McCain ‘Gallups’ Forward, Obama Slips On His Behind
By Anita Finlay ("Ani") on July 28, 2008 at 7:25 PM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs, George Bush, George Stephanopoulos, Hillary Clinton, John McCain
Wow! How interesting to read about gains for McCain in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain moved from being behind by 6 points among “likely” voters a month ago to a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama among that group in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.
The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.
Go, McCranky! Not bad for a guy without much of a platform, without much enthusiasm from the conservatives of his own party, and one who really hasn’t even bothered to start campaigning against Obama yet. This is truly shocking since Senator McCain can barely get press coverage, never mind the absolute love-fest the networks festoon upon the newbie Senator from Illinois.
Ooh, Barack must be supercalifragilisticexpialidociously pissed off! I mean, he wowed ‘em in Berlin, even having Gerhard Sporl of Der Spiegel’s foreign desk declaring an Obama presidency all but a foregone conclusion.
And those crowds! Thousands and thousands came out to see him! Well they got a free rock concert and food, but hey, I’m sure they enjoyed the speech, too. Why not? He made ‘em all out to be heroes! And they also got to buy buttons with Barack in lederhosen holding a bunch of beer steins. How could you beat it?
President Sarkozy in France was oozing smiles and charm – do you think he got a little tingle up his leg, too, a la Chris Matthews?
I must say, if I were Barack Obama, traveling around Europe with the three biggest news anchors in tow, not having to answer a single hardball question (no offense to your tingle, Chris), having people fawning over me constantly, only to come home and find out my Republican opponent – you know, the one representing the ‘brand’ damaged beyond recognition – had climbed ahead of me in the polls, I would find this very disheartening indeed.
Perhaps he should think about taking David Axelrod out behind the barn. You know, like some newscaster thought they should do to Hillary.
Perhaps the folks at home were a little irritated with Senator Obama for acting like a rock star, spending lots of time doing photo ops, with his new airplane logo twenty times the size of the American flag. He also overstepped the bounds of his ‘fact-finding mission.’ We may dislike – even abhor – President Bush, but he is still the President. Obama is not yet the official Democratic nominee and it is not his place to negotiate anything, much less waltz around pretending he has already been elected.
He must be trying to infect the world with his wishful thinking.
Perhaps the folks at home were a little irritated that he has not taken time to address some of the serious problems we are facing back here on the economy, health care, gas prices, not to mention his ever changing positions on the Iraq war.
Perhaps some of them noticed that, ever the work horse, Senator Clinton, was right back out there working to protect women’s rights, Medicare and address the energy crisis – and that’s just in the past two weeks. That lady actually looks out for the American people.
Lastly, perhaps the American people took notice of the fact that Senator Obama could not be bothered to visit wounded troops on his overseas visit, as John McCain noted in his interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Obama clearly could have done so, if he was willing to attend without his press corps. Senator Obama: not everything needs to be a photo op. Those troops sure would have liked to meet you.
Now that Senator Obama has returned stateside, without much of a ‘bounce’ – his campaign is already trying to spin this fact positively – how long do you think he can avoid a town hall meeting with McCain? I would venture to say this behavior is going to drop him in the polls even further. People can kind of feel when you’re avoiding them.
I know the Republicans haven’t come out with much ammunition against him yet. But let’s be realistic, you know they’re laying low ’cause they’re still afraid of Hillary at the Convention. Right? They know if she’s the nominee, they are toast. So they’re gonna play possum through August 29th.
But after Labor Day – let the games begin!!
If Senator Obama is performing this poorly in the polls with his huge financial and press advantage and rock star treatment, I wonder what will happen when he actually has to face Senator McCain.
Wishful thinking aside, this is one race he is not going to win unopposed.
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