Obama failed this week as well as Clinton

James Forsyth

10 May 2008

James Forsyth says that Hillary’s disappointment in Tuesday’s primaries is matched by the decline in Obama’s image, as the sheen of the wunderkind fades and doubts multiply

At first this worked in Obama’s favour; few wanted the Clintons back in their living- rooms. But as his string of victories made him the focus of attention people became less sure. They had known Obama for only four short years and while he may have made a good first impression, they wanted to know more about him before deciding to give him a standing invitation to pop in for the next four.

This is why the series of scandals that have hit Obama since the end of February have been so damaging to him. First, there was one of his team apparently telling the Canadians to ignore his anti-trade rhetoric as it was just politics — this suggested that Obama was just another politician. Then there was the beginning of the trial of Obama’s former patron Tony Rezko, which raised doubts about whether he was as free of the usual taints of politics as people thought. Then the fact that Obama was friendly with an unrepentant leftist terrorist began to be talked out, implying that he moved in a very odd milieu. Then, most damagingly, came Reverend Wright, a racialist preacher filled not with hope but rage, who had been Obama’s friend and pastor. This drew into question his entire political persona: how could someone who presents themselves as a healer of divisions have been friends with and spent 20 years worshipping in the church of a man whose views are so divisive? This is a paradox that Obama has yet to, or cannot, explain. The revelation that Oprah Winfrey quit the church, apparently because of her concern about Wright’s sermons, raises further questions about Obama’s judgment. If a talk-show host could see what the problem was, why could someone who aspires to be president not?

The damage that Wright has done to Obama is demonstrated by the fact that 46 and 47 per cent of voters in both Indiana and North Carolina respectively said that Wright was important to their vote. In Indiana 70 per cent of these voters went for Clinton and in North Carolina 57 per cent did.

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Augustus

May 8th, 2008 11:27am Report this comment

A very clear appraisal if I may say so, James.

If it hasn't toughened him up, McCain sure will. And not only beerwise!

Ganpat Ram

May 8th, 2008 6:22pm Report this comment

God help McCain if he makes the stupid and fatal mistake of fighting Obama "respectfully".

That was exactly what poor Hillary did - failing to hammer home the starkly obvious fact that a man like Obama who sits in a church for 20 years listening to his chosen pastor and the pastor of his family spewing fascist and racist hate propaganda, has shown zero leadership and judgement and is rankly unfit for a role in public life in any decent country.

Clinton failed to explain this to the voters and paid the price. Obama got away with political murder.

Now it seems McCain is repeating the folly.

As for Clinton, the best thing by far that she can do for herself now is to quit her campaign NOW. Every day that she fights Obama the media focuses on comparisons between herself and Obama, not the comparison Obama mortally fears - the one between his malodorous Wright-tainted self and the super hero McCain. Hillary should finally strike the cruellest blow of all against Obama - quit the race and leave him to be massacred by McCain (which McCaim can accomplish if he doesn't pull his punches fatally).

Hillary should go home, relax and watch the wonderful, delighful spectacle of Obama being slaughtered by McCain.

She should gently tell her followers the simple truth: that McCain is a mighty hero the whole of the USA can proudly vote for, though she will not herself as she has some disagreements with his Iraq and economic policies so far.

She should gracefully decline to camapaign actively for Obama saying she would not wish to compromise the image of such a wonderfully popular man.

She should begin preparing for her real fight: with Al Gore for the 2012 Democratic nomination !

K.Vijayakumar

May 9th, 2008 8:44am Report this comment

Obama seems to have well withstood the adversities he faced in the last couple of months. He has shown great grit and poise in facing the onslaughts on him. These qualities coupled with his sharp intellect, keen political instincts and oratorical skills should make him a hit with not only the American electorate but also, if elected , with the world at large.

Verity

May 9th, 2008 10:17pm Report this comment

I believe I was the first to say, around five months ago, that Obama is Blairesque. Admittedly he is far more intelligent than Blair (but they're equally crafty) and his personal presentation is far more elegant and worldly (Blair always looked like a smarty-pants schoolboy looking for a pat on the back) but they share the same fake, empty "vision" and attachment to empty slogans ("Change you can believe in!" - huh?), high self-regard, opportunism and a vacuous, inexplicable sense of entitlement.

Vijay, you are wrong. I believe the world, especially the Anglophone world, will find his empty posturing distasteful. And they will make mincemeat of him in the Middle East.

I find the prospect of someone that inexperienced being the most powerful individual in the world quite alarming.