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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The ultimate compliment

 

Karl Rove - the architect of George W. Bush's rise and fall, the uber-strategist who until recently was envisioning a permanent Republican majority - came up with a plan the other day to demonize Barack Obama in a whole new way.

In a meeting on Monday with Capitol Hill Republicans, Rove suggested broad-brushing Obama in this fashion: "Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette (who) stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Obama should send Rove a thank-you note, because Rove's attempt at demonization is actually the ultimate compliment.

In Rove's scenario, Obama is no longer the insufficiently American outsider with the scary middle name. Au contraire, Obama has now come up in the world. Rove, inadvertently, has reframed Obama as a mainstream insider, a guy who has lived the American dream so successfully that he has even gained entry to the country club.

I question whether Republicans really believe they can demonize Obama this way...especially since, to many Republicans, there is no greater validation than membership in a country club. If Rove's demonization idea is the best they can do, then perhaps they truly are in trouble this year.

And speaking of the ultimate compliment, consider the TV ad that Republican Senator Gordon Smith is currently airing, as part of his quest to keep his Oregon seat in the November election. In the typical TV ad, an incumbent will boast of his close ties to the presidential candidate of his own party; in this case, one might assume that Gordon Smith would air a snapshot of himself cozying up to John McCain.

But no. McCain is never shown or mentioned. Instead, Smith cozies up verbally with...Barack Obama. The candidate of the other party.

From the script: "Who says Gordon Smith led the fight for better gas mileage and a clean environment? Barack Obama." (Visuals of Obama's website.) "He joined with Gordon, and broke through a 20-year deadlock to pass new laws that increase gas mileage for automobiles..." Cut to Smith: "I'm Gordon Smith, and I approve working across party lines."

Granted, Smith is fighting to survive in a state that has long been trending blue. But the McCain camp, on June 9, cited Oregon as one of its 24 battleground states, so it has to be embarrassing that the Republican senator on the November ballot has seen fit to link himself with Obama. I can't ever recall another instance when the senator of one party has paid the ultimate compliment to the opposition's presidential candidate.

In terms of arguing that Obama appears well positioned to run a highly competitive autumn race, I find the Rove and Smith anecdotes to be just as persuasive as the new Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll, which was released yesterday. (It shows Obama with a 12-point national lead; with Ralph Nader and Bob Barr in the mix, his lead is 15 points.) Notwithstanding my Tuesday caveat about seizing on polls five months out from election day, two stats do seem noteworthy:

The poll reports that Hillary Clinton's ticked-off followers are rapidly coming home to Obama (a trend that also surfaced in last Sunday's Newsweek survey). Whereas, in some exit polls during the hotly-contested primary season, 30 to 40 percent of Hillary voters were vowing to cast ballots in November for McCain, passions are apparently cooling. The LAT-Bloomberg survey now reports that only 11 percent of the Hillaryland denizens intend to back the Mac. And with respect to Democratic women in general, the tally now reads: Obama, 81 percent; McCain, five percent.

That's in sync with what I hear anecdotally. One Philadelphia career woman whom I have met twice, a quintessential baby-boomer Hillary fan, remarked yesterday: "I'm still going through a mourning period. The day after Hillary dropped out, I sat at the table looking at this picture of her in the paper. She had the most complicated emotions on her face - pride, regret. And I just burst into tears. My husband came over and put his arms around me...As far as Obama goes, I'm just not there yet. But I will be."

Indeed, I wonder whether Karl Rove's proposed demonization of Obama as a country club swell will be enough to turn these women toward McCain. 

 

Posted by Dick Polman @ 10:52 AM  Permalink | 43 comments
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Comments
Posted by LJL 10:58 AM, 06/25/2008
Wow. Well, at least Rove is achieving his ultimate goal of establishing a permanence for the GOP....Shame it will be in the minority (pun intended).....And Ralph Nader is doing his bit as well, with his "Obama is acting white" line today. I really didn't think the panic would be setting in so soon....
Posted by bon 11:16 AM, 06/25/2008
The mainstream GOP never intended to attack Obama for his name or his color or his religion. That is a narrative put forward by the Obama campaign to demonize the mean old Republicans. The fact is the GOP intends on going after Obama the same way they go after any candidate with his personality and pedigree. He is an elitist because he does not respect those different than himself and he is amazingly unaccomplished for a man so close to the presidency. That is the angle. Remember, no matter what the media and Obama try to feed you all, no one was ever going to go after Obama for being black or having an unusual name. That is just Obama's victim narrative to attract sympathy votes.
Posted by Djoko Pritza 12:29 PM, 06/25/2008
bon, you're a fool or a tool, don't know which.
Posted by Rauol Duke 12:32 PM, 06/25/2008
Carl has jumped the shark.
Posted by danl 12:33 PM, 06/25/2008
"to many Republicans, there is no greater validation than membership in a country club." That's class warfare!
Posted by bon 01:10 PM, 06/25/2008
Nice to see that rather than responding to my points, the Obama supports immediately resort to name calling. A new kind of politics indeed. (I am a Jewish Republican. Country clubs do not interest me one bit.)
Posted by Hector 01:12 PM, 06/25/2008
Of Karl Rove's attempt to brand Obama as "the guy at the country club with the beautiful date", Dick Polman, whose thinking I generally hold in high regard, says, "Obama should send Rove a thank-you note, because Rove's attempt at demonization is actually the ultimate compliment". On this one I think Mr. Polman is quite wide of the mark. For what I think, and fear, is an understanding all too much dead on the mark, see the comment posted at by reader HW. Here's the gist of it: "The key to the statement is that in the image he is with 'a beautiful date.'Not Michelle Obama or, in the abstract, his wife, i.e. a wife like Michelle Obama. When you think of a 'beautiful date', specifically at a country club, do you picture an African-American woman? Would Rove's target audience? Or do you picture him there, a black man, smoking a cigarette indoors at a country club, with a white woman on his arm? When I thought of this, I got a chill. When you think of Obama's vulnerability, I think the primaries showed that race remains a real and very serious obstacle, particularly with white Americans over 50. When you think of where we are with racism in this country, I think its a pretty safe bet that the final freak-out factor to overcome may be black men dating white women, in particular, one's daughter". As I said, I think that HW is dead on the mark here: Obama owes Rove no compliment for this, and I am not at all optimistic that the "image", as HW puts it, will help establish the Republicans as a permanent minority.
Posted by AHiredGun 01:39 PM, 06/25/2008
Bon: the other reader called you a "fool" because your post IS foolish, and reads like it comes directly out of the neocon playbook. The GOP goes after opponents exactly the way you are attacking Obama. Neither Bush nor McCain can hold a candle to Obama. If you are that deaf and/or close-minded, it is pointless to try to convince you otherwise. (From an independent, white moderate, upper middle class ex-Pennsylvanian).
Posted by Djoko Pritza 01:54 PM, 06/25/2008
bon, you are right. Sorry. To your points: 1. Obama’s narrative is a response to past personal attacks (his pastor, his wearing of African garb, his middle name; his patriotism; his wife – we could go on); to current personal attacks (Rove, your claims of elitism), and to anticipated future attacks (stay tuned). Unlike past Democrats, his campaign does not intend to take them lying down. 2. Demonizing Republicans: Take a look at the war, incompetence, corruption, the economy, the corporatization of America, Rove as top campaign strategist – no one needs to demonize the GOP any more than it’s demonized itself. 3. He is an elitist: Even if your claims of no respect and little experience were accurate (not!), that is not what elitism is (look it up). 4. No one would go after Obama for name or race: Yo, you’ve not been paying attention, or your sources of information are terribly narrow. 4. Media feeding: The media is no monolith. What about the stuff Rush puts out? All these points add up to my contention you’re foolish. However, it may just be you’re putting out the Repub spin, which would go to your being toolish. As to name calling, I have no reluctance to do so if that is how the Repubs want to play it, as they have in the past (ever hear of Swift Boaters?). No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Posted by bon 01:59 PM, 06/25/2008
I am afraid that calling me closed minded because I disagree with you says a lot more about you than it does about me, AHG. The GOP has not put forward anything, at all, about Obama's color, religion or background. That was the implication of this post and it simply is not true. The McCain campaign has gone after Obama exclusively on the issues. (Those same issue which Obama claims to want to debate while at the same time refusing to join McCain to debate.) I am adding that his inexperience (which is unprecedented for a presidential candidate) and his condescending attitude toward those who disagree with him are character traits that can and should be issue sin this campaign. You and your friends calling McCain supporters names is a picture perfect example of the latter.
Posted by bon 02:11 PM, 06/25/2008
Thank you for responding, Djoko. First, It was Hillary Clinton who used the African garb picture, along with Matt Drudge. Matt Drudge and Hillary Clinton are not allies of McCain. Matt Drudge, in fact, hates John McCain (Drudge hates Mexicans and hates that McCain does not). McCain has never mentioned Obama's middle name and apologized unequivocally when one of his (former) supporters did. Obama's wife has been left alone by everyone but obscure local GOP efforts, which the McCain campaign put a stop to. Obama's pastor is a legitimate issue, even if Joe Klein disagrees. Wright inspired Obama to become a practicing Christian and was a central part of Obama's life for 20 years. It is not something that will or should be ignored. ----- Moving on from that, do you really think calling a political opponent an "elitist" is out of bounds? Obama cannot possibly this sensitive. It is a fair charge given many of the things Obama has said and done. He thinks himself superior, and the American people deserve to know the personality of a candidate for president. ----- When I say the media I mean the mainstream media. That means the major papers and the major networks. (A side not on Rush: Rush has been nothing but a hinderance to John McCain. Rush wants an Obama presidency just as much as anyone else because his listenership increases quite a bit under a Democratic president.) ----- I do not like Karl Rove. I do not care to defend him because he slimed McCain's family in 2000. I was not responding to the attacks on Rove, which are certainly warranted given what a creep he has been. I was responding the the assertion in the post that the GOP had been trying to focus on Obama's name and the color of his skin. The GOP, and McCain in particular, have done no such thing.
Posted by bon 02:13 PM, 06/25/2008
Oh, and one final note: McCain ripped into the swift boaters and defended John Kerry up and down from their charges. I have not heard Obama defending McCain from Moveon's most recent slander of McCain.
Posted by Hector 02:41 PM, 06/25/2008
bon -- Thanks for hanging in there and saying your piece; I think that insight usually best emerges from an exchange of differing views. In that spirit, I ask -- what, in your view, are the words of "Moveon's most recent . . . [reference to] McCain" that you regard as "slander"?
Posted by Rauol Duke 02:49 PM, 06/25/2008
Bon, What slander by MoveOn? Are you referring to the Alex Ad, which was not done by some professionals but just an ordinary American Mom sharing her thoughts about Mr. McCain's actual comments? Are you really this lame or is it that you are being paid to keep to the talking points?
Posted by bon 03:15 PM, 06/25/2008
The ad implies that McCain favors a draft. (How else to explain her assertion that McCain cannot "have" the child.) This is an implication which Moveon knows to be false. McCain has never favored a draft and often speaks very highly of the all volunteer force. ----- Do you honestly think, Duke, that moveon put over a million dollars into the creation and dissemination of the ad without a written script? The actress was not expressing anything, she was reading a cue card.
About Dick Polman

Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.

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All commentaries posted before April 18, 2008, can be accessed at www.dickpolman.blogspot.com.

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