Sunday, August 24, 2008

What Obama Needs

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert argues that if Barack Obama wants to win this presidential election, gentility simply won't get it done:
Barack Obama was always a long shot to win the White House. It’s no secret that some portion of the electorate will never vote for him because of his color. But he has made the odds even longer by running a campaign that, since the primaries, has seemed directionless, uninspired and addicted to the empty calories of generalities.

And the candidate himself has seemed flat. No fire. No passion.


Herbert's colleague Charles M. Blow makes a similar point, focusing on how Obama allowed the McCain campaign to exploit the energy issue so effectively that it cut into Obama's lead in the polls.

Lately, you’ve demonstrated an unsettling penchant for overly nuanced statements that meander into the cerebral. Earth to Barack: to Main Street America, nuance equals confusion. You don’t have to dumb it down, but you do have to sum it up.

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Alexandria, VA, United States
'To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle." - George Orwell