Obama’s Oversight
During the primaries, Obama clutched his opponents tightly, not allowing daylight to appear between them on matters of policy. Being more desirable from the leftist point of view than the white man Edwards or the white woman Hillary, Obama’s race carried the day. Or almost carried it. The primary voters were not completely sold, especially during the later contests. However, Obama was lured into continuing to focus on his delegate lead instead of consolidating the entire party.
He followed up consistently by not reaching out to Clinton’s supporters following his victory. Instead he made it clear that he did not need to do so, both rhetorically and in his VP pick. His strategy was to make a standard Democrat appeal to the hungry mouths at the table by assuring all that the feast was indeed on its way. The remaining unconvinced voters were expected to strike their Hillary banner and join Team Obama. This form of consolidation failed to compact the base.
Given cover by the always-in-the-game Clinton’s, many Democrats remained doubtful of Obama, waiting for him to explain his policies, waiting for him to woo the women’s vote. Obama’s VP pick neither addressed the women nor developed the hope & change mantra. As the general election has progressed, the cracks in Obama’s Democrat foundation have turned into a sinkhole. Everybody is giving advice and criticizing his decisions–even creating polls purporting to show that since the Democrat(!) voters are racists, all is lost.
Obama has clumsily attacked Palin, further alienating many women voters. A sounder plan would ignore Palin as too dangerous to handle and concentrate on women that he will appoint to the Cabinet, keeping the tone upbeat and future oriented. In this respect, McCain’s spokeswoman Carly Fiorina has amplified his pro-woman image and increased the sense that the Republican administration will have breadth and depth.
