BartBlog

And Some Free Advice for the Obama Camp (Oh Boy!)

“We don’t need four more years of the last eight years.”
– Hillary Clinton, speaking at the Dem convention in Denver, Aug. 26, 2008.

I confess I haven’t watched every minute of the Denver convention, but I saw most of the major events, and here are a few brief notes:

Where’s the Outrage? In their speeches, Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and even four-years-late-and-a-dollar-short John Kerry (why didn’t he talk like this in 2004?) all admirably piled it on McCain and Bush nice and thick, and came thisclose to the threshold of outrage, but then inexplicably backed off. Did some Peter Hart focus group tell the Dems that independent voters don’t like to see anger and outrage? Bury that guff with your souvenir can of New Coke and the reams of polling data that claim voters dislike negative ads – maybe they do, but they work. One of the consistent complaints I’ve been hearing from the Great Unpolled on the Ground since 2000 is that the Dems don’t seem to really believe in anything because they don’t show emotion and get mad occasionally. (Check Kerry’s reaction to the Swift Boat smears during the last election for a perfect example of what I mean — he should have been livid and roaring in anger at their lies; instead, he went senatorial-serious and ‘disappointed.’ It wasn’t the charges themselves but Kerry’s tepid reaction that some vets have told me caused them to question his suitability for the presidency.) Republicans routinely contort themselves into a lather over all sorts of petty political effluvia such as prayer in schools, yet Dems can’t muster up some good old-fashioned outraged indignation against the party that, in eight years, has gotten thousands of Americans killed or sentenced to a life missing body parts in a war that was based on lies? That let Americans die in the flooded streets of New Orleans and still hasn’t provided adequate help to the survivors? That has failed to competently run any department of the government? That has ignored our Constitution? That has presided over the worst economy since the Great Depression? That has transferred our tax dollars into payoffs to corrupt and sleazy corporations via ‘cost-plus’ contracts? That refuses to do anything about rising gas prices? I could go on, but you get my drift. Isn’t any of this worth some real, live, Old Testament, pound the podium, call ‘em outside, ‘WTF is wrong with these Republicans’ outrage? This is not to say that anyone has to actually foam at the mouth, but how about some convincing anger tinting those condemnations of Bush, Cheney and McCain? I know this isn’t Obama’s style – although I hope he goes ‘Full Denzel’ on McDuffer in the debates — but I expected a little more of Biden. Perhaps that’s coming. It better be, or it’s going to be a long election night with a bad ending.

Missing in Action – any mention that if The Surge has worked in Iraq, then we have won and should be able to leave immediately. Why not apply this logic to McCain’s demands that Obama admit The Surge worked?

Experience — So What? Next time some GOP gasbag or McCainiac himself starts blabbing about his abundance of experience, why don’t Dems point out that both Cheney and Rumsfeld had more experience in government than Capt. Crash, but it didn’t stop them from making horrible decisions and lethal blunders. It IS about judgment and not experience — i.e: I’d rather have one year of JFK’s judgment than eight years of Junior’s ‘experience.’

End the Love Fest: The Dems just have to stop praising McCain’s military record and talking about what a great guy he is before they drop the boom on him. The GOP already has a surfeit of vacuous pie-holes who are paid to do that. He’s your opponent and it’s do or die time – don’t lie, but you have to put some horns on him. You can bet the farm that the Republicans in St. Paul next week will be relentlessly discussing the size of the cloven hooves on Obama and Biden – and they won’t preface their attacks with tributes to their amiability and charm. This isn’t that kind of beauty contest, folks – you can smile as you sink in the shiv, but don’t announce that you’re inflicting pain on a really nice fellow; it only makes you look mean.

Wonder Why He Didn’t Win? Dennis Kucinich’s heart is in the right place, but what was with the bouncing around like he missed the last bathroom stop for a hundred miles during his speech? Kuch is a good man, but his idiosyncrasies distract from his progressive message. Well, at least he didn’t sing “Sixteen Tons.”

Finally, challenge the ‘maverick’ McCain at every turn to cite one major issue in the last eight months where he’s taken the opposite viewpoint from the Bush Administration – then watch him tell the media he’ll check with his staff.