I'll Offer Obama Some Constructive Criticism

[THUNDER HANDS]

For a guy who came up from such humble beginnings, Obama hardly shows that in the debates, even going back to his debates with other Democrats.

If he's going to talk about the economy and going to talk about how tough it is for Americans to get by and going to talk about what our current situation is, he HAS to personalize this. He has to talk about his upbringing with being the son of a single mother who was on food stamps, who pulled himself up through his own hard work and went to Harvard.

He especially has to point out how he had college loans that took him 20+ years to pay off, going right up until is run for the senate. He especially has to bring that point up in pointing out how to combat the national debt and get out of our financial crisis. Humanizing an issue like debt would be an excellent way to connect with voters who think he's an elitist.

If Obama doesn't do this, he's missing a tremendous opportunity. Now, he still has two more debates to accomplish this, and thankfully, one of those is the economic debate at Hofstra University (woot - my school). He has to anecdotally tell his story and wrap it around the larger issue of how the economy is effecting ordinary Americans.

Just my two cents, from what I observed last night.

[Orlandodem]

1. I thought the same this morning. He needs to open up.

nt

[Vinca]

2. The only thing I would have had him say was about insurance,

when he mentioned the $5,000 tax credit McCain proposes. He should have said "$5,000 tax credit for a $12,000 policy" or something like that.

[iceman66]

3. I expect he will do that in the other debates.

Remember that this one was supposed to be about foreign policy.

[terrya]

4. I think we'll see him do that in the next debate.

The next debate will be domestic issues. I think Obama will do as you suggested...making it more personal, talking to Americans about his family in relation to other families and the hardships they face.

[Essene]

5. Here is the problem with this "personal" approach... Mccain is better at it.

Obama surely should bring in SHORT personal points and use the Clinton Method (TM), but he has to avoid falling into the "my story is better than your story" trap with Mccain. Going on and on about his own suffering and experience works when he is ALONE on stage. Mccain's #1 strength is his grampa story telling.

The important thing... is that he's better focused on the BIG PICTURE issues making americans anxious.

He's also painting Mccain as McSame, with a philosophy that's pro-rich and has lead us into the ground.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. i don't think McCain is that much better at it

remember, Obama's best moment last night was when McCain whipped out his bracelet that was given to him by the mother of a fallen soldier, and expected that to be the big moment for him at the debate and Obama whipped his out and basically neutralized the whole moment, if not outright owned it.

[Tallison]

20. McCain's anecdotes seemed to date him more than

highlight any 'experience.' Apparently, the CNN focus groups confirmed this.

[Tallison]

13. McCain's anecdotes are a liability to the extent they're ancient history

Every time he brought them up, my emotional intuition (TM) said they highlighted not experience but his roots in the past.

[Captain Hilts]

23. Agree about the BIG PICTURE. nt

[Tallison]

6. Not sure he should mention his dad's Kenyan origins again...

especially as a closing note - just makes him seem that much more exotic. Play up the Kansas/Chicago roots.

The fact is the Obama is still green and his assets on display now are raw intelligence and political talent. With experience, in ten years this guy will be a political monster and grand statesman on the scale of JFK, RFK, FDR, and WJC.

[Captain Hilts]

12. I actually liked that. The first-generation 'American Dream' stuff really connects ....

with some folks.

I agree about his political talents. He's a slippery guy the way FDR, JFK and WJC were. I have been re-reading how FDR got the nomination in '32 and a good chunk of his staff - and his wife - stopped speaking to him for days after he renounced the League of Nations and the World Court!

[Tallison]

28. Oh, I agree; I'm just trying to process it all from an

irrational, 'independent' perspective - you know, the kind that says, "Hey, that's my pie slice he's applying for!"

Ugh, the complexity of electoral psychology is both fascinating and exasperating.

I'm so obsessed with this election, my boyfriend's could be dating somebody else, and I wouldn't even know (and we live together!)

[Captain Hilts]

29. Very funny!

As a former pollster, I always try to look at things from other perspectives. It's not popular to do so here!

This past year has been a living laboratory to me.

[ecstatic]

8. Well he shined on the foreign policy end. He might be saving the economic

stuff for the economic debate. Let's hope a foreign policy event doesn't happen between now and next debate.

[Captain Hilts]

14. It just comes down to the fact that no one in their right mind would want to spend the next 4 years-

watching McCain as president.

I hate to sound shallow, but that's the basic fact.

[ecstatic]

24. An Obama presidency would be fascinating. I would enjoy

every second of watching what he does. McTroll... well...him and Palin would be harder to swallow than Bush/cheney.

[Captain Hilts]

9. He didn't come from humble beginnings. His parentage is categorized as...

'intelligentsia' which means educated but not wealthy.

It was REALLY unusual to have a mother with a graduate degree among kids Obama and my's age. Hell, most my friends' mothers didn't even have college degrees and we were the kids of military officers.

So, demographically, he's a hybrid, just as he is racially.

[dkf]

10. I think if he talked about how he and his mom/grandparents

financed his college education it would be a good thing. I'm sure it weighed on his mind as to how much debt he was taking on and there must have been some sort of "kitchen table" discussion.

I'll bet John McCain never had one of these.

[BeyondGeography]

11. Obama is never going to be a working class hero; I wish people would get over this

He has done what you've suggested a thousand times. Food stamps, student loans, single mother, etc., and he still gets raked over the coals for "not being able to connect" with working class voters. It's tiresome.

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. i think that's unfair

Whatever Obama has said on the stump hasn't reached 10% of the audience he would reach in these debates. And to do so in the context of a larger issue like the economy is the way you humanize yourself, as well as the issue of the financial crisis.

is it going to win over everyone who doesn't currently support him? No. But it'll win over some.

[Captain Hilts]

18. That's right. Don't try and fake it. FDR said - once - he was a "hayseed" as...

an effort to be a regular guy. His whole staff cringed.

Be who you are.

[Thrill]

21. Its called the black tax

[Captain Hilts]

26. No, not necessarily.

Colin Powell could have been elected president and Americans have put Will Smith and Denzel Washington at the top of the box office reciepts many times.

It's just more complicated than that.

The Rev. Wright stuff - and Michelle Obama's comments - didn't sit well with some workingclass folks. Let's hope they get their heads out of their butts and realize Obama is their guy.

[secondwind]

15. you bring up a very very good point...........Obama could have gotten a higher paying

job when he came out of school, and paid off his college loan much later than he had to. This man puts PEOPLE FIRST.

[Captain Hilts]

19. But he went to Chicago for the political possibilities. He was also very ambitious.

And that's okay.

[Uben]

17. Maybe, but....

...if you noticed, everything McCain said was all about "me, me, me". He continually tries to toot his own horn by telling what he has done, where he has been, who he has talked to, rather than address the questions he was asked. I would liked to have seen Obama attack him a little more. I may have missed something, but I didn't hear "Keating 5" once, when talking about the failed banks. You can bet your ass McCain woulda shit if Obama had mentioned it! Obama did stress McCains cooperation with Bush policies, but he should have attack him more on a personal basis. Why is everyone afraid to mention the Keating Five incident?

[THUNDER HANDS]

22. democrats don't bring up the Keating Five because

the other four senators were Democrats.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. There's only one Fiver left in Congress, though. McClucky.

[Captain Hilts]

27. And it's too complicated an issue to discuss. nt