Kevin's not impressed. And I agree with him that points 2 and 3 aren't good ideas (though I like points 1 and 4).
.As to Drum's general point, I'm not sure what to make of it. It's fine and dandy to say you want more "change" espoused from Obama - but without giving examples of what it is that he would want said, I have a bit of trouble with the criticism. To me this is a 2 person race and be it on Iraq, or Cuba, or dealing with the rogue states, or the privileges of the powers that be in DC (to name just a few topics) Obama is more of a "change" candidate than Clinton. And it seems to me that's the relevant standard (how who's actually running compare). Are there areas in which I which he was pulling for more "change"? Of course. But none of us get to run our perfect candidates b/c they tend to not exist.
Posted by armand at September 19, 2007 01:53 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Politicsno one gets his perfect candidate, but there's a faction of people who are just sick of candidates, in their modern incarnations, period. there was a brief period of time when obama looked like something else, in many ways. now, he's just among my favorite politicians, and in some sense that means he's fallen a great deal in my estimation, even if he'll probably get my vote.
i think there's truth in the notion -- raised by several of Drum's commenters -- that obama is running a loser's campaign, given polling and context, in playing safe. playing safe at this stage, and as a credible african-american candidate, may be what the playbook says, but rigid adherence to the playbook cost gore the 2000 election, with kerry a partial example, maybe.
i'm not leery of an obama presidency; i think he'd be damned good at it, or i wouldn't still consider voting for him. i think gore would have been as well. problem is, there's this little thing between here and there, and it's getting really tedious watching the democrats play small ball while the GOP keeps swinging for the fences, striking out plenty, but connecting just often enough to play .520 ball against their opponents when the scouting reports suggest that they shouldn't be winning more than 40% of the time.
when metaphors attack. screw it; it's late; i'm leaving it as is.
Well I'm just still not exactly sure what these people want, or if they really "get" Obama. I think he's definitely "change". And to the extent I see disappointment from others it often seems that because he's not proposing 312 Ira Magaziner white papers on various people's pet issues. And that approach, to me, is silly.
I do get what you are saying though about him not doing more to shake up the race. And I find that sort of odd. And I wonder just where those gigantic piles of cash he's raised are going.
Posted by: Armand at September 20, 2007 11:22 AM | PERMALINK