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Current Events => Archives => Politics => Election 2008 => Topic started by: Splashdown on September 12, 2008, 08:16:09 AM

Title: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Splashdown on September 12, 2008, 08:16:09 AM
Quote
WASHINGTON -- The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. Tom Friedman tells him to "start slamming down some phones." Camille Paglia suggests, "be boring!"

Meanwhile, a posse of Democratic lawyers, mainstream reporters, lefty bloggers and various other Obamaphiles are scouring the vast tundra of Alaska for something, anything, to bring down Sarah Palin: her daughter's pregnancy, her ex-brother-in-law problem, her $60 per diem, and now her religion. (CNN reports -- news flash! -- that she apparently has never spoken in tongues.) Not since Henry II asked if no one would rid him of his turbulent priest, have so many so urgently volunteered for duty.

  But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues -- there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues -- but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.

The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked -- and had now entered a period of its steepest decline. That Palin could so instantly steal the celebrity spotlight is a reflection of that decline.

It was inevitable. Obama had managed to stay aloft for four full years. But no one can levitate forever.

Link (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/obamas_fading_celebrity.html)

Krauthammer is my favorite pundit. I think he nails it again here.
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Wretched Excess on September 12, 2008, 08:39:47 AM

BUMP!!!!!  killer krauthammer piece!

Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on September 12, 2008, 09:38:07 AM
I enjoy his analysis, he is careful and delves deep, without becoming shrill or egotistical, a man after my own heart.
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: bijou on September 12, 2008, 11:53:00 AM
Great read, thanks for posting.
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Hawkgirl on September 12, 2008, 05:36:36 PM
Anyone know the daily gallop poll numbers for today?
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Splashdown on September 12, 2008, 07:47:56 PM
Anyone know the daily gallop poll numbers for today?

McCain 48-Obama 45.

Yesterday was

McCain 48-Obama 44
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Hawkgirl on September 12, 2008, 07:54:25 PM
Anyone know the daily gallop poll numbers for today?

McCain 48-Obama 45.

Yesterday was

McCain 48-Obama 44
[dummymode ON] I thought McCain's lead would be gone by now[dummymode OFF].....:devious:
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Jim on September 12, 2008, 08:29:39 PM
Quote
But no one can levitate forever.

GREAT line, great summation.
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: DarkHalo on September 13, 2008, 03:55:44 AM
Great Krauthammer piece as usual. First off the 'unstoppable' Hillary was stopped cold. Then their 'rock star' candidate takes back seat to a hockey mom from Alaska. The more shrill the media and the Dems get the more people will flock to Palin. I am by no means a McCain fan but his choice of Sarah Palin for VP was absolutely brilliant!
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: DixieBelle on September 13, 2008, 08:02:19 AM
Yesterday, a talking head on one of the news channels basically said that the politicians once again failed to realize that Americans easily identify with candidates like them. Palin is like a lot of American women and every election, it's groups like Security Moms, Soccer Moms, Stay at Home Moms, Career Moms, and now Hockey Moms who vote en masse. The other talking head then made the point that Hillary may have gotten millions of votes but she didn't resonate with enough of these voter groups or else she would be on the ticket. It was kind of funny to watch them put the puzzle pieces together.
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: Hawkgirl on September 13, 2008, 08:41:46 AM
Hillary may have gotten millions of votes but she didn't resonate with enough of these voter groups or else she would be on the ticket. It was kind of funny to watch them put the puzzle pieces together.

Hillary got to where she is by hanging on to the coattails of her husband.  Sarah is a completely different story.  Most women can resonate with Sarah.  I know few women who got ahead because their husband's presidency. :uhsure:
The only thing Sarah and Hillary have in common is their gender...and even there I'm not too sure  :evillaugh:
Title: Re: Krauthammer: Obama's Altitude Sickness
Post by: DixieBelle on September 13, 2008, 08:42:34 AM
^exactly. That's one of the more ironic parts. :-)