I don’t pretend to have an amazing insight into political science and effective campaign strategy, but I have a fair share of common sense. This past year we’ve been bombarded with political messages. The message promoted by the Obama camp was “Change”. I understood that to mean he intended to do things differently and many people I’ve talked to shared that opinion. I really didn’t expect Obama to live up to that message. I’m a realist. I don’t believe in Utopia or any of that nonsense. Any politician that makes any promise is most likely lying.
This past month Obama has made two major mistakes that send a message counter to the momentum he’s built. The first mistake was going negative with campaign ads. The negative ads aren’t working for him. Any political strategist worth paying would have strongly urged him to stick to positive messages. He also made a major mistake with one of his negative ads. It’s a really poor idea to point out your opponent is rich, when you yourself are quite well off. It doesn’t matter how many houses McCain owns. What he does with his money is his business so long as it is not illegal or unethical. Buying a house is neither, especially when some of these homes are used by elderly relatives. The Obama ad also brought up that one of the real estate agents McCain used for a purchase was a convicted felon. Is that relevant? Was this person convicted before or after the sale and was the crime related to real estate? The ad doesn’t go into details and I haven’t bothered to look it up because it is not an issue. Don’t Democrats believe in second chances and rehabilitation? After a felon has served their time shouldn’t they be given a chance to rejoin society and the job market? I also got a laugh out of the fact that the Obama camp would dare mention a felon in regards to real estate. Why would they reopen that avenue of attack? Anyone else remember that one of Obama’s major supporters was recently convicted of corruption charges? To make it worse, this supporter was connected to a real estate deal that added additional property to the lot Obama’s house sits on. His camp got so excited about going negative that they went blind and stupid. I’m left to ponder if the campaign is out of his control, which raises questions of his leadership abilities, or if he lacks good judgment and tact.
The second and most recent, possibly fatal, mistake was naming Joe Biden as his running mate. That is no less damaging than holding a press conference and saying, “you know that change thing I was talking about for months, I was kidding”. A political insider with over three decades in Washington is very, very far from change. The fallout from that is only just beginning. I expect the next few weeks to have many annoying investigative news stories and campaign ads. I just can’t believe that he’d pick Biden. That man has been involved with politics so long that the skeletons must number in the thousands. I guess it’s a good thing Obama is a golden child for raising funds. He’ll need the hush money to fend off the inevitable Biden related controversies that will come to light.
I also have to say that rumor that McCain will pick Mitt Romney is also a massive mistake. I won’t go into all the reasons I don’t like Romney, but I’m with a great many of Americans that cannot stomach that man.
This election sucks. Wake me up in December.