Testing, Testing - Barack Obama

While not suggesting Barack Obama is of the street, we know that isn't the case, I've been surprised by little bits of street vernacular beginning to creep into his rhetoric. I remember George Bush, Sr. calling Clinton and Gore "bozos" back in 92 - it was the precise moment I knew Bush was desperate and doomed to lose.

Recently, Obama has started to sound more like someone fighting for his seat on the streets of Chicago's South Ward, than someone running for national office. I imagine it's a style the Harvard grad developed to win and work the community back in Chicago. Still, they aren't the elevated tones Obama gets from a teleprompter - the ones upon which his image depends.

"He can talk all he wants about Britney (Spears) and Paris (Hilton), but I don't have time for that mess," Obama continued

These are the knuckleheads who have been in charge. Throw ‘em out.

Not only do you have a candidate who doesn’t take any guff

And now perhaps we get to see why things are changing:

On the heels of the LAT/Bloomberg survey showing Obama dropping 10 points since June comes another piece of bad news from Reuters/Zogby. Their new poll, conducted Thursday through Saturday (August 14-17), shows McCain taking the lead away from Obama - a 12-point turnaround from last month when Obama led by 7:

McCain 46 (+6 vs. last poll July 9-13)
Obama 41 (-6)

Overall, Obama's lead in the RCP National Average is down to 1.9 points.

With the convention coming up, no doubt Obama intends to capitalize big on that event, including his increasingly curious Invesco shindig.

Secret web pages and hard-sale tactics have replaced Hope and Change for the Democratic convention. The CBS affiliate in Denver discovered a hidden website that sold tickets to the Invesco Field acceptance speech by Barack Obama on August 29th, while Team Obama continued to deny that tickets were anything but free. Democratic activists complained to the reporters about Obama’s sell-out:

The tests Obama is experiencing now are nothing compared to what lies ahead as we move into the Fall. But they are impacting on him in a noticeable way. Rhythms change in long campaigns and Obama might easily find his, again. But for now, the three-point-shooter is definitely off his game and starting to play more defense, than he is "O."

Obama got game, alright. But ultimately we could find out his lack of experience leaves his game more suitable for some Chicago playground than the national stage.

Comments

[SacTownMan]

This guy is nothing more than a typical Chicago political hack.

His touchy feely "change and "hope" are nothing but fluff!

McCain is gaining ground because with all of the MTV/Rock Star media hype the real Barry is sneaking out in bits and pieces.

He eliminated all of the competition in both of his elections because his cronies in Chicago taught him all of the tricks of the trade. His attempt to pretend that he was special or different are a joke.

What we are in for between now and the election is a multi-million dollar ad campign funded in large part by Soro's and his buddies. They will try and show McCain to be a wife beating, dog kicking old guy that wants to eat your children and burn down your house.

On substance they have nothing but higher taxes and bigger government to promise us.

[Befair]

Obama's use of the word "guff" (which was one of my father's favorite and he definitely did not come from the "streets", using the term "knuckleheads", and referring to Spears/Hilton as "that mess" (which assuredly they are) is hardly southside Chicago street talk. Sounds like a man who is saying what he feels in plain, ordinary terms. So, he is not ready for the national stage? I hardly think that is the case for him any more than it is for his opponent who cannot start one sentence without the "my friends" and stale stories told for decades. Pretty lame examples.

[Fred Beloit]

"...referring to Spears/Hilton as "that mess" (which assuredly they are) is hardly southside Chicago street talk." I grew up around 79th and Halsted, Playfair. How about you? (I won't argue the other words but "that mess" is definitely SS Chicago.)

[Fred Beloit]

dcexaminer.com quotes Obama: "Then he confessed for the rest of us.
'Americans’ greatest moral failure in my lifetime,' he said, 'has been that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.'"

If he is elected will he get the Dem Congress (if they are elected) to make us all Christians and make us adhere to Christian tenets? Is that legal?

The Examiner goes on: "Sorry, but he can hang that one up. Whatever the case is with his own selfishness, the evidence of an internationally superior American generosity is impressive, beginning with the numbers on our charitable giving. We give twice as much as the British per capita, and according to The American magazine, seven times as much as the Germans and 14 times as much as the Italians."

[Befair]

Fred - New England - DAR stuff.

[IslamoLlama]

Some might run off and address pollster.com before they declare Not-Obama the presumptive front runner. Some might note that the Zogby poll in question doesn't include 3rd-party candidates sure to be a drag on the Not-Obama ticket. Some might even note that despite being "ahead" Not-Obama barely edges over the 45% threshold - a threshold that never seems to get broken - or that Not-Obama remains behind in Gallup, Rasmussen, and Q-polls released in the same time frame.

But that would definitely blunt the media narrative of what an incredibly tight race this is and how Obama continues to struggle despite having every advantage. And the poll does offer that little ray of sunshine to the beleaguered Not-Obama camp. So I guess it served its purpose.

[Befair]

I agree that "That which you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me" seemed to be a contrived response - to show Christian beliefs rather than Muslim; however, for all I know, Muslims may have a similar passage. Being a New England Yankee myself, I was a member of the Congregational Church which merged with the Evangelical and Reform in the fifties to become the United Church of Christ. I assure you that if any minister in any church I have ever attended spoke as the pastor of Obama's church (Rev, Wright??), he or she would have been fired on the spot. It does bother me that the Obamas attended that church and listened to thia man for years.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- I assure you that if any minister in any church I have ever attended spoke as the pastor of Obama's church (Rev, Wright??), he or she would have been fired on the spot. It does bother me that the Obamas attended that church and listened to thia man for years. --"

Lols. Funny stuff.

[Fred Beloit]

"Not-Obama barely edges over the 45% threshold - a threshold that never seems to get broken - or that Not-Obama remains behind in Gallup, Rasmussen, and Q-polls released in the same time frame."
If one recalls correctly, Bill Clinton once won with 42% of the pop vote.

"Lols. Funny stuff."
Nothing funny about it to any sane American.

[seekeronos]

"--- Some might note that the Zogby poll in question doesn't include 3rd-party candidates sure to be a drag on the Not-Obama ticket. ---"

I spoke with the Constitution Party chairman a few nights ago, and he's fair convinced that even with (currently) Dr. Baldwin on the ballot in 26 states (and counting), he still stands at least to get 7% of the popular voters, most of them paleocons and a fiar portion of the "religious right" who are disgusted with the GOP kicking social conservatism to the curb whilst still otherwise embracing Bush's neocon ways.

And Bob Barr of the Libertarian party is on the ballot in 38 states (and counting), he will likely cash in on more than a few Ron Paul voters; in all likelihood, he will siphon off a fair number of Democratic votes as well as GOP voters.

Ralph Nader is running as an independent, and will probably not take too many votes from the far left,, given Obama's appeal to the socialists... and the Green's choice of Cynthia McKinney will probably not amount to much either.

Still, third parties this year may skew the election in ways that the two main parties and the pollsters may not have fully accounted for.