09-04-2008
Palin
Palin’s speech, while harsh, sarcastic, and empty of substance, played masterfully the classic GOP chord of resentment against ”liberal elites.” Yes, primarily, it worked to fire up a GOP base that will largely come home to McCain anyway, but we should also face the fact that there is a significant chunk of genuinely independent swing voters with whom this resentment against better educated, more well-off, faceless cultural elites also works, and many of these voters ideologically would otherwise vote Democrat. Palin’s speech may have brought them home to McCain as well, and before last night they were still very much in play. (On the other hand, these focus groups indicate that the speech did not have the impact on independents that it had with Republican loyalists in the convention hall).
What is infuriating is that Democrats knew they would take this shot, knew she was an effective communicator, and just sat back and let her take it. We let the mainstream media chase their tails about her 17 year old daughter and her level of experience and simply enhance her as a conservative David against the liberal Obama/media Goliath. I don’t think we had to. Would she have been as effective playing the role last night if the primary topic of conversation was her abuse of power as Governor of Alaska and her outright lie (repeated last night) about her record of opposing the “bridge to nowhere?”
Josh Marshall’s excellent reporting on “Troopergate” has just barely penetrated the print media and hasn’t penetrated on television at all, and therefore even the most well-informed voters have no idea what that story is about. Obama’s surrogates, including Biden and Hillary, should have been raising questions about this story IMMEDIATELY, last Sunday, discrediting her as a reforming outsider before she delivered the blow that she delivered last night. Maybe they can do it now, but it will rapidly become too late and be deemed “old news.”
If Obama loses this election, this will be the defining mistake: sitting back and hoping the media would do his job of making the case that Sarah Palin is not just inexperienced, but also not the genuine product of a reforming outsider. If this election is about reform and change, you have to make the case that you are the only candidate who is going to do it. Instead, Obama has let the media blow it on salacious stuff about her daughter and missed what counts, and frankly, it was predictable.
Posted by genblue in General | RSS 2.0
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[…] Today’s must read, just completely fascinating. One worthwhile, if not particularly juicy insight, is the attribution to President Obama himself the view that Palin would not be able to adjust to national politics in the short time that she had during the campaign, which was probably why the Obama campaign made the decision to refrain from attacking her and generating any backlash stories. With 20/20 hindsight, we wish we were that savvy. […]