The current major Party candidates have been running for President since early 2007. Senator Obama announced his candidacy February 11th, and Senator McCain followed suit April 25th. Now, only six days remain until D-Day; Election ’08. As the historic day approaches, and it will be historic, no matter which candidate wins, beware the outrageous schemes of deception, misdirection, mind games, and the plain old okeydoke.
It could be said of political campaigns, they are a lot like love and war; all is fair. Partisan politics in America is littered with its share of inter-party intrigue, squabbling, bickering, and contests between men and women promoting competing ideas and ideals, big and small. The overarching strategies and subtly nuanced tactics of this year’s race for the American Presidency have all pretty much been implemented, and now await the verdict, which will be rendered by We the People next Tuesday, November 4ht.
Oh yes, to be sure, there is still a flurry of activity between now and then. The candidates and their seconds, the would-be Vice Presidents, are crisscrossing the Country, to make their final pitches in a few of the so-called, battleground States. On Monday, Obama led in Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, and Nevada, while McCain boasted significant margins in West Virginia and Indiana. Florida, the largest prize among the battleground States, was a dead heat.
A review of most polls shows that Obama is comfortably ahead in all the States won by John Kerry in 2004. Conversely, several polls show McCain in serious danger in several States won by President Bush. Three examples of this latter point are North Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio. No Democratic Presidential candidate has won North Carolina since Jimmy Carter in 1976, none has won Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, alternately no Republican has ever gone on to win the Presidency without carrying Ohio.
As the clock inexorably moves toward zero, polls show Senator Obama with a slight advantage in popular votes, and a tenuous lead in several battleground States, as well as Electoral Votes. This is where things have had a tendency to get tricky in recent history. As the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Campaign neared an end, the Democrats found themselves ahead in the polls. Of course, after eight years of W, we all know how both of those elections turned out.
Senator McCain has cast himself, along with Governor Palin as the underdog team; but he added they are exactly where they want to be. While this is highly doubtful, they clearly have not thrown in the towel. Instead, they are trying to work a little Prestidigitation; magic, if you will. He has insisted that the Obama camp and the media have written them off, and underscores he still believes they can win.
The Obama-Biden duo has apparently considered the less than stellar ending their Party experienced in the past two Elections, and taken Senator McCain-Governor Palin at their word. As a result Obama has responded by asking supporters to approach the next six days as if the result of the campaign depended on it, because, he says, “it does!”
This is where voters and supporters enter the picture. Trailing as they are, Team GOP needs help from Democrats and Independents to pull even and overtake Obama-Biden. They are enlisting the aid of an array of distractions to sew seeds of fear, create confusion, and promote complacency among Democrats and Independents planning to vote for Obama and Biden. A sample of ten artful impediments voters will encounter includes:
Obama is a Muslim
Obama promised to accept matching funds
Obama is a Socialist/Redistributor
Obama has written Inaugural Speech; measured White House drapes
Obama will appoint Jeremiah Wright to a Cabinet position
Obama will rely on William Ayers for policy advice
Obama has a flawed position on the economy
Obama has a flawed position on Iraq
Obama has a flawed position on health care
Obama has a flawed position on abortion
The point in introducing any or all of the above items has two principal purposes. The first is to erode the candidate’s time and availability to deal with legitimate Campaign issues and apply quality time to disseminating his own message. The second and more cancerous purpose, at this stage of the process, is to waylay and otherwise dissuade voters.
Take for example the question of whether Obama is a Muslim. This has been addressed countless times since the beginning of the race. It is such a non-starter, McCain or Palin would never make the claim. Yet the insidious way it seeps into the fabric of the Campaign occurs when it comes up during official Campaign events, without challenge or interruption from the candidates or their surrogates. An on-the-fence voter may hear it repeated enough times he/she accepts it as fact.
Next, consider the matching funds question. Obama changed his position on the matter. But let’s face the facts. Republicans have typically had an advantage in fundraising, and funds on hand. If The GOP had more money than the Democrats, as they usually do, this would not be an issue, as least not with the GOP. The only reason it is an issue now is because Senator Obama took an experimental mechanism and turned into the goose that laid the Golden Egg of fundraising. In fact, he was so successful, it is certain the rules will be changed before there is another Presidential Election.
In a stroke of marketing genius, the McCain supporter otherwise know as Joe the Plumber helped the Campaign stumble onto its most robust theme of the entire contest; Obama the Socialist/Redistributor. There is really only one problem with that. The United States has long embraced concepts that are rooted in socialist principles. Public education, income tax, labor unions, the recent Rescue Package, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Minimum Wage, just to name a few. As an interesting aside, Francis Bellamy, a Baptist Minister, wrote the original Pledge of Allegiance in 1892. The Reverend Bellamy was a socialist. In the 80's Gore Vidal said of Reaganomics: “The US government prefers that public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich.” Oh my!
The McCain-Palin tandem has spent a good portion of the week repeating a claim that Obama has already written his Inauguration Speech, and had the White House measured for drapes. Obama’s spokesperson has denied both. This has the feel of an earlier gambit to label Obama as an arrogant elitist. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, I suppose.
The Reverend Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers are the bookend symbols of guilt by association. Obama’s relationships with both appeared to receive more thorough vetting by opponents and the media than Governor Palin did by Senator McCain and his surrogates before she was selected as a person who could become our next Vice President. Think about that for moment, why don’t you. I have said in a previous post that in the final analysis, Palin may prove to be one of the most significant boosts to Obama’s Presidential quest.
Looking at the economy, Iraq, health care, and abortion as a group of policy issues, the most concise way to frame it is to note for all claims to the contrary, Barack Obama has given every indication that his position on the issues that matter most to Americans will be centrist and conciliatory. That’s why Americans across the spectrum felt he won all three debates with Senator McCain. His views, his values, and his ability to communicate them align more closely with the views of most Americans that do those of John McCain.
So, upon sober reflection, whether it’s called prestidigitation, legerdemain, deceit, deception, tricks, mind games, or simply the okeydoke, do not fall for it. Stay the course; cast your vote, do it early if you can, and spend some time ensuring that others do the same. This momentous undertaking is not over, but this time next week, it will be. Hang in there. I’m done; holla back!
Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/us/politics/29fiscal.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=ammTPkmvBj9Y&refer=politics
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-poll29-2008oct29,0,7008892.story
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/10/28/20081028montini1028.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/A_reality_check_for_giddy_Obama_fans.html
http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/1246129,skinhead-barack-obama-plot102808.article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright_controversy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/04/obamaflagpinlap.html
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm
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