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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Monday, March 10, 2008

Picture of the Day


How effective has the Clinton media machine been if Obama (the current leader in votes, states, and delegates) has to come out to say that he's not running for Vice President? Wow.

(And don't miss this wonderful moment from The Hill.)

(Photo: Columbus, Miss., Monday, March 10, 2008.(AP Photo/Kristen Hines))

posted by mikevotes at 1:52 PM

8 Comments:

  • Well I don't know... It could blow back on The Clintons. It could make them look out of touch, pompously presumptuous, and arrogant. It could. If the Obama team can get the pundits and headline-writers to see it this way.

    By Blogger -epm, at 3:09 PM  

  • I dunno. It's just inconceivable to me that the 2nd place candidate could do this and get it taken so seriously to this level.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 4:05 PM  

  • But the media are fickle and not exactly known for deep thinking. I think it's quite possible the media could swing against The Clintons on this. More specifically, if Obama continues to raise this sort of "what are they thinking?" arguments, the press will continue to cover it. And they'll start using adjectives/adverbs that reflect support for Obama's arguments.

    For example, they may shift form saying "Obama claims the Clinton team..." to "Obama pointed out the Clinton team..." This is how the media swung from Hillary. They started simply repeating her message using more of her vocabulary...

    I do think a positive-but-confident Barack Obama is a hard thing for the media not to like. I mean, it makes for great press. Not so much when he's in defense mode, but if he keeps a positive offense....

    The media like things simple: black/white, good/evil. Fair or not I think The Clintons make a better villain than Obama.

    Just working out some "ifs" that's all.

    By Blogger -epm, at 4:33 PM  

  • Well, I think that's what the Obama camp is hoping in highlighting this. Every story on it emphasizes that he's leading by all counts.

    (And watch for the deception/lying attack line I mentioned earlier. Just like the malleable application of hope and change, if they can create the deception/lying line, they can swing it around against anything the Clinton's are throwing.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 5:17 PM  

  • Thinking back, Obama's been using the deception/oki-doke/bamboozle meme for some time. I'm thinking back to the Iowa/NH timeframe and I believe he was using this back in January. It's not part of every rally, but he's pull it out when he's needed to. It may be more pointed at this stage of the game, but it's not new.

    By Blogger -epm, at 7:14 PM  

  • Add in Hoodwink. Those phrases have a special meaning among the black community from their use by Malcolm X. It's no coincidence that they came up when he needed to win SC, and now that he's fighting in Miss.

    They're codewords.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:48 PM  

  • I don't think he's using this language because he was going into SC and now MS. I think it's part of his language when he's coming back from a loss... after NH and now OH/RI/TX*. Maybe a little of both, I don't know. It's part of his" aw shucks" routine where he positions himself as the un-jaded guy with wholesome ideas up against the entrenched, cynical Washington players.

    By Blogger -epm, at 11:55 PM  

  • I don't know, maybe I'm too cynical, but frankly, I don't think so.

    Her VP attacks may be targeting black voters, "you can still make history" in which case his targeting would make sense.

    (This is not worth a long argument to me.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 7:35 AM  

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