Former deputy assistant to Bush: Why Republicans Like Obama

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Why Republicans Like Obama
By Peter Wehner
Sunday, February 3, 2008; Page B07

Barack Obama is not only popular among Democrats, he's also an appealing figure to many Republicans....What is at the core of Obama's appeal?

Part of it is the eloquence and uplift of his speeches, combined with his personal grace and dignity. He seems to be a well-grounded, decent, thoughtful man. He comes across, in his person and manner, as nonpartisan. He has an unsurpassed ability to (seemingly) transcend politics. Even when he disagrees with people, he doesn't seem disagreeable. "You know what charm is," Albert Camus wrote in "The Fall," "a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question." Obama has such charm, and its appeal is not restricted to Democrats.

A second reason Republicans appreciate Obama is that he is pitted against a couple, the Clintons, whom many Republicans hold in contempt. Among the effects of the Obama-Clinton race is that it is forcing Democrats to come to grips with the mendacity and ruthlessness of the Clinton machine. Conservatives have long believed that the Clintons are an unprincipled pair who will destroy those who stand between them and power -- whether they are political opponents, women from Bill Clinton's past or independent counsels.

A third reason for Obama's GOP appeal is that unlike Clinton and especially John Edwards, Obama has a message that, at its core, is about unity and hope rather than division and resentment. He stresses that "out of many we are one." And to his credit, Barack Obama is running a color-blind campaign. "I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina," Obama said in his victory speech last weekend. "I saw South Carolina." That evening, his crowd of supporters chanted as one, "Race doesn't matter." This was an electric moment. Obama's words are in the great tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. Obama, more than any figure in America, can help bind up the racial wounds of America. In addition, for the past eight years, one of the most prominent qualities of the American left has been anger, which has served it and the country very poorly. An Obama primary win would be a move away from the politics of rage.

The one thing that will keep Obama's appeal from translating into widespread support among Republicans is that he is, on almost every issue, a conventional liberal....

(The writer, formerly deputy assistant to President Bush, is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102663.html?nav=hcmodule

[rodeodance]

1. ah BUSHIES FOR OBAMA--prob. a website with that name already? cool.

[The Delegates]

4. You know

I don't understand why bipartisan appeal is a bad thing. People seem to FAULT Obama for appealing to Republicans...that makes absolutely no sense, either logically or politically.

[rodeodance]

5. my emphasis was on the the Bushie.

[The Delegates]

7. Didn't mean you, really

But it's just something I see constantly on these forums.

[Trajan]

2. I would be quite pleased ...

to call Barack Obama 'Mr. President' ...

Hopefully Obama is just as attractive to republicans when they do our bidding by enacting progressive legislation, and not vice versa ...

[rodeodance]

3. "well-grounded"--sounds like he is taling about a puggy doggie.

[ThatPoetGuy]

6. I won't hold this despicable editorial against Obama.

Yes, those ruthless, eeevil Clintons, set out to "destroy" poor widdle "independent counsels" like Ken Starr, who were just minding their own business, doing their jobs innocently when those wicked Clintons attacked them.

And a "color-blind" campaign is a good thing, right? Pointing out that black people and white people get treated differently by the legal system is race-baiting. Black people go to prison for years for the same crimes that earn white people probation, but a good candidate doesn't talk about that. It's, like, not color-blind. "'Race doesn't matter.'"

"The racial wounds of America" are clearly caused by all those black people using affirmative action to steal jobs from white people. And all those black welfare queens, living high on our tax dollars. The only way we can heal those wounds is to be color-blind, right?

And those angry leftists! Their anger "has served... the country very poorly" for the last eight years. If only the left had quietly given their blessing to Bush's invasion of Iraq, the country would be much better off.

As I said, I'm not going to hold this editorial against Obama. But it does remind me of what we have to fight against; there are evil people out there, trying to harm the American people. The author of this article is one of them.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. I didn't post it against him, or for him, either. I think we need awareness...

of what's being said out there, no matter which candidate we support. I agree, though -- I really can't be supportive of anybody who is, or has been, part of the Bush administration.

[ThatPoetGuy]

9. That article was just sickening.

Ken Starr good, Clinton bad.

Racism good, social justice bad.

Conservatives good, liberals bad.

Night is day, east is west, right is wrong. Welcome to Conservativeland.