The Incredible Lightness Of Being Too Inexperienced

Uh oh, unlike Kos' nonsense, this time it looks as though someone did actually alter the skin tones of an image of Obama. Perhaps it's related to this.

If you know politics and scan the news this morning, you'll know Barack Obama is in trouble - serious trouble. And given the very bad demographics of Pennsylvania for him, that Blue Collar buzz saw may come close to cutting off any chance he has of gaining the Democrat nomination, as he's flirting with looking unelectable. Imagine this from Obama fan Josh Marshall:

The Clinton campaign has gotten so deep inside the Obama campaign's collective head it just ain't funny -- or, depending on your political persuasion, it's very funny.

She'd not only bloodied up his poll numbers a bit by throwing all sorts of stuff at him. She also showed that it wasn't at all clear that Obama was enough of a fighter to stand up to this stuff or get back in her face. More than the delegate numbers, that was the challenge March 4th had left him with.

But since then she's just been slapping this guy around like crazy. She's on the offense every day, dictating the terms of the discussion and getting results.

This "monster" thing is a good case in point. That's a pretty over-the-top thing for a key campaign advisor to say. But what it tells me more than that is that the Clinton campaign has these guys rattled really bad.

If boxing is our metaphor she's got him cornered on the ropes on one side of the ring and she's just landing punch after punch. And all he can manage are the defensive moves that her constant attacks dictate.

Maybe Obama shouldn't have just ruled out a VP slot. Hillary aside, there's a very good case to be made that he's far too inexperienced for anything else. And a forty-something pol with so little time on the national stage, let alone, substantively speaking, damn little to show for it, sounds like a prima donna by making such a pronouncement. But even that is a bit of a trap. If he leaves the door open for VP, it invites the Super Delegates to hang with Hillary.

And from there, things only get worse. He lost his so-called "rock star" adviser, Samantha Power. She should sing rock; she has a big mouth, leaving him with three problems as she was forced out - the monster bit, waffling on Iraq - and her insult to other Democrat operatives far more inside the game than she.

Obama's being attacked for running an amateur hour and even his own guy Brzezinski thinks they folded on Power too soon. Add to all that his split with another adviser on Telecom immunity, his Kafka on NAFTA and Susan Rice stating he isn't ready for that 3 AM call, you have to at least wonder if his wife Michelle is ever going to get to have her "I'm finally proud of America" moment, after all. Now, wouldn't that be a damned shame?

Yet another Power zinger, delivered in an interview with a British magazine, did not get much notice Friday.

The New Statesman reported that Power was already talking about how staffers from a defeated Clinton camp might be integrated into the Obama campaign. Though some would be welcome for their "technical expertise," Power told the magazine, other Clintonites would not fit in.

"We don't want to end up in a lowest-common-denominator operation," she said, "which is what, I think, actually, really hurt her."

Comments

[Lamontyoubigdummy]

I didn't think you could get any more "junior varsity" than the Ron Paul campaign, but...wow. I mean, Paul never had a shot (even with the blimp!). But Obama? He had it Wrapped. Up.

This is my kinda Greek tragedy.

I'm envisioning all this happening to Obama on fast-forward video and the theme music from Benny Hill playing in the background.

I so wanted to be able to run against this over-inflated bozo.

[axt113]

Obama just won again, i'm afraid you're going to have to get used to President Obama my friend

[BobinStamford]

8 years of a stammering twit who didn't even have a valid passport in 2000 - I don't think that you patriots should really go down that road.

Oh, and I see that the evil libruls just picked up another seat - Denny Hastert's seat. November's gonna be fun, fun. You rednecks better hide your guns before they get taken away!

[memomachine]

Hmmmmm.

More fun?

Power's proposal to use the US Army to invade and forcibly occupy Israel and force the creation of a Palestinian state at Israel's expense.

[seekeronos]

"--- Power's proposal to use the US Army to invade and forcibly occupy Israel and force the creation of a Palestinian state at Israel's expense. ---"

Heh. About as likely as a Ron Paul landslide in November. Or an Elvis landslide, for that matter.

[jkatl]

Your putting forth a nice little effort, making an arguement or two, but c'mon Dan this thing is over. On Saturday March 8th Obama had exactly 4 less delegates than he had on march 3rd. Hil's big wins in Ohio and Texas netted her 6 delegates to the positive. Think about that, Obama earned one third of that back by winning 7 to 5 in delegates in Wyoming, so much for hil's big momentum change. And she campaigned hard there. Now by tomorrow he will be ahead of his March 3rd total. He will have a lead of 150+ pledged delegates and over 700,00 lead in the popular vote. Over the weekend heavy hitter surrogates came out for obama so he could continue to stay above the fray. I love Tom Daschle " I think this is the first time in history that the person running number 2 offerd the person running number 1 the number 2 position." Going forward if Hil wins penn big she takes 12-15 delegates max, give her kentucky, W. Va., and even puerto rico. Obama is favored in N.C (only some 50 delegates less than Pa.),Montana, Oregon, and S.D. Indiana is a toss-up. He's going to end the primary/caucuses with roughly as many pledged delegates as he has now. At best Hil shaves off 20-25 at vey best. Not including Fl and Mi, the final tally will be 34-17 in states/terr with indiana going either way. He will have a minimum 125 pledged delegate lead and 500,00 pop vote lead assuming hil beats obama by 200,000 in Pa. FL and Mi will not pull him down under 100 pledged delegate lead which to me is the magic number. No way supers will overturn a 100 pledged delegate lead and some 300,000 popular vote lead. OVER! Another good point i heard over the weekend is almost every uncommitted super deleagate who holds elected office wants Obama at the top of the ticket b/c hillary will mobilize republicans and that will destroy down ballot dems. OVER!!!! but again I see ya tryin, keep up the good work.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"You rednecks better hide your guns before they get taken away!"

Thanks but I've already planned to give half to the KKK and half to the NOI.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"who didn't even have a valid passport in 2000."

Wow, that should REALLY have made a difference.

[seekeronos]

I'd be almost happy if Jkatl is right.

Obama will be much, much easier than Hillary when it comes time for McCain to settle one or the other's hash in November.