Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Super Tuesday
I would like to reprise a thought from speakingcorpse in a post from January 3, 2004:
May I add: Obama is doing this. He is attracting interest. He is attractive and interesting. He's not saying anything new, but he's saying it exceptionally well. He is striking a very, very memorable pose.
posted by Blicero : 2/05/2008 01:40:00 AM
Anyway, there are two key points. One is that Dean is doing better than all the Dems against Bush, although several are in a near dead-heat with him. Two is that more than half of Americans aren't paying close attention at all to the race. For a Democrat to win, he has to somehow interest a small number of these normally uninterested people. They are not now "undecided," agonizing over whether to move to the right or to the left. This demographic has been invented by Frank Luntz for his TV focus groups; it has no real independent existence. How hard is it, really, to decide, once you give the matter some attention? Either you're a fascist or you're not. The real "undecideds" are those who haven't yet given the matter any attention at all. They simply don't give a shit.
Every election, a small number of these people eventually begins to pay attention--exactly who pays attention probably varies from election to election; and what finally draws them in probably varies as well. A Dem won't draw some of them into the process by "moving to the center"--that will in fact ensure that these people will remain, understandably, uninterested. Nor will a Dem attract their attention, necessarily, by moving to the left. He will attract their attention by being attractive and interesting--by saying something new, and saying it well, by stirring up trouble, by striking a memorable pose. Only Dean is doing this thus far. He can win.
May I add: Obama is doing this. He is attracting interest. He is attractive and interesting. He's not saying anything new, but he's saying it exceptionally well. He is striking a very, very memorable pose.
I submit the following as evidence:
Can you imagine the reaction if John Kerry, or Al Gore, or--god forbid--Michael Dukakis had worn such a hat?
We can win because Obama looks fucking cool in that hat. He looks bad ass. He can win.
We can win because Obama looks fucking cool in that hat. He looks bad ass. He can win.
posted by Blicero : 2/05/2008 01:40:00 AM
