to no good. Keep pulling your punches. Don’t remind people McCain wants to help the oil companies even
more
than Bush did. Don’t bring up that he wants to outlaw all abortion. Back away from painting McCain as the guy who thinks it’s a good idea to stay in Iraq until pigs fly. That way, if you keep praising him, you can send a mixed message to the less-informed who are simply not going to figure it out. When they walk into a voting booth, they will see two names on the ballot:
_ BARACK OBAMA
_ WAR HERO
Trust me, this ain’t Sweden you’re living in. War Hero wins every time.
2.Have Obama pick a Vice Presidential candidate who is a conservative white guy, or a general, or a Republican.
Yes, it will seem like smart politics at first.
Shore up Obama’s lack of military experience with a hawk.
Be true to Obama’s message that he’ll be a president for
everybody
by having him run with a Republican.
Make a pitch to the purple states of Virginia and Indiana to vote Democratic this time by putting one of their own on the ticket.
Or swing for the fences and make the red state of Ohio happy by handing the vice-presidential slot to its governor.
But by doing any of this, you will upset the base that not only must come out on election day, it must also be
active
and
work
dozens of hours during the campaign. They have to personally bring ten people each to the polls with them if we are to avoid the disasters of the past two elections. Many of them won’t do this extra work if Obama picks the wrong Veep. It will suck the air out of the balloon in a big way.
Obama electrified the nation on the notion of change and hope and a new fresh direction in Washington. If he picks a running mate who screams “Same old same old,” it will make it harder for him to attract all the new voters he needs to bring to the polls to win. Remember that there are nearly 100 million adults who choose
not
to vote. That is a large base from which to draw millions of new votes. Obama should not desert a strategy that has worked well for him.
There is nothing wrong with picking someone who can help him win a swing state or someone who has more experience than he does in certain areas. But when I hear pundits say, “He has to pick a Catholic,” well, John Kerry was a total Catholic and the Catholic vote went to Mr. W. I mean, here’s one of the largest groups in the country—66 million Catholics—and they/we have only allowed one Catholic to be president in 208 years. You would think they would have been flocking to Kerry in 2004. THAT IS NOT THE WAY PEOPLE THINK. IT IS THE WAY PUNDITS THINK. Keep listening to them and you can help elect John McCain the next President of the United States.
3.Keep writing speeches for Obama like the one in front of the American Israeli lobbying group the day after the final primaries.
Here’s what he said:
“The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.”
and
“. . . Let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel. Sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation.”
Sounds like a speech McCain would give. Sounds like he’s ready to invade Iran. He staked out an even worse position for the Palestinians vis-à-vis Jerusalem than the one held by George W. Bush. Keep that up and more and more supporters will be less and less enthused. It will be harder to keep the base motivated if they continue to hear how Obama wants to expand Bush’s “faith-based” initiatives, doesn’t have a health plan that covers everyone, and wants to send more troops to Afghanistan. The implied message of all of this is that the Republican plan is a good plan. So why would voters want to elect the candidate imitating the Republican when they can get the real thing? Talk like this gets McCain elected.
4.Somehow forget that this was a historic year for women and that there is more work to
more
than Bush did. Don’t bring up that he wants to outlaw all abortion. Back away from painting McCain as the guy who thinks it’s a good idea to stay in Iraq until pigs fly. That way, if you keep praising him, you can send a mixed message to the less-informed who are simply not going to figure it out. When they walk into a voting booth, they will see two names on the ballot:
_ BARACK OBAMA
_ WAR HERO
Trust me, this ain’t Sweden you’re living in. War Hero wins every time.
2.Have Obama pick a Vice Presidential candidate who is a conservative white guy, or a general, or a Republican.
Yes, it will seem like smart politics at first.
Shore up Obama’s lack of military experience with a hawk.
Be true to Obama’s message that he’ll be a president for
everybody
by having him run with a Republican.
Make a pitch to the purple states of Virginia and Indiana to vote Democratic this time by putting one of their own on the ticket.
Or swing for the fences and make the red state of Ohio happy by handing the vice-presidential slot to its governor.
But by doing any of this, you will upset the base that not only must come out on election day, it must also be
active
and
work
dozens of hours during the campaign. They have to personally bring ten people each to the polls with them if we are to avoid the disasters of the past two elections. Many of them won’t do this extra work if Obama picks the wrong Veep. It will suck the air out of the balloon in a big way.
Obama electrified the nation on the notion of change and hope and a new fresh direction in Washington. If he picks a running mate who screams “Same old same old,” it will make it harder for him to attract all the new voters he needs to bring to the polls to win. Remember that there are nearly 100 million adults who choose
not
to vote. That is a large base from which to draw millions of new votes. Obama should not desert a strategy that has worked well for him.
There is nothing wrong with picking someone who can help him win a swing state or someone who has more experience than he does in certain areas. But when I hear pundits say, “He has to pick a Catholic,” well, John Kerry was a total Catholic and the Catholic vote went to Mr. W. I mean, here’s one of the largest groups in the country—66 million Catholics—and they/we have only allowed one Catholic to be president in 208 years. You would think they would have been flocking to Kerry in 2004. THAT IS NOT THE WAY PEOPLE THINK. IT IS THE WAY PUNDITS THINK. Keep listening to them and you can help elect John McCain the next President of the United States.
3.Keep writing speeches for Obama like the one in front of the American Israeli lobbying group the day after the final primaries.
Here’s what he said:
“The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.”
and
“. . . Let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel. Sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation.”
Sounds like a speech McCain would give. Sounds like he’s ready to invade Iran. He staked out an even worse position for the Palestinians vis-à-vis Jerusalem than the one held by George W. Bush. Keep that up and more and more supporters will be less and less enthused. It will be harder to keep the base motivated if they continue to hear how Obama wants to expand Bush’s “faith-based” initiatives, doesn’t have a health plan that covers everyone, and wants to send more troops to Afghanistan. The implied message of all of this is that the Republican plan is a good plan. So why would voters want to elect the candidate imitating the Republican when they can get the real thing? Talk like this gets McCain elected.
4.Somehow forget that this was a historic year for women and that there is more work to
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