1) From Gallup.com, “Presidential Race Tightens to 4 Points” by some guy who works for Gallup The Ego has landed! A mere three days ago, Barack Obama sat comfortably perched atop a nine point lead in the Gallup tracking poll. Now it’s down to four. Rasmussen shows an even tighter race. In Rasmussen’s tracking numbers, Obama’s six point lead of four days ago has shrunk to two. And let’s not forget the notorious Gallup non-tracking poll which showed McCain with a four point lead. True, that one was an obvious outlier and as responsible analysts we should ignore the outliers. But the big picture is obvious – Barack Obama’s lead is a slim one. So what gives? If you think I’m about to slip in a peroration on the effectiveness of the McCain campaign, think again. Regarding the McCain operation, the most charity I’m capable of is that as much as the outfit has struggled, it’s still right in the thick of things. Imagine if they get their act together. Obama’s relative misfortunes are his own doing. Yesterday I was having a conversation with a friend, a fellow conservative who as it turns out has traveled the same political journey the last several months that I have. At the start of the year, both of us found Barack Obama a very attractive candidate. Neither us would have considered voting for him because of his reflexive and dangerous dovishness (among other problems), but his personal decency and his call for national unity were appealing. Six months later, the thrill is gone. The simple fact is Barack Obama doesn’t wear well. The more most people see of him, the less they like. This phenomenon has much to do with his lack of substance. Calling for nice things like unity, whether in Boston or Berlin, is a swell thing. (Did you like the way I worked in some Obama-style alliteration there?) But the endless repetition of the call unaccompanied by a substantive plan of action eventually grates. After a while, the whole Hope/Change thing begins to sound like empty rhetoric. And then you have Obama’s ego. If ever there was a presidential candidate who had cause to be modest, it’s Barack Obama. By presidential aspirant levels, he has accomplished virtually nothing of significance in his life. And then there’s the disquieting fact that we’re not exactly talking about Bob Casey Jr. here – where Senator Casey Jr. has no discernible talents, Obama is a highly intelligent and gifted guy. And what has he done with his life? The longer and closer you pay attention to Barack Obama, the more concerning these things become. And I’m not just talking about the reaction of conservatives. I implore you to read the lefty blogs. Their lack of enthusiasm for Obama is almost as marked as their opposite numbers’ lack of excitement for McCain. Here’s some free strategic advice for the Obama campaign – acknowledge that your guy doesn’t wear well and won’t wear well. His substance-free style of politicking eventually frustrates a fair share of the electorate, and his self-regard reaches a tipping point when a level of over-exposure is reached. The obvious solution is to amp down the rock star aspects of the Obama campaign. Problem is, being a rock star seems to be Obama’s favorite part of the process. 2) From the New York Times, “Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Apart” by Jodi Kantor Apparently having nothing newsworthy to print today, the Grey Lady ran this extended appreciation of Barack Obama’s days as a lecturer (not a Professor) at the University of Chicago Law School. Guess what? His students loved him. I’m not surprised. As I’ve written many times, the people who went to law school with him sing the same tune regardless of their current political orientation – they all adore him. By all accounts on a personal level, Barack Obama is a swell guy. If he were running to be my next door neighbor rather than president, he’d have my vote (especially since John McCain seems like he could be highly irritable if I hit a whiffle ball into his yard). But the presidency involves more than personal affability and charm. So why am I linking this meaningless story? I don’t expect you to follow the link – indeed, I’ll be angry if you do. I may even track down your ISP and send you an angry email. But I still wanted to call Professor Richard Epstein’s characteristically cogent assessment of his semi-colleague to your attention:
That’s our Barry, no? 3) From The New Republic, “Cartoon Character” by Jonathan Chait Chait asks the nearly existential question:
Chait’s answer to why every Democrat is a flip-flopper?
Or maybe the answer is simpler than Chait posits. First of all, Bill Clinton wasn’t typecast as a flip-flopper. A fraud? Check. A pathological liar? Yessir. But not a flip-flopper. Clinton had a well articulated and consistent political philosophy both times he ran for president. For instance, in both campaigns he promised to deliver tax relief to the long-suffering middle class that “worked hard and played by the rules.” Of course, he completely ignored those campaign promises when the elections were over. Attacking him as a flip-flopper wouldn’t have made any sense, especially since the fabulist attack had such a solid basis in reality. It’s nice that Chait was able to produce that undated Bush 41 quote, but Republicans generally did not go after Clinton as a flip-flopper. Not so much for Al Gore either, even though Gore underwent a startling transformation when he headed the ticket in 2000. The erstwhile southern moderate metamorphosed into a shrieking, angry populist when he sewed up his party’s nomination. As Jay Cost might say, this was a meta-flip-flop. And yet the charge of flip-floppery was not commonly heard in 2000. Instead, Gore’s general strangeness and unappealing nature, two things vastly amplified by his bizarre performance in the first general election debate, proved more fertile ground. As for Kerry and Obama, it’s true they have been the targets of the flip-flop charge. As I’ve said many times, this is unfair – both men are in fact straddlers. But semantics aside, such charges are made because they have a solid basis in reality, a possibility that Chait doesn’t seriously countenance before going on to suggest that John McCain is the real flip-flopper. A brief prediction: If Mitt Romney should join McCain on the Republican ticket, Chait will find the whole flip-flopping issue suddenly far more germane. 4) From the Wall Street Journal, “From Gitmo to Miranda, With Love” by Debra Burlingame Burlingame’s brother died in the 9/11 attack, and she has watched in horror as the American left has rallied to the cause of the Gitmo detainees:
Here in a nutshell is what makes the left’s attack on Gitmo so galling. Attacking the detention center as somehow un-American or unconstitutional or unwise is fine and in bounds. I disagree with such attacks, but consider them in good faith. But why have so many members of the left felt the need to declare solidarity with the Al-Ajmi’s of the world, wannabe killers who despise our way of life and no doubt chortle at the useful idiots who celebrate their poetry and facilitate their murderous plans? Read Ms. Burlingame’s entire article. Please. 5) From HotAir.com, “New McCain Ad: Celeb” by the Allahpundit. Here’s the ad:
It’s clever. Predictably, the Obama campaign has responded with its characteristic lightness of heart and good natured bonhomie:
Stop it! I’m laughing so hard, my sides hurt! In his post on the subject, Allah wonders why, unlike the McCain campaign, all of Obama’s ads have been so dull and forgettable. Perhaps it’s because the Obama campaign has taken on the true personality of its candidate – both have become drearily self-righteous bores.
