Obama's misguided attacks on Palin
During the primaries Obama attacked Hillary for her kitchen sink attacks on him. He accused her of throwing the china and everything else at him to try to get traction on an issue. He appears to have adopted that strategy against Sarah Palin who seems to have stolen the aura he thought was his. The media has made much of the wrong track polling data and how that benefits Democrats this year. I have argued all along they were missing something in that analysis. What the Palin supporters are showing is that she is on the right track. She is on the track voters want to put the country on and McCain is wise enough to get on that train.Of all the advantages Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to the GOP ticket, the most important may be that she has gotten into Barack Obama's head. How else to explain Sen. Obama's decision to go one-on-one against "Sarah Barracuda," captain of the Wasilla High state basketball champs?
It's a matchup he'll lose. If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president.
Michael Dukakis spent the last months of the 1988 campaign calling his opponent's running mate, Dan Quayle, a risky choice and even ran a TV ad blasting Mr. Quayle. The Bush/Quayle ticket carried 40 states.
Adlai Stevenson spent the fall of 1952 bashing Dwight Eisenhower's running mate, Richard Nixon, calling him "the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, and then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation." The Republican ticket carried 39 of 48 states.
If Mr. Obama keeps attacking Mrs. Palin, he could suffer the fate of his Democratic predecessors. These assaults highlight his own tissue-thin résumé, waste precious time better spent reassuring voters he is up for the job, and diminish him -- not her.
Consider Mr. Obama's response to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who asked him about Republican claims that Mrs. Palin beats him on executive experience. Mr. Obama responded by comparing Wasilla's 50 city workers with his campaign's 2,500 employees and dismissed its budget of about $12 million a year by saying "we have a budget of about three times that just for the month." He claimed his campaign "made clear" his "ability to manage large systems and to execute."
Of course, this ignores the fact that Mrs. Palin is now governor. She manages an $11 billion operating budget, a $1.7 billion capital expenditure budget, and nearly 29,000 full- and part-time state employees. In two years as governor, she's vetoed over $499 million from Alaska's capital budget -- more money than Mr. Obama is likely to spend on his entire campaign.
And Mr. Obama is not running his campaign's day-to-day operation. His manager, David Plouffe, assisted by others, makes the decisions about the $335 million the campaign has spent. Even if Mr. Obama is his own campaign manager, does that qualify him for president?
A debate between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Palin over executive experience also isn't smart politics for Democrats. As Mr. Obama talks down Mrs. Palin's record, voters may start comparing backgrounds. He won't come off well.
Then there was Mr. Obama's blast Saturday about Mrs. Palin's record on earmarks. He went at her personally, saying, "you been taking all these earmarks when it is convenient and then suddenly you are the champion anti-earmark person."
It's true. Mrs. Palin did seek earmarks as Wasilla's mayor. But as governor, she ratcheted down the state's requests for federal dollars, telling the legislature last year Alaska "cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government earmarks." Her budget chief directed state agencies to reduce earmark requests to only "the most compelling needs" with "a strong national purpose," explaining to reporters "we really want to skinny it down."
Mr. Obama has again started a debate he can't win. As senator, he has requested nearly $936 million in earmarks, ratcheting up his requests each year he's been in the Senate. If voters dislike earmarks -- and they do -- they may conclude Mrs. Palin cut them, while Mr. Obama grabs for more each year.
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Obama is not qualified to be President. If race is not an issue (and it is not), we have to look at Obama as if he were white, and if he were, he would not have been a nominee nor would the black community been so rattled to go vote for him. This is exactly why Jesse Jackson was referring to when he made the comment about Obama's castration. Obama did not have the "b__lls" to pick Hillary.. perhaps we can blame Jesse Jackson for that.. although Obama appears not to have any "b_lls" to begin with. He did nothing to reform anything in Illinois and upon entering the Senate took earmarks up the wazoo! Did nothing to say no to Resko! Says he favors equal pay and turns out the women on his staff earn .83 compared to the men's $1.00. He is all hot air and I hope he deflates quickly and quietly dissipate into oblivion. Obama looked small on the Big Stage in Denver and even smaller on the world stage in Berlin. He did not impress me at either site. Now he is travelling with his teleprompter because he cannot deliver anything but a canned speech without mumbling unintelligible phrases. I am voting McCain although i have long since voted Democrat.. Obama's nomination is a disgrace to the Democratic party who were swooned without looking at substance, which Obama sorely lacks.
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