A new ad from the Obama campaign ridicules John McCain for not using the Internet, perhaps not realizing that McCain's war injuries leave him unable to use a keyboard. This ad comes on the heels of Obama's 'lipstick on a pig' controversy, which is still fueling late night talk shows. The lipstick controversy came on the heels of another Obama gaffe, when he artlessly referred to "my Muslim faith."
The Obama gaffes are piling up, and we're not even counting his VP pick, Biden, who himself is racking up an impressive number of 'oops' moments. Poor Obama is definitely having a bad week.
The media anointed Messiah, the man the world would like to elect president, has gone from playing offense to playing defense. And he's not playing well.
Obama is a charismatic, compelling figure. His appeal is undeniable, as long as he is presented in a multi-million dollar staged setting with teleprompters and a prepared speech. Take him out of this element however, and the contrast is as shocking as seeing Ms. America sans make-up on a bad hair day. Complete with morning breath.
No where is the contrast greater than this
video clip of Obama in a townhall meeting. His words are confusing, his body language defensive. His coat is off and his sleeves are rolled up, in what appears to be an attempt to be as one with the working man. It doesn't work. Instead, Obama looks rumpled, frayed and clueless.
He apologizes for his lack of coherence by explaining that he had a late night, which doesn't bode well for any future 3AM moments.
After months of media adulation, world attention and surging poll numbers, Obama has hit a speed bump on the road to assuming his rightful place as America's president. That speed bump is Sarah Palin. In the blink of an eye, the novelty of Obama's race has given way to the novelty of Sarah's gender. Point, counterpoint.
With Sarah Palin on the scene, the Obama camp loses a valuable asset, the race card. Charges of racism for those stupid enough not to vote for Obama can now be credibly countered with the sexism card. Obama is finding out that life isn't fair and that what goes around, comes around.
Obama is now playing defense. Instead of blessing the great unwashed with his pearls of wisdom, he finds himself reacting instead of acting. He has turned from the agent of change to the agent of the perpetual whine.
John McCain has stolen his slogan. Everyone knows Obama owns the 'change' mantra and its just not fair for McCain to co-opt it. And besides, Sarah Palin is lying and McCain is so stupid he can't use the internet.
The attacks from Obama are not playing well in Peoria. In fact, the backlash is hurting Obama and throwing Democrats into a frenzy as more women, independents and Democrats switch their allegiance to McCain. Oh, the fickleness of it all.
What has become increasingly clear is that Obama seems incapable of embracing change. His political playbook was written 20 years ago and Obama is sticking to it. He doesn't realize that the game has changed. The media is, gasp, under fire for being so blatantly in Obama's corner. The polls in battleground states are starting to lean towards McCain and the presidential tracking polls have McCain ahead by 3. Palinmania has replaced Obamamania. This wasn't supposed to happen.
In politics, perception is reality and Obama's reality is changing.
The first major decision presidential nominee Barack Obama made was to pick Joe Biden as his running mate. To millions of Americans, this signaled politics as usual, not the change Obama was promising.
The policies Obama supports, now that he has been forced to give specifics, are clearly the timeworn democrat positions: higher taxes, more government, abortion on demand, and promising (money) cures for yet to be manufactured crisis'. This is Obama's platform. The only change is the messenger. And the messenger is off his game.
Millions of Americans know something the experts, pollsters and pundits don't yet know. The evidence of their own eyes tells them what legions of experts refuse to acknowledge. Obama has lost his mojo. That's both the perception and the reality.
