When he decided that the Democratic Party wouldn't dare to alienate black voters by nominating Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama stalled. Even though he was acknowledged by all to be the winner Clinton started whupping him in state after state by huge margins. All the Obama blather about the Clinton's being closet racists alienated voters. His ringing speeches didn't connect. He started to get the image of a star-struck elitist who was out of touch with the majority of Americans.
Then there was the triumphal World Tour, an event so successful that the Obama-struck media doesn't mention it at all these days. In other words, a flop that didn't produce a single usable five-second sound bite. Ditto the resounding flop of the Democratic convention. The disaster of the Greek Column Extravaganza was mercifully (for Obama) overshadowed by the entrance of Palin onto the scene. That grandiloquent moment in the Arena at Denver was another prime example of where Obama could have closed the deal and set the theme for a romp to victory. He didn't.
In the world of sales there is no higher compliment than to be described as a 'closer'. A closer gets the chumps to sign on the dotted line, he seals the deal. Some of us can be witty, charming and persuasive and will make a sale occasionally to someone who was probably going to buy our product in the first place but a closer is responsible for refrigerators being seen in igloos. Ronald Reagan was a closer. Bill Clinton was a closer. Barak Obama is not a closer.
The media doesn't see it. They believe the phony polls that have a 39% Dem sample and a 28% Rep sample. They think Joe the Plumber is some kind of Right Wing Nut. I mean, talking about socialism for God's sake! How gauche. They've gone after this impudent plumber hammer and tongs. His divorce records have appeared on the front pages of newspapers. A flurry of other media charges and attacks have been leveled at this dude. I'll bet he wishes he had a reasonable expectation of privacy like Bill Ayers. What are those idiots in the Democratic Party and their pet media stooges thinking about? When someone charges you with wanting to take away people's freedom the last thing you want to be seen to be doing is trying to destroy his life for asking the question. How many Joe the Plumbers are watching this and asking which side the Dems are really on? This is the kind of guy that expands his plumbing business by taking on a couple of guys and maybe a kid who learns the trade from the old hands. These days that counts as a $250k business. Inflation is pushing a lot of tiny micro-businesses over the $250k line. These guys are burdened with workman's comp, matching social security payments, oppressive regulations and reporting requirements and already ruinous fees and taxes. For Obama to announce that their 'wealth' needs to be spread around to people who really need it is a total insult to people like that. Right now half their income is being flushed down the government toilet and now Obama and Biden are telling them that if they expand their business their remaining proceeds will be shared amongst the truly deserving; a group which doesn't include members of their family. Its so patriotic! Blue collar America is just waiting to have their taxes raised in the name of fairness.
Now Obama's poll numbers, which briefly rose in response to the chaos in the markets and the scary economic times, are sliding again as people notice that his response to this insecurity and chaos was incoherent and involves raising taxes on these already near-bankrupt businesses. He has not made a persuasive case for any kind of a remedy for this or any other problem that faces us. Energy crisis? Don't drill for oil, inflate your tires. Banking crisis? Print money. Medicare going bankrupt? Expand the program to cover everybody. Problems solved.
At some point the attacks on Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin, who is drawing 60-70,000 person crowds in swing states, as being yokels who are motivated by racism are going to define Obama as the front man for the political class, which is what he is. Now, Bill Clinton was that and so (to my deep sorrow) was W Bushy but neither of them were as extreme as Obama. The Old Pols were willing to take some eggs from the Golden Goose but they understood the folly involved in killing the critter to get to the goodies faster. Not so Obama. Now with their poll numbers supposedly showing a rout they are waving recipes for roast goose and inviting everyone to dinner. Will the Joe the Plumbers vote for this idiot? Do these people reward candidates who call them racists for wanting to keep a little portion of their paycheck? I don't think so. Obama has given regular working people a strong reason to vote against him and no reason to vote for him except that they're mad at Bush. If he was Bill Clinton that would be enough, as it was in 1992. Clinton was a closer. Unlike Obama.
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