Jeff Fleischer: The Real Comeback Kid

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/1585

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 8:22am. Guest Contribution

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Jeff Fleischer

When Barack Obama took that podium in Philadelphia last week, he delivered one of the best speeches in a young political career already full of strong contenders.

It was a frank discussion of America's racial past and the ways it continues to poison our politics today. It hit on Obama's campaign themes of bringing America together and getting past the knee-jerk divides of the recent generation of leaders. Far more groundbreaking than the well-argued content itself was the simple fact this speech came from a frontrunner for a major party's nomination, a vessel through which such discussion of a topic as self-evident but taboo as racism has rarely been delivered. One has to go back to Robert Kennedy's remarks in Indianapolis on the night of Martin Luther King's assassination to truly find an equivalent.

"I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together," Obama said in what could be the thesis statement of his candidacy, "unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction -- towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren."

It's not hyperbolic to suggest "A More Perfect Union" was the kind of address that will appear in history books if Obama's presidential bid is a successful one.

Almost lost in the initial burst of discussion generated by Obama's address is how the speech underscored an often overlooked and underrated -- but crucial -- component of his candidacy. It again proved Obama's ability to respond to attacks and controversies quickly, effectively and without dragging his discourse down to his opponents' level. It's an approach that served him well in state government (the near decade of experience the Clinton campaign tends to forget he has). It worked well in his Democratic Senate primary in 2004, when he was running a distant third with just weeks before the election, and has worked again this year. He doesn't attack back, but always responds without seeming defensive. Throughout his career, he's always become more popular as voters learn more about him, a rare quality in his profession.

Democrats just suffered through national campaigns in which John Kerry and Al Gore -- both good men with good ideas -- let their opponents falsely define them, respectively, as a flip-flopping coward who's chronically out of touch and a self-aggrandizing blowhard in the pocket of China who lets consultants change everything from his image to his daily wardrobe.


FULL story at link.

[Shae]

1. Excellent article

k & r

[DevonRex]

2. I love Buzzflash and the article.

Thanks for posting it.

[loyalsister]

3. Nice

I have not run across many people who do not like him, and have been pleasantly surprised by some people who do.
You know those white guys with confederate flags? I know one who supports Obama. I bet Dean never imagined this kind of success with his 50 state strategy.