Bob Novak has an interesting column in the Washington Post this morning suggesting that the more independents and "moderate" Republicans learn about Barack Obama, the less likely they are to vote for him. For instance, will the radically liberal Illinois Senator be able to repair the damage he did to his candidacy in last week's debate?Novak writes, "Clinton's effort to brand Obama as elitist has failed to move the polls, probably because Democratic primary voters agree with Frank. [Thomas Frank's 2004 book, "What's the Matter With Kansas?," presented a standard Democrat doctrine that many Americans stupidly vote against their real interests when they vote Republican, doing so only because of irrlevant social issues; i.e. guns and religion]
"Nevertheless, Democratic pros feel that the San Francisco incident halted an Obama surge in Pennsylvania that might have won him the state and ended Clinton's campaign tomorrow. What really worries them, however, is the impact on independents and Republicans who had been entranced by the young man from Chicago. Now, they wonder whether the appealing unifier is really a divider."
The challenge for Obama to keep his campaign cool, calm and collected in the next few weeks depends largely on the press. Will reporters, in the face of the scathing attacks delivered to ABC debate moderators, wilt and go back to the fawning coverage they had been giving Obama? Or will they play fair with the issues, the American people and their journalistic responsibilities by thoroughly investigating all of the candidates and honestly reporting what lies behind the campaign speeches?
Of course, when Barack Obama's extremely leftist voting record is fairly reported, his "audacious hopes" to become America's President are diminished. The same is true when voters learn about his connections to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko, and others. Thus, Obama's key task (to continue to portray himself as the candidate who can unify the country as well as run it) is a formidable one.
It is a task made tougher still by reports today that backing Obama's candidacy are a couple of other headline-grabbing "unifiers," Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter. Obama aides, still choking on last week's endorsement of Obama from the chief political adviser of Hamas, Ahmed Yousef, were almost certainly disappointed to read those news stories.
Golly, they must be thinking; with friends like these, who needs Charlie Gibson?
