I’m a strong Obama Backer, all the way! But I have a problem understanding the transition in his campaign direction since he mathematically secured the nomination. For me the confusion exists in the basics. In the early days of Barack’s primary campaign, he maintained a strong populist message, the essence of which was captured in the popular slogan “Yes we can!!”
However, since Barack nailed down the nomination, there appears a blending of philosophical messages between the DNC and the Obama campaign have taken place, resulting in a significant dilution of the populist tenor which dominated his primary campaign.
More to follow…
In my estimation the natural evolution of Barack’s primary campaign message would have by now provided a broad plan designed to return control of the government back to the American people. I would assume that this evolved populist plan would address not only the issue of excessive lobby influence; but propose measures that would rein in excessive Pentagon spending and waste, coupled with proposals to clean up the corruption in the current awards and management of government contracts. Military outsourcing via Pentagon contracts has currently placed the Nation in jeopardy. Even rifle bullets for the military are imported from China, thanks to military contracts.
The Democratically controlled congress has held hundreds of hearings on a multitude of catastrophic problems currently facing America, so it seems to me that the Obama campaign should be able to find reams of material that could be woven into a “Fix America Plan” that would give the American voter a clear perspective of what will be worked on in an Obama administration. The traditional Democratic ads promising jobs and solutions to the current energy problems are too bland to be effective in changing any independent voter minds.
People are aware of the problems facing the country and they yearn for any information as to how CHANGE will be done so as to create the kind of progress that America needs to survive.
My advice to the Obama campaign is to stick to the SUPER POPULIST theme and go get that independent thinking concerned voter with a clear plan for starting to fix America’s problems. Forget wasting time on trying to woo special interest groups and this includes HRC and her PUMAs. If they want to get on board ok. Lastly, playing to huge audiences is an essential part of being a valid populist candidate, but speak the SPECIFICS of your plan to the crowd. Give ’em something to take home and think about. Above all, don’t let the McCain campaign goad you into changing your speaking events to small town hall events. Keep doing what you do best, pack em’ in!
The Obama campaign must “engineer” exactly how they present the myriad of components and complexities comprising a major “Fix America Plan” to the public. It is obvious that this cannot be accomplished in one speech. So selected portions of the plan addressing one or two critically current problems should be arranged for each speaking event, so that over the entire schedule of speaking engagements the entire plan will have been publicized across the nation. Selected topics from the “Fix America Plan” should be advertised prior to each speaking event as comprising the agenda of the speech. As a caution, advertisements should appear just shortly before the actual speaking event so as to minimize public distraction and negative comments by the opposition.
In my estimation, a lot of time has been wasted by the Obama campaign fooling around with distractions coming out of the McCain camp and trying to mollify the Clintons and their constituents. Since time is short, it is time to tell it like it is. There is no mistaking Barack’s race unless you are a blind person. So like it or not, race is Barack’s handicap in November. Unfortunately, many staffers on the Obama campaign don’t know how to deal with this as an issue, and would just prefer that it go away. Some of the Obama folks are resigned to treating it as an unfortunate distraction. Well folks, I think that Barack needs to hire Chris Rock to write some material on race for him to include in his speeches. If you are a Black man running for State wide or National public office, you have to face the issue of race HEAD ON! Facing it and frankly talking about it IS NOT PLAYING THE RACE CARD. It is merely dealing with the facts of political reality.
The McCain campaign is deathly afraid that Obama might take this tactic, because they have NO idea how to counter it in a LOW RISK way. That’s why when Barack made the comment about “not seeing anyone that looked like him on American paper money”, the McCain campaign screamed that Obama was “playing the race card!” Obama not only needs to play the race card, he needs to keep shuffling the entire deck in order to keep the Republicans from playing the DIRTY TRICKS CARD that they have up their sleeve! Enough of this. Racial sensitivity is a huge factor in this election. Acknowledge it and move on.
Finally, to summarize, Barack’s victory lies with the solidarity of his populist base and those thoughtful independent minded voters who are passionately concerned about the immediate future of America in this new century. The work required to create an Obama “Fix America Plan” for the general election campaign is huge, but is not impossible. I implore Barack to consider these steps to redirect his campaign. Meanwhile the Republicans will be throwing more and more trash at Barack in order to get the Obama campaign to spend resources to refute the validity of their distractions. Unfortunately, the Obama campaign has to respond to this republican crap otherwise the media will overplay it. It’s the cost of politics. But the most important achievement for the Obama campaign is to make sure that the specifications of the Obama “Fix America Plan” reaches the voter’s ears.