Somerby: If the RNC gets its way, Obama is going to get “Dukakised”

BurtWorm

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Thu Feb-28-08 01:24 PM
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Somerby: If the RNC gets its way, Obama is going to get “Dukakised”

Edited on Thu Feb-28-08 01:25 PM by BurtWorm

For the record: I voted for Obama, expect him to win the nomination, and will work for his election in the fall (or HRC's if she pulls out a victory). But I agree with Bob Somerby of Daily Howler that it is essential for Dems to be prepared for the sleaze the GOP is whipping up right now to turn Obama into an "alien presence," as Somerby so aptly puts it. No head in the sands this time, Dems. This is going to be an ugly, bloody war. We have to be ready to draw blood ourselves, metaphorically speaking.

In my opinion, from now till November, job 1 is making the Dem candidates deeply familiar and comfortable presences to the American people. Job 2 is demolishing GOP attacks in the cradle. Job 3 is turning their tactics back on them. By November, may the American people view John McCain as the unhinged, lying, sleazy, dried-up, washed-up, cowardly zero he has the full potential of becoming.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh022708.shtml

If the RNC gets its way, Obama is going to get “Dukakised” in the coming months. Our guess: In the main, he will not be treated as a liar/flip-flopper/reinventer, as Clinton, Gore and Kerry were treated. Instead, he’ll be treated as an unsettling alien presence, much as Dukakis was played (except more so). The Democratic Party has never nominated a more decent person than Michael Dukakis. But by the time the RNC got through, he was a person with a funny name and olive skin who: 1) “had a problem with the pledge of allegiance;” 2) looked funny riding around in a tank; 3) may have had some sort of mental illness (that was voiced by Reagan himself); 4) was “a card-carrying member of the ACLU;” and 5) had released Willie Horton. Almost surely, similar themes will be voiced against Obama—and yes, there’s material to work with. (The fact that you don’t care about some concern doesn’t mean it isn’t a danger.) In the process, you’re going to hear a lot about Obama’s minister, Jeremiah Wright. Josh didn’t notice, but that’s where Russert ended up with his questions about Farrakhan. And this is a potential problem in the fall, although Josh doesn’t seem to know this. (What a gigantic surprise! This is the man who thought that Gore had everything going for him!)

Wright has said and done various things that are, for better or worse, substantially out of the mainstream. Personally, we don’t care about these matters, but some other voters most likely will—depending on how these matters are treated. Obama handled Russert’s questions extremely well last night (although Russert didn’t push the Wright angle as hard as others will). But liberals and progressives need to get their own thoughts together about these questions. Unless we don’t care who wins.

Yelling race/race/race has been very effective in this year’s Democratic campaign. A long string of hacks and pander-bears turned the Clintons into slobbering racists; this approach played a significant role in the campaign’s turn-around. But almost surely, that approach will work less well in the general election. When questions are raised about Obama’s (fairly close) relationship with Wright, it won’t be helpful to play the race card. Dems will need more skillful answers—if we want to win.

...

We need to plan for what is to come. On this matter, Josh displayed a bit of a tin ear last night. Then again, people like Josh were just so brilliant during the War Against Gore—and later, again, on the road to Iraq! Given the gentleman’s endless clairvoyance, why would anyone listen to blundering screeds from people like us—from people who understood the shape of Campaign 2000 on the very day it began? Why not go with a boy like Josh, who was till pretending he didn’t know squat in the summer of 2002? Josh was playing you for fools at that time—just as he did with Dear Matt.