Obama's Dilemma: Playing By Clinton Rules.

[Bushwick Bill]

Brooks makes some good points. I don't want to see BO go negative, I sort of would rather see him keep to his core theory. If Hillary has to mudsling and that's what the people want, they get what they deserve.

By DAVID BROOKS
Published: March 7, 2008

Barack Obama had a theory. It was that the voters are tired of the partisan paralysis of the past 20 years. The theory was that if Obama could inspire a grass-roots movement with a new kind of leadership, he could ride it to the White House and end gridlock in Washington.

Obama has built his entire campaign on this theory. He’s run against negativity and cheap-shot campaigning. He’s claimed that there’s an “awakening” in this country — people “hungry for a different kind of politics.”

This message has made him the front-runner. It has brought millions of new voters into politics. It has given him grounds to fend off attacks. In debate after debate, he has accused Hillary Clinton and others of practicing the old kind of politics. When he was under assault in South Carolina, he rose above the barrage and made the Clintons look sleazy.

<snip>

In short, a candidate should never betray the core theory of his campaign, or head down a road that leads to that betrayal. Barack Obama doesn’t have an impressive record of experience or a unique policy profile. New politics is all he’s got. He loses that, and he loses everything. Every day that he looks conventional is a bad day for him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/opinion/07brooks.html?_r=3&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[papau]

1. Obama is already into smears and lies - once the media exposes the obvious - after the nomination

most likely, it would be an easy win for McCain

[death to the DLC]

3. and Hillary is opening a can of worms

for GE that she won't be able to get a lid back on.

[kentuck]

2. OMG ! I agree with David Brooks!

The world is going to end.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. I think he should just do bigger speeches and rallies.

They are a strong point for him and they seem to drive HRC crazy. He should go for the world record of highest attendence at a rally. He could fill a 50000 seat venue, easily. Especially if he had someone like Springsteen performing.

[OhioBlue]

6. I agree.

she is soooo jealous of his ability to delivery inspiring and incredible speeches. rub it in her face. Go to Philly and give the speech of his life - celebrate. do it up. rock-n-roll, lights, a beach ball bouncing through the crowd.... let's have fun and celebrate the Political Process, an incredible candidate, and a chance to take our Country back from the current cabal.

let her give her boring, nails-on-a-chalk-board talk to a couple hundred people in a sweaty school gym.

[Not the Only One]

9. yep

He doesn't even get credit for giving wonkish speeches from the press or Hillary. Some of the favorable coverage he got was because of the rock concert feel to his events. The press liked being in the middle of that excitement. Just go into victory lap mode, Obama. Go back to what you were doing in the beginning, to bookend this nomination campaign. You have won this race. You're just waiting for Hillary to admit defeat.

[Texas Hill Country]

5. He was only ahead when everyone else was playing by his rules...

the rules of the game have now changed. And so much the better, cause the Republicans dont have any.

[jakem]

7. news: he is still ahead.

thanks for playing though!

:hi:

[Not the Only One]

8. Brooks is right

Obama has one very strong argument to be the nominee, the most pledged delegates. He got that argument because of his new way of running a campaign, his new message. It is impossible for Hillary to take that pledged delegate lead from him. Obama doesn't need to scrap his whole game plan. He just needs to literally stay alive and be in attendance in Denver and make his very strong case of having the most pledged delegates, if Hillary hasn't conceded by then. Don't worry about anything else, because there's nothing that can be done about that. Force Hillary to try to steal the nomination from him and call her on it when she does and use your army of delegates to make sure she doesn't get away with it. Hillary is a nuisance only. She only thinks she holds the cards because she says she does and she expects everyone to go along with what she decrees. You don't change what you're doing because of someone as irrelevant as that. Tell Hillary to beat you, Obama, and don't try to beat yourself.

[death to the DLC]

11. yes, stay on track,

she has nothing to offer but yesterday's tactics that everyone is sick of.

[Eurobabe]

10. I think Barack is regrouping and analyzing his strategy

for a fight with the "monster."

[Nine]

12. He rose above the barrage in SC?

Guess Brooks hasn't heard about this

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=aa0cd21b-0ff2-4329-88a1-69c6c268b304

Meanwhile, below the radar, the Obama campaign pushed the race-baiting angle hard, rehearsing and sometimes inventing instances of alleged Clintonian racial insensitivity. A memo prepared by the South Carolina campaign and circulated to supporters rehashed the King-Johnson matter, while it also spliced together statements of Bill Clinton's to make it seem as if he had given a speech that "implied Hillary Clinton is stronger than Nelson Mandela." (The case, with its snippets and ellipses, was absurd on its face.) The memo also claimed, in a charge soon widely repeated, that he had demeaned Obama as "a kid" because he had called Obama's account of his opposition to the war in Iraq a fanciful "fairy tale." And a few reporters, while pushing the Obama campaign's line that black voters had credible concerns about the Clintons' remarks, had begun to notice that the Obama campaign was doing its utmost to fuel the racial flames. "There's no question that there's politics here at work too," said Jonathan Martin of Politico. "It helps campaign to... push these issues into the fore in a place like South Carolina."

When asked about the race-baiting charges, Obama campaign spokeswoman Candice Tolliver roiled the waters: "Folks are beginning to wonder: Is this really an isolated situation or is there something bigger behind all of this?" Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., the Obama co-chair, as before, was more direct and inflammatory, claiming that the "cynics" of the Clinton campaign had "resorted to distasteful and condescending language that appeals to our fears rather than our hopes. I sincerely hope that they'll turn away from such reactionary, disparaging rhetoric." The race-baiting card was now fully in play.


And this?

In the current issue of Time magazine, Michael Duffy and Nancy Gibbs report on a meeting that took place in Chicago last Labor Day. All of Obama’s experienced advisers told him: “You gotta get down, get dirty, get tough.”

Obama refused. He argued that if he did that, the entire basis for his campaign would evaporate. “If I gotta kneecap her,” he said, “I’m not gonna go there.”

is utter tripe. It's a story told by the Obama people to make their candidate look good. Sometimes I marvel at the political naivete of people around here. You know, the Bush insiders also tell plenty of stories about how great Bush is behind the scenes. Do you believe those too?