Political Perspective: Barack Obama's Impact
Political Perspective: Barack Obama's Impact
POSTED: 8:07 am PST January 19, 2007UPDATED: 8:43 am PST January 19, 2007
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LOS ANGELES -- The political world is tilting on its axis. The media is positively giddy. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) confirmed he's "exploring a run" for President in 2008 and that tentative announcement has changed the calculus of the race to replace George W. Bush in the White House -- for both Republicans and Democrats.
Let's face it; Obama comes off like a rock star. He's even made it into People magazine, photographed in a swim suit.
When Obama's Senate colleagues, Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Chris Dodd (D-CT), among others, confided on network TV that they were seriously mulling a Presidential run, their announcements were greeted with a collective yawn by the media. Obama didn't even use the Main Stream Media to announce his exploratory committee; he posted his video statement on his own web site. And the Internet announcement was played over and over by the MSM.
There are only two other potential candidates who get anywhere near the media attention Obama enjoys: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the putative front-runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the presumed GOP leader. These three all lead their various competitors in media "traction." And the ability to catch and hold the attention of a fickle, jaded press corps is a "must-have" for a viable candidate in today's media-centric environment.
Obama's a real charmer. That description can't be applied to the many other probable or possible candidates on either side. Questions are being raised about the impact of McCain's legendary temper on his candidacy. And the rap on Hillary that keeps popping up is that she's "cold and calculating." And, writes Dan Gerstein, a Joe Lieberman advisor, "after choosing two dislikeable nominees to run against George W. Bush, Democrats seem to have little interest in rallying around another wrong-rubbing candidate. This likeability gap," Gerstein argues, "could be fatal for Hillary ..."
Indeed, "likeability" counts for quite a lot in modern Presidential politics. In 2000, for instance, a lot of Americans voted for a relatively inexperienced Governor of Texas over sitting Vice-President Al Gore because they decided that "ordinary-guy" George W. Bush just clicked personally with them in a way the guarded "Prince Albert" never could.
And what about "experience"? Hillary, McCain, and almost every other Washington-based wannabe are touting the fact that in this complex, dicey world it's time to look for a Commander-in-Chief who knows his or her way around foreign policy. Obama has only two years experience in the U.S. Senate. But that's both bad news and good news. He also, unlike more seasoned legislators, has a very thin record to attack.
There is one other thing that should make his competitors nervous -- and already has Senator Clinton scurrying to the left on the subject of Iraq. With the war -- and President Bush -- wildly unpopular, particularly with the Democratic base, Obama regularly points out that he's "always been a consistent and strong opponent of this war."
Obama's stance pre-dates his election to Congress in 2004, but most of the potential and declared Presidential candidates from both major parties, including McCain, Clinton, Edwards, Biden, Dodd and Kerry, voted to support the President and authorize the use of force in Iraq.
That equation could prove particularly dicey for Hillary. A Democratic strategist told reporter Jill Zuckman of the Chicago Tribune, "Clinton [is] being 'trapped by gender' in needing to appear tough enough to govern, in the mold of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi." The strategist added that Clinton's campaign understands "that a liberal dovish woman is not about to be elected president in a post-9/11 America. So they find themselves trailing public opinion on the war, badly trailing Democratic primary opinion on the war and just hoping the left gives her a pass."
It's still a long way 'til the nominations are resolved, but right now the young man from Illinois appears to have the "Big Mo."
As Comedy Central pundit Stephen Colbert pointed out, If there's one thing Americans respect, it's strength -- also, great hair and teeth."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.nbc4.tv/politics/10793214/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news
POSTED: 8:07 am PST January 19, 2007UPDATED: 8:43 am PST January 19, 2007
Email This Story Print This Story
LOS ANGELES -- The political world is tilting on its axis. The media is positively giddy. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) confirmed he's "exploring a run" for President in 2008 and that tentative announcement has changed the calculus of the race to replace George W. Bush in the White House -- for both Republicans and Democrats.
Let's face it; Obama comes off like a rock star. He's even made it into People magazine, photographed in a swim suit.
When Obama's Senate colleagues, Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Chris Dodd (D-CT), among others, confided on network TV that they were seriously mulling a Presidential run, their announcements were greeted with a collective yawn by the media. Obama didn't even use the Main Stream Media to announce his exploratory committee; he posted his video statement on his own web site. And the Internet announcement was played over and over by the MSM.
There are only two other potential candidates who get anywhere near the media attention Obama enjoys: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the putative front-runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the presumed GOP leader. These three all lead their various competitors in media "traction." And the ability to catch and hold the attention of a fickle, jaded press corps is a "must-have" for a viable candidate in today's media-centric environment.
Obama's a real charmer. That description can't be applied to the many other probable or possible candidates on either side. Questions are being raised about the impact of McCain's legendary temper on his candidacy. And the rap on Hillary that keeps popping up is that she's "cold and calculating." And, writes Dan Gerstein, a Joe Lieberman advisor, "after choosing two dislikeable nominees to run against George W. Bush, Democrats seem to have little interest in rallying around another wrong-rubbing candidate. This likeability gap," Gerstein argues, "could be fatal for Hillary ..."
Indeed, "likeability" counts for quite a lot in modern Presidential politics. In 2000, for instance, a lot of Americans voted for a relatively inexperienced Governor of Texas over sitting Vice-President Al Gore because they decided that "ordinary-guy" George W. Bush just clicked personally with them in a way the guarded "Prince Albert" never could.
And what about "experience"? Hillary, McCain, and almost every other Washington-based wannabe are touting the fact that in this complex, dicey world it's time to look for a Commander-in-Chief who knows his or her way around foreign policy. Obama has only two years experience in the U.S. Senate. But that's both bad news and good news. He also, unlike more seasoned legislators, has a very thin record to attack.
There is one other thing that should make his competitors nervous -- and already has Senator Clinton scurrying to the left on the subject of Iraq. With the war -- and President Bush -- wildly unpopular, particularly with the Democratic base, Obama regularly points out that he's "always been a consistent and strong opponent of this war."
Obama's stance pre-dates his election to Congress in 2004, but most of the potential and declared Presidential candidates from both major parties, including McCain, Clinton, Edwards, Biden, Dodd and Kerry, voted to support the President and authorize the use of force in Iraq.
That equation could prove particularly dicey for Hillary. A Democratic strategist told reporter Jill Zuckman of the Chicago Tribune, "Clinton [is] being 'trapped by gender' in needing to appear tough enough to govern, in the mold of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi." The strategist added that Clinton's campaign understands "that a liberal dovish woman is not about to be elected president in a post-9/11 America. So they find themselves trailing public opinion on the war, badly trailing Democratic primary opinion on the war and just hoping the left gives her a pass."
It's still a long way 'til the nominations are resolved, but right now the young man from Illinois appears to have the "Big Mo."
As Comedy Central pundit Stephen Colbert pointed out, If there's one thing Americans respect, it's strength -- also, great hair and teeth."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.nbc4.tv/politics/10793214/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news
posted by presgore19 at 2:38 PM
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