Bob Herbert: voice of reason? On economics and the role of government, no. On the dynamics of the Dem nomination race? Actually, yes. In both his TV appearances and columns, Herbert, a military veteran who grew up largely in a comfortable New Jersey suburb, comes across as more clear-eyed and down-to-earth, less angry and ideological, than his NY Times confreres like Paul Krugman or Frank Rich.
Take Herbert's column of this morning, Heading Toward the Danger Zone. My sense is that, at heart, Herbert backs Obama. But that doesn't deter the columnist from offering an unblinking assessment of the very perilous electoral path on which Obama finds himself. Let's work backwards from Herbert's stunning conclusion [emphasis added]:
One of Senator Obama’s favorite phrases is “the fierce urgency of now.” There is nothing more fiercely urgent for him right now than to reassure voters and superdelegates that an Obama candidacy will not lead to a Democratic debacle in November.
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Herbert attributes Obama's parlous political state in part to attacks from the Clinton camp. But he also readily recognizes that many of Obama's wounds are self-inflicted: the Rev. Wright "fiasco," Bitter-gate, and "sundry gaffes by Mr. Obama himself, his wife, Michelle, and campaign aides." Above all, though, Herbert blames Obama for his unwillingness to fight. As the columnist puts it: "there is such a thing as being too cool."
And consider Herbert's other ominous-for-Dems observations [all verbatim]:
- You can almost feel the air seeping out of the Obama phenomenon.
- Democrats are filled with anxiety about their prospects in November. A nervous operative told me on Friday: “If we lose this election, it would be like Johnson losing to Goldwater.”
- The share of Clinton voters who have been telling exit pollsters that they will not vote for Senator Obama if he wins the nomination is inching toward the red zone.
- What we’re witnessing here — in what was supposed to have been a championship season for Democrats — is a potential train wreck.
So credit Herbert for a candid evaluation of this most amazing race. Republicans have only a very limited ability to influence this Dem steel-cage match. But that won't stop them from sitting back and observing/enjoying the most remarkable political spectacle in recent American memory.
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Wow!
April 26, 2008 - 07:10 ET by motherbeltWow!
When I saw this same speculation the other day, I thought, yeah, right...of course Lanny Davis would say that; he's pulling for Her Royal Clintoness. But, like you, Mark, I think Herbert is for Obama; or at least he isn't a Clinton flack!
You can almost feel the air seeping out of the Obama phenomenon.
Herbert senses that Obama peaked too soon.
The hard core
April 26, 2008 - 10:42 ET by KC MulvilleThe hard core base of the Democrat party is the McGovern-style liberals, and they've shown that they're solidly behind Obama. But Obama has the same problem every other Democrat has. He needs more than the hard core base, but the vast majority can't stand hard core leftists. Obama's dilemma is clear: how can a hard core leftist not appear to be a hard core leftist?
Obama's first attempt has been to simply walk around the dilemma. By talking in warm and fuzzy themes, messages of hope, and promises of utopia, he's tapped into the desire for people to have a more reasonable political climate. America's desire for an end to the soundbyte squabbling is masking our usual distaste for leftists.
However, the mask is starting to crack. Obama's leftism is starting to leak out. His associations are one part of the leak. The main part is that people are listening to his policies, and they've discovered the core of his belief system: equality is more important than success. The normal capitalist system allows inequality, because it rewards 'winners.' Obama is unwilling to allow inequality, even if it leaves all of us worse off. He won't cut the capital gains tax, even though everyone benefits, because everyone benefits unequally. He'd rather everyone stay poor than allow some to be richer than others.
Americans know how to play capitalism, and they know that Obama's insistence on equality before success is an immature grasp of the system. The moment they sense that Obama doesn't understand that, they'll pat him on the head, and send him to the back of the class.
He won't cut the capital
April 26, 2008 - 11:27 ET by motherbeltHe won't cut the capital gains tax, even though everyone benefits,
because everyone benefits unequally. He'd rather everyone stay poor
than allow some to be richer than others.
Check out this video from a debate:
Obama concedes that revenues go UP when the CG rate goes down and vice versa, but he still thinks it should be raised, for purposes of "fairness. He then says the revenues only "might" go up, or might not, with a CG rate cut. I guess he thinks revenues "might" go up with a rate hike. But even if they don't, "fairness" is what matters.
A POTENTIAL train wreck?
April 26, 2008 - 07:11 ET by goldenthroat"What we're witnessing here - in what was supposed to have been a championship season for Democrats - is a potential train wreck."
Potential? Who is Herbert trying to kid? Talk about liberal soft-soaping of what has already become a party in the midst of a major implosion! Even party faithfuls are beginning to get sick of the divisiveness.
All McCain has to do right now is stay under the radar until the conventions are over, build up his financial war chest, and then go on the attack. This election may surprise everyone!
Even El Rushbo said a week or so ago that the the way the Democrats are going, they have been 'irreparably damaged' by all the sniping betweent the two candidates.
Snipe on, Osama Bama and Shmillary! And you both claim you can "unite" the country? You can't even unite your own stinkin' party.
"How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?" - Firesign Theater
You're Right Golden
April 26, 2008 - 07:43 ET by BourbeauThis is why McCain needs to stay out of the Hamas endorsement stuff, and the NC GOP dustup, he doesn't need to be involved, at this stage. His focus needs to be on getting his message for Sept and October nailed, and getting the ad campaign ideas in production. Keep making the rounds, keep laying out the policy positions, but stay away from the non-value added b/s like the Hamas endorsement. More importantly, he needs a two track attack plan - one for Obama, and one for Hillary; the Dems still haven't tossed in the towel on her yet, nor has she. There's plenty of time for the Hamas kind of statement, just not right now.
All McCain has to do right
April 26, 2008 - 08:06 ET by motherbeltAll McCain has to do right now is stay under the radar until the conventions are over,
Too bad he isn't going to do that. Instead, he goes out and makes speeches sure to alienate his potential supporters, in order to placate the liberals who won't vote for him anyway, come November.
MB, I agree...
April 26, 2008 - 10:42 ET by goldenthroatMotherbelt,
I agree. The danger of McCain NOT doing that is not only, as you stated, alienating his potential supporters, but giving the MSM an open door to blow his campaign out of the water.
Let's face it. This whole presidential election, at this stage, is hanging by a thread for the GOP. If McCain does play his cards right, we'll continue to occupy the White House. If Osama Bama or Shmillary move in, we had better brace ourselves for a tidal wave of liberalism like we have never seen in this country and it will be because McCain failed to establish himself as the viable candidate.
Let's hope he's listening to ALL his supporters.
"How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?" - Firesign Theater
we had better brace
April 26, 2008 - 11:29 ET by motherbeltwe had better brace ourselves for a tidal wave of liberalism like we
have never seen in this country
And if, as some predict, the Democrats come up with a filibuster-proof majority, it will be Katie bar the door!!
Someone needs to hammer this into McCain's head.
Poor analogy
April 26, 2008 - 07:56 ET by WingletDriver“If we lose this election, it would be like Johnson losing to Goldwater.” More like McGovern's crazy uncle (Obama=beyond ultra-liberal) losing to Nixon (McCain=RINO).
Herbert, though, misses the true culprit if this does become a Democrat fiasco: the MSM. They have been unwilling to report on anything revealing about Obama.
This stuff about Trinity Church was months old before the MSM finally touched it and now they're trying to minimize the damage.
The fact his wife is an anti-American lunatic was in her thesis paper at Princeton 20+ yrs ago. Again the MSM yawned and has barely touched her sentiments.
His association with creeps like Rezco is well known and unreported. And Ayers is a bit more than a creep.
The only way you would hear about any of this is if you don't listen the the MSM. I wonder how well BHO would have done in Iowa had the caucus-goers been given the full story prior to their primary? How well would he have done on Super Tuesday if the Wright tape surfaced on the prior Monday?
One last thing, BHO's speech on race wasn't quite as effective as the fawning media would have you believe. He's floundering and Wright is still in the headlines.
“If we lose this
April 26, 2008 - 08:18 ET by motherbelt“If we lose this election, it would be like Johnson losing to
Goldwater.” More like McGovern's crazy uncle (Obama=beyond
ultra-liberal) losing to Nixon (McCain=RINO).
No, his analogy is right. Obama is such a favorite that Herbert is saying his losing would be the equivalent of the odds-on favorite (Johnson, who won with 60% of the vote) losing to Goldwater.
I believe the Rezco thing came to nothing, legally at least; although there could be questions of Obama's friend-choosing (again!).
I think the more we see of him and his Princeton-educated wife, the more their elitism is going to show. His wife, especially, is a definite drag...moreso, I think than HRC was for Bill. Her (Michelle's) contempt just drips from her lips when she speaks.
Percentage wise, you may be right
April 26, 2008 - 08:40 ET by sarcasmoBut idology-wise, you're wrong. McCain & Nixon are cut from the same RINO cloth. The late great Barry Goldwater doesn't belong anywhere near a McCain analogy when it comes to ideology. In fact, it's said Barry -- a true straight talkin' maverick military pilot from Arizona -- disliked McCain almost instinctively.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
Well I wasn't talking abut
April 26, 2008 - 08:56 ET by motherbeltWell I wasn't talking abut ideology, and I didn't think Herbert was. But looking at the column again, I guess you could take it either way. But I agree about the difference between Goldwater and McCain.
I was 3 years old when Barry ran
April 26, 2008 - 09:02 ET by sarcasmoA bit early for a political awakening, but I quickly learned to shut the hell up when TV news about Vietnam came on, because my uncle was there. I sometimes think I missed the most important election of my lifetime, but even I don't support 3 year olds voting.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
I was fourteen in 1964
April 26, 2008 - 09:49 ET by MidAmericaI was fourteen in 1964 so Goldwater was the first election I was involved in. (I remember the disappointment in our house when JFK beat Nixon when I was ten)
Actually Goldwater was the RINO. In his day the Eastern establishment was the power house of Republicanism and they didn't embrace Goldwater as a 'true' representative of the party. The democrats and Republicans both had conservatives and liberals but that wasn't how politicians were defined. Goldwater was portrayed as 'crazy' because he said things that were not expressed by normal politicians of the day. But the Viet Nam War polarized the country and there was a great realignment in the parties. The dems gained the anti-war and all the little sub-groups that make up todays democrats and they lost the people who didn't want to be in the same 'big tent' with all the pushy radicals who expressed a lot of anti-America, anti-white, anti-business, anti-marriage, anti-religion, anti-male, anti-military, anti-meat, anti-developement, anti-Chritian morals, anti-human specialness, anti-fetus, anti-capitalist, anti-free speech, anti-capital punishment, anti-low tax, (etc. etc.) .....sentiment.
sarc -- re Barry G.
April 26, 2008 - 10:22 ET by Jack BauerHave you heard John Dean talking about his new bio of Goldwater (co-written with Goldwater's son)?
He's pretty fascinating for 95% of the time, then he goes off into fantasy land by claiming that BG was really a liberal when he died.
Crazy. But he does confirm BG's private dislike of McCain's MO
Barry was NO Liberal
April 26, 2008 - 13:44 ET by scamoramaBarry was tagged with that "liberal" crap when he said of "Don't ask; Don't Tell", "Don't ask? Of course you don't ask. It's none of your damn business."
Barry was the last Real Conservative in the Senate.
Real Conservatives RESPECT individual liberty!
It's no wonder he disliked McCain.
btw, my birthday is in November, so I was not quite 14 in 1964. But, I'd spent the late summer and early fall ringing doorbells for Barry.
They certainly are elitists
April 26, 2008 - 12:37 ET by WingletDriverJust a couple of points to begin: The Rezco trial is still in session. The MSM is strangely silent about it though, unlike Jack Abramoff and the guilt-by-association Republicans. And there are certainly different analogies depending on how you prefer to look at this. I look at it as '72 redux (i.e., hold your nose and vote).
But my main point was that the MSM should have let Dem primary voters know this stuff about BHO long before the first chad was punched (or in the case of Iowa, before the first caucus door was unlocked). Now that the truth is coming out about their messiah. . ., uh, I mean candidate, the folks who tried to sneak him through are starting to realize that he isn't a good candidate. He's an arrogant, elitist snob who has a poor opinion of middle class Americans and he doesn't exactly have a strong background in race relations, reaching across the aisle or breaking down barriers or stereotypes. But they had to know this beforehand because they did everything they could to ensure his pristine image.
The Wife...
April 26, 2008 - 09:31 ET by unkeeafI think his biggest problem may be that mean-spirited, country hating wife of his. Very little has been reported about what she has said, but what has been reported guarantees she has said and written far more. A big-mouth, know-it-all like her can't keep her mouth shut. If more inflamatory comments surface on top of the Wright Reverand, it could deep six him... and then lead to what we all know would come next...
RIOTS.
Yeah, she could be a
April 26, 2008 - 10:27 ET by motherbeltYeah, she could be a deal-breaker. They have a LOT of work to do with her to shape her up. She's definitely not-ready-for-prime-time.
Needs a major attitude-adjustment. Or at least lessons in how to hide her attitude. The key is sincerity...once you learn to fake that, you've got it made.
Ha -- she's like a teetotal
April 26, 2008 - 10:33 ET by Jack BauerHa -- she's like a teetotal Teresa Heinz Kelly who was at least crazily entertaining in a trainwreck sense.
Doubt if she'll do hubby any favors with the undecideds in the general.
Now Doubt...
April 26, 2008 - 12:53 ET by unkeeafThat arrogant broad will throw up on herself before it's all said and done. She is a very angry black woman. From my significant experience with her type, they simply can't check their mouth at the door. But of course when it does happen, the PR firm known as the MSM will be there to help pick up the pieces.
Obama Camp: McCain Has Racist Vote
April 26, 2008 - 10:33 ET by heldmywYeeeaaaah. That's going to play well in America.
When the Obama camp isn't blasting away at their own feet with a shotgun, they're sticking the bloody extremeties in their unbelievably stupid mouths. How do you line up a crop of idiots like this in one campaign?
Were I a superdelegate, I'd be pacing the floor, cursing fluently, and probably drinking heavily right about now.
Hillary has a real chance to pick up the nomination. Especially if there are a few more sparklingly stupid gaffes like this one!
(snip)...(Plouffe quote)
April 26, 2008 - 10:58 ET by ckc1227(snip)...(Plouffe quote) "...the vast, vast majority of
voters who would not vote for Barack Obama in November based on raceare probably firmly in John McCain's camp already.”
And yet it's 97% of black males who are voting for the black candidate, simply because he's black, lol.
And yet it's 97% of black
April 26, 2008 - 11:49 ET by motherbeltAnd yet it's 97% of black males who are voting for the black candidate, simply because he's black, lol
But that's not racist.....because blacks can't be racist......
<sarc>
Yeah...
April 26, 2008 - 12:56 ET by unkeeafAmerica in 2008. Ain't it grand!
RIOTS...
April 26, 2008 - 13:00 ET by unkeeafI mentioned this earlier, but in the unlikely event Obama does lose, does anyone think our inner city brothers of color will not set their cities alight? I'm telling you, this could make 68' look like a marshmellow roast. There is simply not enough personal responsibility or maturity in much of that culture to keep it from happening.
As the columnist puts it:
April 26, 2008 - 18:25 ET by bigtimerAs the columnist puts it: "there is such a thing as being too cool."
Yep Herbert has it right here...along with the arrogance that had been showing with Obama.
Obama and his mama would be wise to take heed here.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill