Obama: Bye Bye Mr Nice Guy?

[illinoisprogressive]

It may be bye-bye Mr. Nice Guy for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who said Thursday that he is opening the "next phase" of his campaign and plans to more pointedly and aggressively go after frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"Now is the time where we're going to be laying a very clear contrast between myself and Senator Clinton," the Illinois Democrat told CNN. "Not just on the past, not just on Iraq, but on moving forward."

Obama's campaign has focused heavily on his biography, and he has been criticized by some supporters for not more forcefully challenging the New York senator, who has a wide lead in national polls and in some early voting states.

A tired looking Obama, speaking from Chicago on a day off from the campaign trail, said he is not concerned about his polling numbers and does not expect them to change soon.

"Senator Clinton remains the default candidate nationally," he said. "Those national polls aren't going to change too much until the early state votes take place."

An area where Obama plans to further challenge Clinton is on a recent Senate "Sense of the Senate" vote that the United States should designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. She and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, a close Obama ally, voted as part of a strong majority to pass the measure, while Obama skipped the vote to campaign in New Hampshire.

"This is one of the problems with running for president," Obama said. "You can't always anticipate which votes are which, but I put out a statement at the time stating that this was a bad idea and that I would have voted against it."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-071011obamaclinton,1,2783893.story

[cobalt1999]

1. "said he is not concerned about his polling numbers "

Yet he is changing his strategy. Sure he's not concerned..................

[Colobo]

4. They always said the campaign had different stages.

[cobalt1999]

9. Nothing against Obama, he's my close 2nd choice right now.

However, if his first "stage" was really working, he wouldn't need to change it. To me he does need a change of strategy because what he is doing is not working well.

[maximusveritas]

13. It's not that it's not working; it's just run it's course

As Katz said above, the campaign always planned to do this in multiple stages. The first was to introduce Obama to the country with mostly biographical stuff. The next stage is to start to focus more the specific issues and the differences between himself and the other candidates. There was always going to be a point where it was time to move on. There was no way Obama was going to catch up to and pass Hillary based only on purely biographical stuff.

[Colobo]

14. Voters know who he is now. This is the time to step it up.

There is plenty of time.

[Sandaasu]

23. It's a preplanned phase, certainly.

This is the kinda of strategy his campaigns have used in the past, with great success, so it's safe tt say that this isn't a plan B, just the second part of plan A.

[Odin2005]

5. Sometimes it's better to coast in 2nd then sprint to the finish. n/t

[Brother_1969]

2. It's only a question of time now

The race for the Democrat nomination has strategically ended. Hillary is going to get the nomination. If Obama wants to best "prepare the battlefield" for his career, he will continue to be nice to her in order to preserve the option of being her running mate and, hence, become the odds on choice for the 2016 nomination. That's his best bet at this point.

[Colobo]

6. Of course, I don't agree. His future is bright with or without Hillary.

In fact, he has what it takes to defeat her in the primaries, and he will.

[Ethelk2044]

8. Hillary is not getting Shit. She will remain in the Senate

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Friends Don't Let Friends Post Drunk

:rofl:

[2rth2pwr]

3. "You can't always anticipate which votes are which, .." ?

He skips the vote and he still wants wiggle room?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. I Don't Know Why He Didn't Just Vote Against It And Be Done With It

It's too clever by half...

[maximusveritas]

16. He explains why in the article

and it's been explained multiple times here.
Senator Reid said the night before that Kyl-Lieberman and the Biden plan would not come up to a vote anytime soon. Then, the next day, after Obama was already in NH, he changes his mind for some reason and the vote comes forward.

[calteacherguy]

7. I see a couple of problems and challenges for Obama here.

First, I respect him. I think his "politics of hope" is a great message, and vision.

But there are two problems I see here.

1) It's going to be a challenge (not necessarily not doable, but a big challenge) to keep his "politics of hope" theme intact while making the contrast between himself in Clinton. He's going to have to fight to stay positive, or his whole message is lost and he will look like someone simply doing what is politically expedient, not staying true to the principles he laid out in the beginning. It's perfectly possible to have civil disagreement in politics, but in today's environment it's a challenge.

2) The Kyl-Lieberman vote hurts Obama more than Clinton, in my view. I just can't see how anyone voter will be able to square Obama's inaction on the measure with his assertion that it was nearly tantamount for a vote for war. If it was that important, as he claims, how could he not vote? Clinton, even if one disagrees with her, has explained her reasoning in great detail and stood her ground (in short, she's argued it gives leverage to apply economic pressure). Obama has claimed it's a vote of war and peace, yet took no action one way or the other. If I were he campaign manager I'd tell him to drop the tactic, because it's already backfiring. (I know Obama supporters will be suspect, because I support Clinton, but all I can tell you is that's my gut feeling, and I'd feel the same if the roles of Clinton and Obama were reversed on that vote.)

I see serious challenges for Obama going forward, centering on these two issues.

[hedgehog]

12. It's all a matter of perception

1. I read a posting offering an analysis of how Hillary has boxed Obama. If he doesn't attack her, then he is too wimpy to take on the Republicans. If he does attack her, then obviously he has abandoned the politics of hope. That analysis is true only if Hillary is allowed to define Obama's politics of hope. I believe that the politics of hope is based on the premise that if we work together, we can raise all boats. If Obama gets that message across, he breaks out of the box that Hillary has put him in.

2. The vote was 72 to 26. I don't see how Obama could have changed the result of that vote.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. It Seems Disingenuous To Slam Someone On A Vote You Didn't Even Bother To Make

"Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality”

-John F Kennedy

[Colobo]

17. What matters more: no vote, or a wrong vote?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. He Should Have Voted...

When the House voted on impeachment, George Miller left his California hospital room to go to Washington to vote against it...

"We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

-Dr. Martin Luther King

[killbotfactory]

22. They scheduled the vote when he was out of town

after telling him they wouldn't vote on the bill any time soon.

[illinoisprogressive]

19. from the beginning, the campaign has said they have everything planned and when

[illinoisprogressive]

20. Do I have to explain why Obama did not vote AGAIN???

[Colobo]

21. Many Hillarites don't care- they know her vote was a mistake and are trying to deflect.