Poor Joe Klein at Time. He is watching his candidate implode. Reminds me of Don Imus beating his head against a wall after a John Kerry interview while saying “this is my guy, and I don’t know what he is talking about”
A few days before Barack Obama was to announce his choice for Vice President, he was asked at a North Carolina town meeting what qualities he wanted in a running mate. He wandered through a derisive, if desultory, critique of Dick Cheney, then switched gears. “I want somebody … who shares with me a passion to make the lives of the American people better than they are right now,” he said. “I want somebody who is mad right now that people are losing their jobs.” And I immediately thought, Uh-oh.
Memories of John Kerry in 2004 came flooding back, of how he tended to describe his feelings rather than experience them, of how he suddenly —and unconvincingly — started to say he was “angry” about this or that when his consultants told him that Howard Dean’s anger about the war in Iraq was hitting home with voters. And then, in the general election, Kerry kept repeating the word strengthrather than demonstrating it. Clearly, Obama’s consultants have given him similar advice, that he was on the short end of a passion gap — that it was time for emo. A day earlier, he had said wage disparities between genders made his “blood boil.”
Or, Joe, it could just be that Obama is a neophyte when it comes to tough elections, since he has never had to fight hard in them. For his first Illinois election, he had most of his competitors disqualified. For his 2004 Senate run, the GOP opponents were first Jack Ryan, who left because of the sex charges in his divorce papers, then Alan Keyes. It was a walk over. Now, he has a tough one on his hands against a seasoned veteran, one who has specific policies. Obama has very few policies that he would want to share. Abortion on demand, hell, terminating babies who are still alive after an abortion, are not issues that will excite the average American. Perhaps the far end progressives, but not average Americans.
Joe thinks Barry should concentrate on the economy. Great! Can’t wait to hear that debate and the substance, considering Barry has really done nothing in during his short pants time in office, versus McCain, who has been there, done that.
But, Joe, see, it is not the passion, the feelings, the empathy. It is the lack of substance, and his poor character. And, as Peggy Noonan points out, people are starting to really pay attention to the race. The people who are the swing voters. And they want to know who the hell they are voting for, and what his policies will be. Not the patronizing ones. The real ones. And what the character of the Democrat nominee is, after 7+ years of Democrats complaining about Bush.
