from doing anything.

Still, to say he's been a "lucky" politician misses the point (Alan Keyes aside). 2008 was not a given for Obama at all, either with Clinton or McCain (until he botched up by picking Palin). Obama ran the tightest, most disciplined, most broad-based campaign in modern history then, as now. He's a consummate campaigner. It's not all luck.

[unblock]

7. it's not entirely luck.

winners attract more funds and better strategists, and also attract lesser opponents.

first, top notch candidates know to wait for an easier run.
second, more money flowing to the strong candidate means less of a money edge for the other guy.
third, having a strong, well-funded opponent means it's harder to create your own strong image.

frankly, if rmoney were running against (insert random, weak loser candidate here) he'd have a huge money edge, enough to create whatever image he wanted. and with a strong narrative of inevitability, the media would shrug off his bloopers as part of his charm or whatever.

[randome]

8. Obama is running a great campaign.

And it's just as important to know how NOT to overdo your response to your opponent's gaffes.

Obama's great talent is that he will stay calm no matter what.

It's both the GOP's weakness and Obama's talents that are in play. It is disingenuous to say that Obama is simply 'lucky'.