How Can Obama "Change" The Race?

Clearly Team McCain has grabbed the momentum in the 2008 race for the presidency. If you're a member of Team Obama you can't be feeling real good right now. McCain is anywhere from even to well ahead in a number of polls.

Obama's biggest play to date was his speech in which he accepted the nomination. Otherwise, they wouldn't have rented a stadium and made such a big deal of it. So, now what? Up until now, Obama has always relied upon his rhetorical gifts to gain an edge. But I doubt Americans are clamoring to hear another big Obama speech.

There seems to be some distress at HuffPo:

"Stop saying that!" my wife says to me. But this is not a high school football game and I'm not a cheerleader with a bad attitude. This is an election and as things stand now, we're gonna frickin' lose this thing. Obama and McCain at best are even in the polls nationally and in a recent Gallup poll McCain is ahead by four points.

Something is not right.

Tactically, Obama has generally employed the race and or viktum card to score points in the clinches. But that works much better in a Democratic primary and presents the risk of complete disaster for Obama in the general election.

Are the debates his best bet, now? Experience suggests he might be able to hold his own in the format but it  hasn't been where he's truly shined.

What's left besides the policy area? One thought that comes to mind is the introduction of some new bold program or initiative that might re-create some momentum around his campaign. But he's stayed away from specifics in his campaign most likely in an attempt to downplay his liberal bent.

So, what's left? If you were a member of Team Obama right now, what would you do to try and gain back the momentum currently pouring out from what looks like a decidedly leaky campaign to John McCain?

By Howard Kurtz
The Ad: Announcer: The original mavericks. He fights pork barrel spending. She stopped the Bridge to Nowhere. He took on the drug industry. She took on big oil. He battled Republicans and reformed Washington. She battled Republicans and reformed Alaska. They'll make history. They'll change Washington. McCain. Palin. Real change.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

Analysis: John McCain is using this ad to try to reclaim the "maverick" label once routinely attached to his name, before he embraced the Republican right more tightly in seeking the GOP nomination. His new running mate, Sarah Palin, can also claim to have taken on her state's Republican Party as Alaska governor, although it is conservative media outlets that most often call her a maverick.

Comments

[Riff]

If I were Team Obama, I would ask Hillary to come back while Biden declares he has a "medical condition" which must force him to withdraw.

Sadly, Hillary would refuse so the suggestion is ultimately useless.

[Steven Den Beste]

Obama has to keep playing the race card and the victim card because those inspire his base to keep giving him money.

But they also make him look like a wimp and a whiner to voters not part of his base. It's an amazing corner he's painted himself into.

[SacTownMan]

I remember Dandy Dan from the old Monday Night Football days when he would sing:
"Turn out the lights, the party over!"

Stick a fork in the god king Xerxes, he's done!

I said it before if he picks Hillary he is most likely POTUS. Instead following the other lame advice of his hadnlers he picks the grumpy old white guy.

This campaign has been an example of these trolls thinking all they had to do was put on the big production with the adoring crowds and just lay low and wait it out.

Well in this race only McCain made the only "Change" and my "Hope" is that Barry continues to go down in flames!

[Rambo]

Go McCain!!!!!!

Go Palin!!!!!!

[JustOneMan]

The "medical condition" is believable..Its obvious that Joey Transplants has had medical complications - mental illness and overly white teeth - from his hair surgery...

[jharp]

Like the Rasmussen poll, the CNN poll shows a tied race.

[joeb]

Riff above has it right. Obama to win will have to rid himself of Biden and put Hillary on the ticket for VP. And they could easily pull it off by sayiing Biden had a heart attack of some mysterious disease. A relapse of his brain problems. More strokes. Something like that. Otherwise Obama has no chance. Lack of experience. Sarah has more experience than Obama.
This election is now McCain's to win if he doesn't drop the ball on the way to the goal line.

[templar knight]

Hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Palin Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The two sops on the Democratic side are toast. LOL. I haven't had this much fun since Bush won in 2004.

That fool on MTV last night gave the Republican side another 3%. Too damn funny to be believed!

[joeb]

What a nice day. Olbermann and Chris Matthews have been kicked off live poltical events. MSNBC was really making NBC look bad. And they still are. Nuts like Olbermann and loud mouth Matthews and the female MadCow are driving more and more voters to McCain/Palin.
MSNBC tried to outfox FOX in the other direction but it didn't work.

[Xennady]

I went over and read that article at the HuffPo. What an idiotic whackjob.

I quote: "This race should be about whether the Republican Party is going to be dismantled or not after the borderline treason of the past eight years."

Someone should tell the raving morons of the left who actually has the guns in this country, not that they would listen. But this idea IS a solution for Obama's dilemma.

He should campaign on the promise that the GOP should be outlawed.

It's hard to think of a bigger, bolder plan than outlawing the opposition. AND his hardcore leftist supporters would love it!

So where's the downside?

[JustOneMan]

.... it's not over until the fat lady sings...she is signing...and Barry is DONE!!!

Barbra Streisand will be among the headliners at a fund-raiser for Barack Obama on Sept. 16, where she will perform for the presidential candidate at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

The plans for the event were outlined this morning and Streisand confirmed that she would take the stage. The hotel ballroom holds an estimated 700 people.

Obama's fund-raiser is expected to be his final visit to raise money here before the general election.

Obama will start the evening with a 5 p.m. dinner event for about 250 people at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, the historic estate once owned by the legendary Doheny family. Tickets for the event are $28,500.

Later, he will attend a reception at the Beverly Wilshire, followed by Streisand's special performance. Tickets for the event are $2,500 per person.

Co-hosts for event include the DreamWorks team of Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, as well as political consultant Andy Spahn. It's also being organized with Obama's Southern California finance team.

Streisand endorsed Obama after he secured the nomination in June. She had endorsed Hillary Clinton in the primary, and appeared and spoke at a fund-raiser for her in January. She also sang at a concert for John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.

The timing of this Obama visit is giving new meaning to the words, "quick turnaround," as organizers have just eight days to put the fetes together

Panicl and despartion..typical liberal response....throw money at the problem...

[Eirik]

I want McCain to win as much as the next (conservative) guy, but declaring the race over now is so... Obama.

Two months is an eternity in Presidential politics. So many things can happen. In theory, Biden could be replaced, Palin might have a huge gaffe, Obama might find a message that resonates, McCain could have a serious health scare. Or we might have a major terrorist attack, Russia could heat things up in Georgia, oil could suddenly spike up by 200%. Remember, the mere revelation that Bush had an unreported DUI from his 20's coming out the weekend before the election in 2000 was enough to depress his turnout to create one of the most controversial elections in history.

The fat lady may be warming up, but the opera has only just begun.

[Befair]

The fat lady may be warming up, but the opera has only just begun.

Posted by: Eirik | Monday, September 08, 2008 at 06:58 PM

At last, a reasonable person making good points.

[seekeronos]

"--- ...McCain could have a serious health scare. ---"

Now, I am by no means wishing ill on McCain, but supposing something did happen, and McCain was otherwise unable to pursue the campaign to Election Day... would Ms. Palin then become the GOP nominee, or would the GOP leadership pick a new nominee?

[Worst President Ever]

Looks like McCain and Palin have tried to stretch their story about the Bridge To Nowhere a bit too far. Looks like the media's starting to zero in on their "distortions". Too bad she was for it before she was against it. And she's still got the money.

As for the whole "I Hate Earmarks" thing - turns out Ms. Palin was pulling in the bucks as fast as she could - something like $750,000,000 in her first two years as governor. And when she was mayor, she actually hired a lobbyist to help get earmarks form Wasilla.

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB122090791901411709.html

"Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign continues to assert that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the federal government "thanks but no thanks" to the now-famous bridge to an island in her home state."

[MarkJ]

Worst President Ever,

To whom does your handle refer? Jimmy Carter? Lyndon Johnson? Bubba Clinton? Woodrow Wilson? /snark

I liked this part:

"Obama will start the evening with a 5 p.m. dinner event for about 250 people at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, the historic estate once owned by the legendary Doheny family. Tickets for the event are $28,500.

Later, he will attend a reception at the Beverly Wilshire, followed by Streisand's special performance. Tickets for the event are $2,500 per person."

Yeah, The One is a real plebian, huh? I've got ten bucks that say if Sarah Palin just throws a block party in Wasilla AK, asks everybody to "bring a hot dish," and hires a local country music band to provide the entertainment, over half the population of Alaska will show up--plus quite a few Canadians.

[Worst President Ever]

More "distortions" from the Straight Talk Express:

Yet documents Palin's office released to The Seattle Times on Tuesday show her cuts in earmarks were far more modest than she claimed. Last year, Palin requested $254 million in earmarks, not $550 million, so her cuts this year were only 22 percent, not the 63 percent she claimed.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008154532_webpalin02m.html

[Worst President Ever]

Eve Fox New's Chris Wallace has figured out Palin's Bridge to Nowhere BS:

WALLACE: During her 1.5, 2 years as Governor, Alaska continued to get more federal money for pork-barrel projects per capita than any state in the country and…she supported the Bridge to Nowhere. And it was only after the federal government dropped it out, killed it, the Congress killed it that she then opposed it. And in fact she still got the money for the approach, the ramp to the Bridge to Nowhere.

Oh yeah, there's this too:

I kinda like this:

Palin is headlining a GOP fundraiser later this month at the home of a California billionaire where the asking price for a snapshot with her and a seat at the headtable is $50,000.

[Xennady]

http://senateconservatives.com/2008/09/04/alaska-democrats-credit-palin-with-killing-bridge-to-nowhere/

Worst President Ever, you're a liar.

[Worst President Ever]

Them's the facts. Only liars here are McCain and Palin.

From http://www.adn.com/sarahpalin/story/511471.html

But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them "nowhere."

Businessman Mike Elerding, who helped run Palin's local campaign for governor, told the paper he would have a hard time voting for the McCain ticket because of Palin's subsequent neglect of Ketchikan and her flip-flop on the "Ralph Bartholomew Veterans Memorial Bridge."

From http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3125537020080901

In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor.

From http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-31-palin-bridge_N.htm

"We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge, and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative," Palin said in August 2006, according to the Ketchikan Daily News.

[Xennady]

WPE,

Go tell it to Alaska Democrats.

Liar.

[SacTownMan]

Damn, Brother Knight be carefull what you wish for.

Fresh from a updated reload of moonbat talking points from troll central Daily Koz and with a fresh dose of George Soros cash we have the return of President Carter.

His ggogle search engine is still smoking from his efforts to discredit Gov. Palin. So are you trolls really so clueless that you can't see the more of this crap you losers try to pull out of your ass the worse your god king Xerxes looks.

So please continue to rant and spin like a top but you guys keep forgetting that your favorite "old guy" is leaving Xerxes in the dust.

It is major fun seeing you guys peeing yourselves over his choice when you got the grumpy old white guy!

Time to go back and crawl under your rock Jimmy!

[Jenny]

Actually, I read somewhere today - I think on TalkLeft - that both Obama and Biden voted yes on the Bridge to Nowhere, and that the earmarks Obama asked for amount to some staggering figure that utterly dwarfs Palin's. And of course, McCain has never asked for/taken any, and Obama is running against McCain (not that you'd know it anymore).

This is the Rubber and Glue election. Every time the Left attacks, it bounces off McCain and sticks to them. I've never seen anything like it.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"More "distortions" from the Straight Talk Express:"

Yaaaaawwwwnnn geeze I hate to be the one to break this to you WPE but the repugnicans and a butt load of indies DO EVEN CARE. See they learned from the demonrats nt to care about how sleazy someone is as longs as it's "our sleaze". SO really, you're barking up the wrong tree.

[joeb]

Barbra has doomed many a Democrat before with her fundraisers and concerts. People take note of this Hollywood crowd and it just turns off the average voter. Celebs like Sprinsteen also actually hurt the Democrats with their endorsements.
Here is what I want to know. Why is a sportscaster like Keith Olbermann given a show on MSNBC to rant and rave? What do postscasters know. Does he know spports or politics. No more than the man in the street.
Meanwhile back in Alaska Sarah Palin's mother is hand making Sarah's dress for the inaugural balls coming Jan. 2009. Go Sarah! McCain/Palin 2008
I would also like to note I am the only person on this board who for John McCain from the get go. Consistently McCain!

[joeb]

Barbra has doomed many a Democrat before with her fundraisers and concerts. People take note of this Hollywood crowd and it just turns off the average voter. Celebs like Sprinsteen also actually hurt the Democrats with their endorsements.
Here is what I want to know. Why is a sportscaster like Keith Olbermann given a show on MSNBC to rant and rave? What do sportscasters know? Does he know sports or politics? No more than the man in the street.
Meanwhile back in Alaska Sarah Palin's mother is hand making Sarah's dress for the inaugural balls coming Jan. 2009. Go Sarah! McCain/Palin 2008
I would also like to note I am the only person on this board who was for John McCain from the get go. Consistently McCain!

[Worst President Ever]

Sorry Wahoo, but I disagree with basically all your post. There are plenty of independents and Republicans who believe outright lying in a campaign is wrong. As for blaming Democrats for the sleaze in politics, Republicans bear plenty of guilt, Republicans have run ugly campaigns in the South coded to appeal to the worst values of the electorate. Willie Horton, Jesse Helms hands ad, etc. Lee Atwater - one of the prime poisoners of the well - even apologized. And Ken Mehlman apologized for the Republicans Southern Strategy.

Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it. Those are the facts unless you can prove otherwise. Calling me names is not proof otherwise.

[templar knight]

Yep, I see the Jimmah troll has returned with his Dem talking points. Apparently Worst hasn't figured out that Palin is not in the Senate or House and can't earmark anything. What a moron!

And by the war, Worst, continue with your bull. It is easily disproved, and shows you to be the liar you are, and makes you and the Dems look even "worst". Hehe.

[Worst President Ever]

Here's her quote: "I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere,""

That's a lie.

1. She supported the bridge - see above quotes from Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, local Ketchitkan paper, etc.
2. She accepted the money
3. The Bridge to Nowhere became a political embarrassment and Palin switch positions
4. She NEVER RETURNED THE MONEY.

If you can prove me wrong post the facts wtih links.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

That stupid red-neck broad! How dare she take money which status was changed in Washington and use it to repair crumbling bridges and infrastructure.

"Under mounting political pressure over pork projects, Congress stripped the earmark - or stipulation - that the money be used for the airport, but still sent the money to the state for any use it deemed appropriate.

The state took much of that for other projects around the state.

Palin on Friday said the Ketchikan project was $329 million short of full funding.

"It's clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island," Palin said.

"Much of the public's attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened," she said.

This is a big win for taxpayers and an example of what grassroots activists can accomplish when they make their voices heard. Yes, the money will still be spent in Alaska, but maybe now it'll go to maintain a bridge that's about to collapse instead of one that goes Nowhere."

Uh WPE you appear to have a reading comprehension issue but it's ok, you're you. However, I would appreciate if you'd c&p where I called you names.

[Worst President Ever]

I was referring to some of the other posters whose basic argument is "liar", etc. Not you Wahoo.

Palin's not arguing she took the money and did something better with it, she's saying she refused it because it was an earmark. That's a lie.