Monday, April 07, 2008

The Least of Obama's Problems

William Kristol, who writes as if he were being paid by the word, today gives us a diary of his recent expense-account travels and reports "that lots of conservatives and Republicans expect Barack Obama to be our next president."

But undaunted, Kristol dredges up "an experienced Democratic operative" who thinks McCain is going to win with this brilliant analysis:

"Obama isn’t growing in stature. Once I thought he could be Jimmy Carter, but now he reminds me more of Michael Dukakis with the flag lapel thing and defending Wright. Plus he doesn’t have a clue how to talk to the middle class. He’s in the Stevenson reform mold out of Illinois, with a dash of Harvard disease thrown in.”

In a close race, Kristol comforts his fellow conservatives, that “dash of Harvard disease” could be the difference.

Comparing Obama, a once-in-a-lifetime political talent, to the clueless Carter and lead-footed Dukakis, is grasping at straws and expecting an electorate, panicky about the economy and worn out by the war, to find McCain's version of Bush Lite irresistible borders on the delusional.

Between now and November, Democrats have hard work to do to assure retaking the White House, but overcoming Obama's Harvardness is not high on the list. After all, the voters didn't hold George W. Bush's Yale background against him, and he proved that a President's college education ia no measure of how he will do in office.

6 comments:

GRCOH said...

What does he mean, conservatives AND repulbicans? And all this time I thought conservatives=republicans.

Since this is obviously wrong, does that mean that conservatives=democrats?

God, I hate math.

:-)

GRCOH said...

Hmmm. Repulbicans does have a ring to it. I really like it.

Liza said...

This is kind of funny.

I think that the Harvard thing will be good for Obama.

After Clinton, Americans wanted a president who was not promiscous. That seems to be the one good thing that can be said about Dubya.

After Dubya, Americans are going to want a president who is not as dumb as a box of rocks.

GRCOH said...

Geeza Liza,

Don't you know that there aren't anymore boxes of rocks left. Word has it that Dubya used them all up. Anyway, I think anybody that was running for preza would have been an improvement, don't you?

As for promiscuity in Washington, it's been too late to change that ever since Bob Dole sold them all those little blue pills.

groch

Larry Jones said...

In the event that the McCain campaign is dumb enough to try to use Obama's "Harvardness" against him, I can almost hear Obama using that last line ("...a President's college education is no measure of how he will do in office.") as rebuttal, in the same humorous vein as when he told Senator Clinton "OK, I reject and denounce..."

Anonymous said...

Anyone who bothers to read the intro and first 10 pages of Obama's book "Dreams from My Father" will know this guy is no 2-dimensional cardboard cutout. He's lived under a wide variety of conditions and known different kinds of people. Cosmopolitan and "well-rounded" as they say. Plus, Obama can write.