Obama's Comment On Gates WAS A POLITICAL MASTER STROKE!!!

[Beetwasher]

Let me explain what's going to happen.

The media, which is one of the main enemies in the h/c fight, has now been distracted from their concerted anti h/c reform propgoganda campaign. He just totally disrupted the propoganda campaign.

The media is going to go NUTS over this nothing story because of the racial overtones. Meanwhile, Obama will be working the back rooms twisting arms and getting healthcare done w/out the distraction of the idiot media peddling Republican lies about it in any prominent way. Instead, the idiot media will focus on this non-story and the BASE OF THE RIGHTWING, instead of FIGHTING TO DEFEAT HEALTHCARE will be sent into a FR0THING RAGE about Obama's comment. Obama just completely distracted the Rightwing base and took them out of the game. He took out their ground game.

Meanwhile, OUR groundgame is DEEPLY committed and not so easily distracted and will continue to FIGHT and WORK.

Now, I'm not saying this was planned in advance, I have no idea. In fact, maybe O wasn't aware of the fallout from his comment. But then again, maybe he's playing them like a fiddle.

[SIMPLYB1980]

1. Was thinking the same thing myself. nt

[Solomon]

2. I thought so too. In addition he put Hispanics on the

spotlight again. It was brilliant.

[Enrique]

3. I think Obama wants the media to focus on his health care message

If he wanted to be working in the back rooms out of sight of the media, why would he hold the press conference?

[Beetwasher]

5. No, He Doesn't, The Media Is An IRRLEVANT If Not Malicious Player In The Debate

He need to distract them so they stop their propoganda campaign against H/C. He just did that.

[Enrique]

6. why did he hold the press conference? n/t

[Beetwasher]

7. He Still Needs To Get His Message Out

To the people who want to hear it. He did that and now the Media is off on this tangent.

This is a distraction only for a certain segment; The tabloid media involved in the anti-h/c propoganda campaign, and the frothing right-wing base (their ground troops).

[Cha]

20. To talk to the

American Peeps.

[City Lights]

24. Exactly!

:fistbump:

[Cha]

27. Now who's

your avatar?

:fistbump: City Lights~

[City Lights]

28. David Gilmour.

I switch it frequently. Ditto for my sig line pic. I'm always looking for new options.

I never tire of looking at your sig pic...takes me back to the Caribbean. :loveya:

[Cha]

29. Yes, and I thank you for that Carribean pic!

I didn't know exactly where it was from ..only that it reminded me of where I'm retiring to next year(Kaua'iB-)

David Gilmour is a good one and I like how you're always mixing it up..one day when I'm retired I'm going to learn how to do that but right now..I'm so stoked with my DU avatar and the whole Carribean/Enough Scene:)

[City Lights]

32. You're welcome. Retiring to Kauai! I'm green with envy!

B-)

That's fantastic!

[CTyankee]

4. A good point. And did you notice that he got a laugh when he talked about

what would happen if he had been trying to break into his own house ("I'd be shot!"). It was funny but also it got people to thinking that Obama could be or could have been in the same predicament as Gates and how ridiculous was that? And he joked about it, so it lightened the mood considerably.

Obama is SO GOOD at defusing this stuff. He could have been huffy and moralizing but he chose good humor over wrath. A good choice, IMO.

[jberryhill]

8. IMHO, he was asked a question, and gave his answer /nt

[nevergiveup]

9. I thought Obama really handled the question

well but after listening to the political pundits I have decided he really screwed himself politically :shrug:

[Beetwasher]

10. LOL! You Listen To "Pundits"???

And actually value what they say? :rofl:

[nevergiveup]

40. I guess I will never learn.

Once again I was a fool assuming the red flashing "sarcasm" wasn't necessary. Some members of DU never cease to amaze me.

[Beetwasher]

43. Yes, It's Amazing We Aren't Mind Readers

:eyes:

[Cha]

21. I hope you thought the

sarcasm thingy wasn't necessary 'cause that how I read it.

[Raine1967]

30. your first thought was correct.

Pundits are paid to make you think the other way...

[Soylent Brice]

11. here's to hoping you're right...

:toast:

[kenfrequed]

12. Uhm... no.

I gave credit to Obama earlier for the sudden release of the Healthcare companies that visited for discussions about healthcare, pointing out that from that position he can claim that he has been workign on it for 6 months and has tried long and hard to work with the insurance companies and that they arejust being greedy and difficult.

But this is not a grand strategic play. Obama needed to take the Healthcare plan to the people last night to make them understand what is being put forth. We NEEDED a public debate to shame the blue-doggies into doing the right thing. The less public the more easily the blue-pure-bred bitches can squirm and wiggle and try to stall all of this out of the public eye.

So again, stop with this kidn of super clever nonsense. It actually will be counter productive if we don't get what we want or if it does not pass when we want it to. It sort of ends up being an expectation game that we cannot win.

[Beetwasher]

14. He DID Take It To The People

And the one's who were interested in what he had to say, listened and learned last night to his words UNFILTERED by the idiot media. And now, today, instead of TWISTING everything he said and propogating LIES about it (which is what a significant portion would have done today) for the consumption of the morons who are swayed by that crap and who DIDN'T watch him, the idiot media is off on this tangent and distracted from their propoganda campaign.

I didn't say this was necessarily some "super clever" plan or strategic play. But that's the way I see it working out. Obama needs to work the back room and have HIS base pressure congress (which they will do). Meanwhile, the base of the other side will be distracted by this Gate's nonsense. That's a good thing. He will STILL get done what needs to get done and HIS base will STILL do the legwork AND his message got out unfiltered to the people interested in listening.

[kenfrequed]

16. I'm sorry but...

When your subject says "A political masterstroke" You are pumping up the expectations game a bit too much. Enough nonsense talk like this and ANYTHING but 100% victory could be percieved as failure.

Rather than pumping personalities and playing media/process story games you would do better to stick to the damned issues.

[Beetwasher]

17. I'll Talk About Whatever The Fuck I Want To Talk About

If you don't like it, too bad. I'm singlehadedly pumping up the expectations game w/ my post? :rofl: Yeah, cuz I'm such a juggernaut. How ridiculous.

As far as I'm concerned, playing the media and manipulating your opponents is an important part of the process and perfectly legitimate to discuss. If you don't think so, you're naive. And if you think Obama isn't doing this sort of thing, you're underestimating him and know squat about politics.

[kenfrequed]

31. Uh yeah...

But how is manipulating it to Obama's disadvantage a good thing?

The problem with your argument is I see dozens of these 'he's a poltical chess master/mastermind/stratagist' posts every week here. All these do is steal energy from the issues and pump the expectations, if not on a larger level than certainly here which, considering most of us are activists, is also not a good thing.

Rather than just throwing ad homimens at me and extolling on how ridiculous, naieve, and apparantly ignorant I am you could just explain to me why I am wrong from a rational perspective. You know... step by step it for me.

[Beetwasher]

35. You've Said Nothing Rational

I've already explained pretty fully why this is good tactically for Obama to distract his opponents (the media and the rightwing nuts). You've said nothing except "Stop talking about this nonsense!"

Frankly, it's idiotic to claim this "steals energy" and "pumps expectations". WTF are you talking about? Your just flinging word salad and meaningless phrases around. The only appropriate response is ridicule.

Maybe you're lazy. I dunno, but here's my OP, which takes you step by step through why this is GOOD for Obama:

Let me explain what's going to happen.

The media, which is one of the main enemies in the h/c fight, has now been distracted from their concerted anti h/c reform propgoganda campaign. He just totally disrupted the propoganda campaign.

The media is going to go NUTS over this nothing story because of the racial overtones. Meanwhile, Obama will be working the back rooms twisting arms and getting healthcare done w/out the distraction of the idiot media peddling Republican lies about it in any prominent way. Instead, the idiot media will focus on this non-story and the BASE OF THE RIGHTWING, instead of FIGHTING TO DEFEAT HEALTHCARE will be sent into a FR0THING RAGE about Obama's comment. Obama just completely distracted the Rightwing base and took them out of the game. He took out their ground game.

Meanwhile, OUR groundgame is DEEPLY committed and not so easily distracted and will continue to FIGHT and WORK.

Now, I'm not saying this was planned in advance, I have no idea. In fact, maybe O wasn't aware of the fallout from his comment. But then again, maybe he's playing them like a fiddle.

[kenfrequed]

37. Second verse ...same as the first.

This is mere prognostication and no more sophisticated or superior to my own.

Throwing around sports metaphors and playing the political wonk or wag does nothing to aid your argument and ignores some simple truths.



1) People only care about an issure for about 48 hours after it is no longer news. Short attention span theater. If you magically think this will aid your cause than so be it but you will have to explain how everyone suddenly not caring about healthcare for awhile is going to get any traction inmoving the intractable blue dogs that are screwing this process over.

2) Attention is a finite resource in this country, there is only so much air time. A publics 'energy' for an idea could probably be measured in how excited they are over it and how much they will put forth towards accomplishing this. An unrelated story about a racist cop will grab attention but what will it do with it and where will it go?

3) The base of the right wing is not the problem. The politicians are a hundred percent agaisnt healthcare reform there is little chance of moving the overwhelming majority of them. Getting them frothing over Obama scolding the police is little better than getting them frothing over his birth certificate or whatever other made-up scandal they can invent. There really is no benefit and the right wing would have a lot of trouble looking any stupider than it already does.

4) Going after me for talking about 'expectation game' or 'energy' when you toss about wonkitudes like 'ground game' might steal whatever relevance your argument has in a lovely puff of black spray paint in the cookware department at a department store.

[Beetwasher]

38. Except You've Done Nothing Except Blather

Up until now. And what you say are not "truth's". If you think so, you're deluded. They are YOUR opinions. You think you're opinions are truth? :rofl:

I've spelled out precisely why I think what I think.

It's not about people not caring, it's about not having them subjected to the barrage of lies and misinformation that the media has been peddling on the issue because they are now distracted by this non-story. It's precisely because of the small attention span that this could be effective in helping Obama reach his goal. Some of his opponents are distracted, when that happens, that helps.

The base of the rightwing IS a problem if they are engaged and putting pressure on lawmakers to oppose h/c reform. Our "ground game" is doing the same in support of h/c reform. You know damn well what a "ground game" is in this context and if you don't that's not my problem. While you toss around meaningless undefined (even in context) terms like "energy" and "Expectations Game". By getting the RW base distracted, they are less likely to apply the pressure from their end. It's not about making them look stupid, it's about distracting them and taking them out of the picture at a crucial juncture.

The politicians (blue dogs) are what Obama is working NOW and it's easier to do when they are getting more pressure from the grass roots (ground game) in support of Obama without being confused and distracted by propoganda and mis-information.

The mushy middle are left w/ Obama's words from last night (and they trust him on the issue) about the situation, while the media is focused on Gates instead of on their propoganda campaign to defeat h/c and confuse those same undecideds. So they are left w/ the impression Obama gave them, NOT w/ the idiotic spin the media was sure to put on top of it. Instead of that spin, they grabbed onto and focused on the Gates comments.

I mean seriously, you blather on about crap and contradict yourself incessantly. What the fuck does and "expectations game" have to do w/ anything? How am I "wasting energy" by posting? You think I'm that important? Well, gee, thanks, but you're deluded if you think so.

[uponit7771]

13. You know, things jus happen to work out for Obama....I pray the keep working out for him

[BlueIdaho]

15. You migth be right!

Its painfully obvious the MSM has the attention span of an six year old and simply can't focus on more than one thing at a time.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. And, ironically, they then *worry* aloud about Obama trying to take on too much at one time

Fortunately, we have a President for the first time in 8 years and for perhaps the second time in the past 28 years who is fully engaged in governing and actually WORKING hard to get things done versus some of our previous Presidents (with the exception of Clinton) whom seemed to have delegated most of their duties to their cabinet members, aides, and/or cronies while they smiled for the cameras, made empty speeches, or worked on their private ranch (or went hunting in Cheney's case). Remember, Bush even complained about the Presidency being "hard work". And the *poor* Repukes are being slave-driven by the Democrats in Congress and are having to work *harder* than they ever have before (i.e. not able to take as many days off of actually doing their job). :eyes:

[Cha]

23. That is ironic since they

can only report on one thing at a time and drive it into a rut so deep they are forced to abandon it.

[Cha]

19. There were a couple of

suggestions about this last night. Whatever, it seems to have the same result..that's all the media talked about last night..I'm told.

And, on the msn idiot news page this morning..there was nothing about Health Care or GatesGate..it was "Michelle new do".

I hate the freakin' US presstitutes.

[Beetwasher]

22. Let Them Go After The Shiny Objects Instead Of Peddling Their Lies

About healthcare. It's a GOOD thing. Their propoganda campaign has been derailed by the latest shiny object and their ground troops are off into their frothing racist frenzy. Neutralizing these key pieces is key to getting a good h/c plan passed. I think (and hope) this is what is happening.

[Cha]

25. Yeah, you're right...

I was bummed when I saw that about Michelle's new do but what was I thinking?! If it had been about health care there would have been some negative shit comment like there always is. What century was I living in? Having a flashback to Walter Cronkite?:think:

[uponit7771]

39. RIGHT!!!

[Hutzpa]

26. sheeeshhhh

do we have to talk about everything, well silly me..... transparency, almost
forgot about.


:evilgrin:

[BlooInBloo]

33. Heh. It could work that way. And would be awesome if so.

[livetohike]

34. Lynn Sweet knew she had the last question.....

I think you are on to something here. I thought it odd, that the press conference ended with that instead of a health care reform question.

[CakeGrrl]

36. That's what I thought as soon as people were worrying that the MSM

was going to hang onto the issue until an apology was forced from Obama.

I'm all for 1) opening a real debate about race relations and law enforcement, because it can always use a real discussion, if the MSM really wants to go there; and 2) distracting them from sabotaging Healthcare by push-polling and trying to drive public opinion.

[Occam Bandage]

41. No, it wasn't. It was an inopportune (but correct) remark, and one

that completely overshadowed anything he might have accomplished with that press conference. The HC industry remains as committed as ever, and they can still outspend us. All that's happened is that he's minimized the impact of his bully pulpit by allowing the media to focus on something besides his message.

(Seriously, how do you know when you're losing a fight? When you say something that makes everyone forget about your arguments for your side of the fight, and your supporters call that a victory)

[Beetwasher]

42. I Disagree

This stops the H/C industry misninformation and propoganda campaign (or at least muddles it). Think about it. He had a press conference yesterday that I assume was watched by many people who were undecided on the issue.

Today, instead of SPINNING what he said and LYING about it, the media has latched onto this shiny object. For the most part they would have NEVER conveyed his message accurately. Meanwhile, all those undecideds are left w/ what Obama said last night and little if any countersping/misinformation and lies about it from the media.

The only people who are forgetting what Obama said are the media and the frothing fringe. The public who he was speaking to and who watched don't and won't care about the Gates issue unless they are on the fringe.

He reached who he needed to and distracted the idiots and the media and got them off their game.

Meanwhile, he's in the backroom twisting arms and his grass roots support is engaged and pressuring congress.

[Beetwasher]

44. I'm More Convinced Than Ever Now That Obama Is Using This Incident As A Classic Distraction

His latest statements here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8547534&mesg_id=8547534

have me more convinced that he's using this on purpose to distract and neutralize his opponents at a key moment in the debate by sending them off in a quixotic, frothing rampage to destroy him.

The rightwing is so predictable. Obama knows they will drop everything to attack him on this. He dangled a shiny bauble and they went for it. M eanwhile, Obama's doing real work behind the scenes to get h/c reform accomplished but w/out the idiot media drowning everything in lies and misinformation and w/ the wingnut base all misdirected from the battle and in a frothing rage because of this shiny piece of fools gold.

[Beetwasher]

45. .

.