Please list the horrible mistakes Obama has made in this campaign

[Armstead]

Obama is far from perfect. There are some things I wish he'd do differently. Mainly I'd like to see him Kick Clinton's Butt more forcefully, and stop being so reserved about it....I'd also like to see him adopt more of Edwards positions against corporzte dominance in clearer terms. And I guess he should be more specific about policies he would propose.

But seriously, what horrible mistakes has Obama made to make the pundits and Hillary supporters say he has "blown it" and the other claims. What horrible mistakes has he made?

He handled the Wright flap better than most politicians could. He made a verbal gaffe in a private meeting, but that would not have gone anywhere if Hillary had not decided to become Karl Rove in response to a statement she agrees with.

Otherwise, what terrible mistakes and screw ups has he committed? None that I can see.

Can anyone who is claiming that he is a terrible candidate who is screwing up his campaign and is not fit for the nomination give any real, concrete examples?

[stray cat]

1. Definitely some verbal gaffes - early on maybe not prepared enough with specifics

But overall he has done a tremendous number of things right to be this competitive over someone with Clintons' name recognition.

[papau]

19. No big mistake other than letting his campaign tell us our right wing GOP loving he is

there will be little movement to the left - no health plan - with Obama

Obama campaign is now saying their will be no universal health written by administration introduced to Congress - they will just encourage hearings

Previously the campaign told Kudlow of CNBC that they do not expect to pass any of the social programs promised - they are just campaign talk - and therefore Kudlow need not worry about any deficit increase because of Obama programs.

Likewise Canada was told by Obama campaign that NAFTA termination threat was just campaign talk - as was out of Iraq in 16 months.

Just what is the difference between what we should expect after an Obama win compared to a McCain win?

Only Hillary guarantees change will be fought for - Obama would be fighting for GOP love so as to "change the politics" in Washington.

[dkf]

2. He's threatened to annihilate millions of people...oh wait that wasn't him.

That was Hillary!

[CatsDogsBabies]

3. No terrible mistakes, but

I agree that he could be more specific.

[XemaSab]

4. Horrible?

Only describes one person in this race.

[LakeSamish706]

5. I don't think its a case of Obama having done anything that has pissed off...

the Clintons, I just think that for how long was Hillary lead to believe that she would be the nominee by the MSM to have it slip away by Obama? There in lies the problem I think.

[crankychatter]

6. If he was more clearly populist and anti-neoliberal, he'd be watching the debates from home

... he has stuck by his guns and kept his broad based appeal... and taken the tactical high road...

yup... I think he knows what he's doing...

ONE, horrible mistake perhaps... is he is running for President of the United States per our Constitition... People that want to entrench and expand the Imperial Executive are hopping mad...

pissing them off could have "horrible" repercussions... a necessary evil, though... and my hat's off to him.

[Armstead]

9. I think if he were more populist and anti-neo-liberal he'd be ahead

I believe that is a position that a majority (exclusing crazy conservatives and corporate oligarchs) supports on a gut level.

IMO if Obama were to use his considerable skills to present that in a way the mainstream recognizes the truth in, he'd be just as popular -- if not more so -- than he is now.

[crankychatter]

23. point taken... you know one of the most under reported demographics is

anti-war independents and republicans

I'm just noticing what the corporate press has done to every progressive since time immemorial...

look at all the fine, anti-war progressives and economic populists that are sitting on the bench?

look at how the media is frying Obama's ass now

I think he could produce the biggest landslide in US History

IF he were permitted to begin running solely for the GE NOW, without Clinton sniping at his heels

It could still happen.... GOD I WAS RELIEVED to hear about the Voter Registration drive beginning in May... I've been saying it for weeks.

I will be nearly full time... until November

I think we can turn the map blue... honestly

[GoesTo11]

7. Was born to African father and got named after him

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. He compared a Woman Prime Minister to a cockroach as a joke?

No wai,t that was Hillary.

[sandnsea]

10. He's the one that got ethics reform passed

He's the one that has the budget online so we know which corporations are getting our money. He's the one that has passed innovative education proposals. He's given specific speeches on poverty with very specific proposals. I don't know why this is ignored.

[Tatiana]

11. Mistake #1: He decided to launch a presidential campaign.

All the others pale in comparison to this "mistake" many Democrats believe Obama made.

He didn't "wait his turn."

He won't consent to being the VP on a Clinton ticket, even though he is leading in pledged delegates.

He happens to be black, which has forced this country to discuss the topic of race... something we're still uncomfortable discussing.

At least, this is what some of the good folk in Indiana (who are not necessarily opposed to Obama, but tell me they are voting for Clinton in the primary) say.

[Ian David]

12. Being born with dark skin was his first mistake.

Allowing his parents to name him Barack Husein Obama was his second mistake.

People who want to be President should really be more careful about what color they choose to be, and who they choose for their parents.

[Armstead]

15. Yes -- Guilty of "Running While Black"

But many misguided souls characterized that as an asset before.

I guess now that he is getting closer to actually being a nominee, they're deciding that it really is a horrible gaffe to aspire to be president if you are a Negro.

[boobooday]

13. THREE WORDS: NO FLAG PIN

The critical mistake that lost him the Nash McCabe vote!

[Bensthename]

14. Trying to run a clean moral campaign against the monster.

[murray hill farm]

16. I think he has been way too fair...

and way too kind and way too generous to Hillary. Her campaign, etc. has blown the silliest things into a media firestorm of ugliness about Obama....and it continues to actually work for her, so that she can claim that he is not electable....and then the media plays that again and again. She has a zillion things about her and her life that REALLY make her unelectable in the GE....and they will be blasted and blasted until she truly is unelectable. That is why the repugs want her to be the nominee....they know they can bury her. But they wont do it now, because they know just how to destroy her later.....now, they just want her to be the nominee...because the real war to destroy her will be easily won later. I believe that the dems who care about this election to do it now....blast her out now. She has no problem doing it to Obama. Lets expploit what the repugs already know and stop letting them run the decision as to who will be our nominee.

[Bensthename]

20. yup

:thumbsup:

[abbyg8r]

17. Underestimating how low the Clintons would go. n/t

[candice]

18. Insinuating that the Clintons are racists...

...when any one who knows anything about the Clintons knows that is a patent lie. That is when me and my mother jumped of the Obama ship. (My mother eliminated him when she heard Bama on TV say he'd hire the expertise to make up for his lack of experience--that doesn't work at the lowest level jobs, much less the highest one.) At that point, she'd still vote for him. After inciting racial discord during the Southern primaries and trashing the Clintons, she said she'd rather vote for McCain (and she's been a lifelong liberal Dem in the Deep South).

The Obama campaign was able to twist South Carolina political history into a "racial" attack and trash Bill Clinton early on.
Kind of similar to to some of the "racism" that colors Obama's biographies as the source of his despair, which in reality was caused by his missing parents.

Listen to Clinton:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxsrGUTcEUc

Then read a bit about how Obama has recast his life story to emphasize race in retrospect:


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-0703250359mar25,1,6124597.story?coll=chi-news-hed




But the reality of Obama's narrative is not that simple.

More than 40 interviews with former classmates, teachers, friends and neighbors in his childhood homes of Hawaii and Indonesia, as well as a review of public records, show the arc of Obama's personal journey took him to places and situations far removed from the experience of most Americans.

At the same time, several of his oft-recited stories may not have happened in the way he has recounted them. Some seem to make Obama look better in the retelling, others appear to exaggerate his outward struggles over issues of race, or simply skim over some of the most painful, private moments of his life.

The handful of black students who attended Punahou School in Hawaii, for instance, say they struggled mightily with issues of race and racism there. But absent from those discussions, they say, was another student then known as Barry Obama.
In his best-selling autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," Obama describes having heated conversations about racism with another black student, "Ray." The real Ray, Keith Kakugawa, is half black and half Japanese. In an interview with the Tribune on Saturday, Kakugawa said he always considered himself mixed race, like so many of his friends in Hawaii, and was not an angry young black man.
He said he does recall long, soulful talks with the young Obama and that his friend confided his longing and loneliness. But those talks, Kakugawa said, were not about race. "Not even close," he said, adding that Obama was dealing with "some inner turmoil" in those days.
"But it wasn't a race thing," he said. "Barry's biggest struggles then were missing his parents. His biggest struggles were his feelings of abandonment. The idea that his biggest struggle was race is ."

Then there's the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9.

[Armstead]

24. Yes Obama's supporters took some opf the things Clinton said wrong but....

Hillary did not have to compare him to Martin Luther King, as an eloquent but politically impotent Black man who need the help of a white president to get civil rights passed.

Nor did Bill Clinton have to compare his win in South Carolina to Jessee jackson.

I did hear that radio interview you linked to -- I also heard Bill Clinton denying what he said the previous day about his charges that Obama "played the race card."

Obama himself has not been sayoing or even insuating that the Clinton's are racists.

As for Obama's recollections of his personal history....I don't know but I don;t see anything particularly damning in the article about it. Certainly not any terrible political mistakes.

[donheld]

21. He could have handled the Donnie McClurkin thing better

[barack the house]

22. The media is swiftboatng, ignore them listen to novamradio.com and headonradionetwork.com

Without MSM and turning to progressive radio your life will be sweeter.

[Armstead]

25. Ecxcept they preach to the choir, rather than reflecting the zeitgeist that will...

..determine the outcome.

[Armstead]

26. While I was out....I haven't seen many takers on this

I mean serious takers who want to point to real gamechanging screw ups by Obama.

[Solon]

27. Well, the McClurkin incident showed that he's a two faced lying politician...

There were quite a few verbal gaffes, such as what he said about Pakistan, early in the campaign, and generally he's been far to timid on his own policy positions than you would want in a leader.

[PBS Poll-435]

28. Trying to be everything to everyone...

When he is satisfactory to a select few.

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Neither Clinton nor Obama has done anything horrible,"Rovian" or "Nixonian"

Here are the Obama gaffes committed by either him or his campaign that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. "Race Memo". This contained 3 lies that the RNC will be able to prove that the Obama camp knew were lies when they shared this document with the Huffington Post. Worse, Clyburn was spreading these lies and a bunch of MSM sites started spreading these lies at the same time. I suspect that the Obama camp got punked by Rove, i.e. someone fed the dirty oppo to someone in the Obama camp who then tried to pass the "work" on to Huffington Post which recognized the three lies and published the Memo. Can not rule out the possibility that there is a lose cannon in the Obama camp that does not realize the difference between primary politics and general election politics. I.e. thinks getting the nomination is all that matters. That Memo could be deadly in the general against McCain. He ought to be really worried that the MSM would not report on it at the time. That means that they want to give the appearance that he will win the nomination without the scandal "breaking" and then the RNC can "break" it later. If the memo story broke before he won the nomination then it would not count. That is why it is important that Dems discuss it now, and not wait until the general. Do what they did with Wright. Get it in the open and let Obama win Oregon or some other state afterwards so that it no longer counts.

2. "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)" Same thing. If these are coming from Axelrod, he needs to be fired. Someone in the Obama camp is a fool and I hope the people responsible have been dealt with.

3. Obama's own foot in mouth problem. "You're nice enough Hillary", "Cling to guns and Churches" just a couple of examples. He is a writer, so I know that he knows how things sound. If he needs more sleep, get more sleep. Words will sink him. They don't make him look evil or mean, just inexperienced.

4. NAFTA meeting behind his back. Is his campaign some kind of collective? Who is in charge? The answer should be Obama.This makes him look inexperienced, too.

5. The Harry and Louise health care flyers. Those have not helped his image among loyal working clss Democrats. Harry and Louise as synonymous with corporate greed and death of Americans through lack of health insurance. They made him look like a Republican.

6. Making a big deal about not taking money from lobbyists when he takes it from state lobbyists. As long as the press does not report this, fine. But, if they decide to "break" this story once he is running against the cash strapped McCain, watch out. Obama should be really worried about anything that the press is saving up. Their favorable treatment of him now is not niceness. It is doing a favor for McCain by giving him extra ammunition so that Karl Rove can break a scandal a week this October.

7. Saying he "never did a favor for Rezko". Don't ever be specific like that. That is like giving the press a target to shoot at. General election danger.

8. Saying he never heard Wright say words like that. Same thing. General election danger.

9. Propelling Sniper-gate to distract from Wright. I am worried about why there were 14 journalists on that flight and only 2 have stepped forward to give their account. Sinbad, an Obama supporter came forward the day after the Wright story broke to start the Sniper-gate story. CBS propelled Sniper-gate with some heavily edited footage. If one of the 12 other journalists is waiting until the general to suddenly "rediscover" photos, film, sound that show even a single gunshot, mortar round or instance of Clinton or Chelsea cringing, ducking or running on that Tarmac for even a second at the sound of distant gunfire, and if that journalist comes forward in the general, Sinbad and Obama are going to look like dirty tricksters. That would be a classic RNC dirty trick. If I was him, I would not have sent all those emails propelling the story. I don't think that the Obama team has prepared themselves enough for Rove.

10. Responding to attacks. I posted a while back that Bill Clinton would tell Hillary to provoke Obama and get him to come off his pedestal and spar with her. That is because Bill Clinton is smart. I guess the fact that Obama let himself get provoked proves that no one ever reads anything that I post. There is still time for him to get back on that pedestal. To quote from I'm Gonna Get You Sucka "What would that prove?" "It would prove I can beat a woman and some midgets!" Even if Obama wins a prize fight with Hillary, he does not win anything, because she is a woman.

[Armstead]

30. Good post. Thank you for an actual answer

I'm serious. My question was asked sincerely, and I appreciate that you answered sincerely with substance.

Naturally, I don't necessarily agree with all of your points, though.

I'll try to reply more specifically later...Right now I have to watch Obama spin on Fox News.
:)

[ClassWarrior]

31. Wow, nothing. Not a single answer from his critics.

:shrug:

NGU.

[Condem]

32. The biggest mistake was by the DNC

Six weeks between MISS and PA was an eternity. Every little quote of both candidates was magnified to the point of overkill. Now, this primary has reached that level. No end in sight.