Looking back
By SeattleGonz on December 29, 2010 at 12:00 PM in Current Affairs
As we approach the dawn of a new year and near the official advent of campaign 2012, I wanted to look back. Gently though, my stomach cannot handle a hard return, a reliving of those hateful days of the *cough* *cough,* hope-filled, dream candidacy of Barack Obama.
First I wanted to note, for all of the “she won’t run” people, that Obama repeatedly asserted that he wouldn’t run for the presidency in 2008. That is until the Senator from IL declared on Meet the Press that he could no longer stand by the statements he’d previously made to serve a full-term in the Senate before considering a campaign to be president. (And the Obamacrats are all up in arms about Palin resigning from the governorship. It boggles the mind.)
In politics and war, the changing conditions on the ground influence and alter the decisions made at the top. Or they should. No one should be held accountable to his or her prediction of what he or she will be doing in 2, 4 or 6 years and more into the future. More…
I never imagined myself to be a democrat squaring off against a democratic party that no longer represents women, gays and lesbians or the rights of the average American. Nevertheless, here I am.
On October 15th, 2008, the following headline asked the one question that continues to be asked at home, and all across the globe: Will Hillary Clinton run for President again?
Her answer in 2008, from the NY Daily News:
What are the chances of Hillary Clinton running for President again? It depends on what the definition of “close to zero” is. Those are the the odds Clinton placed on the likelihood of her launching another White House bid — and she declared absolutely “no interest” in joining the Supreme Court.
“I am not seeking any other position than to be the best senator from New York that I can be,” Clinton told Fox News.
“There’s an old saying, bloom where you’re planted,” she said.
Clinton’s mantra about being the “best senator” she can be may sound familiar — she used similar lines to deflect queries about her presidential plans during her 2006 Senate reelection.
“Bloom where you’re planted.” I love that.
And then, of course, there was the dire state of the McCain’s campaign in the summer of 2008. He had no money and nosediving polls, and we all know what those polls mean.
From the Moderate Insider:
THE former presidential front-runner, John McCain, may drop out of the 2008 race by September if his fundraising dries up and his poll ratings continue to drop, according to Republican insiders.
Oh, man, don’t get me started thinking about the press and their penchant from reporting comments from “insiders.” During 2008 all the insider reports were another tool of the Obama campaign and a complicit media to fabricate a narrative. And, there’s absolutely no accountability. It’s criminal.
Recently I read an article about how Obama’s people helped revive McCain because they thought he would be the easiest candidate to beat. And, I had an “aha” moment as to why Obama’s camp is so intent on Romney being the republican nominee. Obama’s strategy with Hillary, and with McCain, was to adopt the same platform as his opponent. Do you remember the joint statement McCain and Obama issued on the economic crisis? (Obama and McCain Issue Joint Statement on the Economy) Obama pulled Hillary’s position papers and re-presented them almost verbatim, although he’d add great lakes in OR, and a few more states to add to his travel itinerary.
Obama’s strategy, I’m guessing,was to make the campaign less about issues and only about personality and the immeasurable qualities of hope and change.
If one views Obamacare as one of the big hurdles Obama has to overcome for re-election, then having Romney, the republican candidate who enacted his own version of Obamacare in MA essentially takes away that issue. Plus, if Obama’s religious choices are scrutinized, then for sure, Romney’s less than mainstream religion will be dismissed as no different from a Rev. Wright, didn’t-pay-attention-in-the-pew churchgoer.
My guess, the reason Palin terrifies Obama is because she’s diametrically opposed to him on the issues, and she beats him in a personality fight.
This is just a quick post, but for an added bit of humor I thought I’d add a quote from Plouffe about the blech of polls.
Obama Campaign: National Polls Are Bunk, Please Ignore Them
By Greg Sargent – August 6, 2007, 4:03PM
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has just sent out an email to “friends and supporters,” and one chunk of it jumps out at us: The part where he pushes back very hard against the national press and its obsession with national polls, which consistently show Hillary far ahead of Obama.
Keep your eyes on the ground…circumstances are changing.
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