From Maine to the shores of Alaska and Hawaii, it seems as if this year's Presidential election between John McCain and Barack Obama is the hot button topic of every one's daily conversations. However what many people are confused about is why are the polls so close between someone who has a rock star image and a persona that is so charismatic that he could probably talk you into giving him the clothes off your back as you walk home naked versus someone who is like your great grandfather and barely remembers when he's comng or going yet alone what day or year it might be. So is this year's Presidential campaign really about Obama vs. McCain when if you look at all that is taking place from high gas prices to high food prices and a failing economy, it is hard to understand why McCain is even running neck and neck with the likes of the gaint rock star stature of Obama.
The only answer that I can give for this is that this election is not about Obama vs. McCain but it more so about Obama vs. Obama. Yes Obama might be his own problem in this year's historic Presidential election for him. While Obama has shown that he is a strong viable candidate but as he prepares for the general election, he has to do more to ensure that many of the voters that did not vote for him during the Democratic primary season go his way this go round. Secondly Obama has to make sure that his ego doesn't get in the way of his primary goal and that his elitism stature doesn't stick as more and more bloggers continues to write about the real Obama including a blogger friend of mine, Zack, who first met Obama while he was in high school in Chicago with his mom at the famous Harold Chicken. Obama is literally running an election versus himself because this race should not be close but because Obama has not capitalized on his opportunities to win over voters that should go Democratic this year, the race is close and could swing McCain in key battleground states.
The Hillary Factor--Upscale, white "Sex and the City" women are still livid over how they perceive the Obama people treatment of Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic primaries. Therefore Obama has a major, major problem there and many of those women feel Obama has done nothing to address that very issue. I'm not saying that women will vote for McCain but it looks as if many are actually considering voting for him if Obama doesn't step up the plate to address that very issue of how Hillary was treated. Plus it doesn't help Obama that he snubbed Hillary at a fundraising event in New York by not mentioning her name during his speech to the crowd and left the stage only to come back two minutes later to say oh yeah and give to Hillary too.
Now the real scary outcome of these women is not just them voting for McCain but perhaps many of them will decide to stay home in November resulting in many MIA voters that usually vote Democrat. So the missing in action women who pledged loyalty to Clinton could be the very one's to decide this year's Presidential election by many of them not coming out to vote for Obama. This is one problem that if it occurs could force Obama to work harder to win more of the African American and youth vote as well as perhaps continue to bring non-traditional voters to the mix more than ever come November. As Obama looks at the electoral map, he must also look deep inside himself to find a way to overcome the Hillary factor and secure up majority of Hillary's women supporter base that helped her win so many primaries and contests during the Democratic Presidential race for the Presidential nomination.
Jewish Sentiment--Another issue that Obama has to deal with is the Jewish vote particularly the Jewish Democrats in New York who have real hesitation about Obama. Many of these voters are upset about Obama trying to play the middle in regards to Israel. While Hillary has tried to bring these voters to Obama side, it is still not enough when Obama himself has not done enough to show that he truly cares about Jewish voters concerns in terms of his policy making. In fact the only major speech Obama gave that showed any tough talk on Israel was at the APEC conference where he expressed diplomacy as well military might to show its support to Israel if necessary.
True Believers--These are the voters who are really taking a long hard look at Obama for the first time or are Obama supporters and they are starting to see how Obama is changing as he gears up for the general election in November. In fact many of these voters are now upset with Obama about his moving to the middle on Iraq, gun control, the death penalty and everything else that happens when a candidate suddenly gets more "educated" on the issues or at least more educated in the sense of trying to secure the undecided and true independent voters out there who perhaps didn't vote in the Democratic or Republican Presidential primaries or caucuses.
The Republican Power Wings--Therefore it is Obama vs. Obama which makes this Presidential race all the more interesting because its a wide-open race among undecideds. While everyone is talking up the Democrats in Denver especially since the announcement that Obama will accept the Democratic Presidential nomination at the Denver Broncos football stadium but the Republicans will have one hell of a convention as well that will be must see. One can not underestimate the right wing and the Libertarian types' ability to make it interesting because they will.
With guys like Steve Schmidt running John McCain's campaign, than you are bound to see some Karl Rove tactics because he is like Karl Rove's son. Schmidt is probably one of the best targeter of voters in the country. He really knows how to connect one-on-one with voters. He doesn't just do polling like other consultants but he uses commercial market studies. Schmidt reduces voting to who shops at Wal-Mart, Target and Costco and how to talk to them. He doesn't give a damn about Wilkes Bashford or Nordstrom shoppers. Schmidt checks out what kind of cars voters are driving, where voters shop, what kind of things they buy, what programs they watch on TV, what they do on weekends.
Schmidt's assessment and tailors the campaign's message to convince people that his candidate has your deepest interest at heart. Schmidt is most known for running Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign but McCain is no Arnold. So it is hard for me or anyone to figure out how he's going to market McCain but I can tell you that just like Rove, Schmidt won't know how he did it until the election is over. That's why despite the genius of Schmidt is something that Obama cannot underestimate cause for every Schmidt and Karl Rove that McCain and the Republican party has, there are five more just like them in states all across America.
Obama's mission now is to use all that he already knows to combat as well as out work, out maneuver, out think, out spend, out fund raise and out do the political pundits, the nay sayers and the doubters as he marches on toward what could be a very historical Presidential run in so many ways than one.
References:
Time to examine Obama's record http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=fa501bee-7dfe-4b6a-b6e8-d4f404e5ca32
Israel yet to catch Obamania http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11870.html
Barack Obama's super marketing machine http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/16/obama_data/
Obama's paid staff dwarfing McCain's http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/20/obamas_paid_staff_dwarfing_mccains/
What Obama’s ‘50-state strategy’ will look like http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16262.html
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