Obama In Plain View

National Review Online: If McCain Presents A Competent And Reformist Conservative Alternative, He Can Prove The Dems Wrong

(National Review Online)  This column was written by The Editors Of National Review Online.

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The Democrats have gone all the way. They have nominated arguably the most left-wing major party presidential nominee ever, certainly the most left-wing since George McGovern.

Barack Obama’s victory is a repudiation not just of the Clintons personally, but of Clintonism. Bill Clinton won the presidency based on the Democratic Leadership Council model of a new kind of Democratic politics that pivoted toward the center. Obama not only has had no Sister Souljah moment, he initially embraced his Sister Souljah (in the form of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, introduced to the American public in videotaped rants). He has made no creative policy departure on par with Bill Clinton’s advocacy of welfare reform in 1992 - in fact, has made no creative policy departure at all. He is the old wine of McGovernite liberalism poured into the alluring wineskin of “hope” and “unity.”

Democrats have done Republicans the favor of nominating one of the few Democrats this side of Dennis Kucinich who could lose this year. But he still has to be slightly favored over John McCain. Political conditions are grim for Republicans. Their two-term incumbent president is scorned, many of their policies are unpopular, and people have been departing their party in droves, if polling of party ID is to be believed. On top of this, there are Obama’s formidable personal talents. Not just an inspirational speaker, he ran a campaign in the primaries that was well-organized and strategically deft. He is not to be underestimated.

If he wins with the kind of larger Democratic majorities he is likely to see in the House and Senate, he will be in the strongest position of any Democratic president since LBJ in 1964. It will not be a replay of the Clinton presidency: Clinton styled himself a moderate and after 1994 spent the rest of his presidency triangulating off a Republican congressional majority. And the current Democratic Congress is more uniformly liberal than the Democratic Congress of 1993-94. Obama will be in a position to deal conservatism some of its worst setbacks in 40 years.

Standing in the way of this fate is John McCain. He took the fight to Obama in an aggressive and well-crafted (if poorly delivered) speech last night in New Orleans. He has to try to blunt Obama’s nebulous message of change as much as possible, by pointing out that McCain himself is the one who has actually taken political risks for bipartisanship, whereas Obama’s agenda is an antique liberalism. McCain must demonstrate that Obama’s record and biography are at odds with his current political persona as the national Pied Piper of unity.

McCain also has to raise doubts about Obama’s national-security credentials - but must avoid the temptation to run exclusively on the Iraq war and the war on terrorism. He needs, above all, to show that he has a compelling domestic reform agenda, which he has been slowly developing and talked about last night.

All while facing a strong political headwind. Obama will probably shoot up in the polls now that he has secured the nomination. Democrats will unify and the coverage will initially be dominated by the historic nature of his accomplishment as the first African-American nominee of a major party. We can all honor what his nomination says about the openness and dynamism of American society.

But by nominating Obama, the Democrats are betting that Clinton’s triangulation and Bush’s perceived failure have changed the country so much that an uncompromising liberalism is once again politically viable. If McCain presents a competent and reformist conservative alternative, he can prove the Democrats wrong.

[crat3]

Obama did not get the nomination fair and square. This was a rigged nomination for Obama. Sen. Clinton never stood a chance of winning the nomination. This was indicated by the sabotaging early calls for her to drop out and ended with almost all of the sabotaging, uncommitted superdelegates, showing no integrity, endorsing Obama. OBAMA GOT THE NOMINATION BECAUSE OF A RIGGED, CORRUPT DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Hillary Clinton supporters should work for Obama''s resounding defeat and vote for McCain. I will volunteer and vote for McCain in a swing state.

The pro-Obama biased media simply reflected the rigged innards of the Democratic Party against Sen. Clinton.

A crushing defeat is needed to repudiate the rigged, corrupt Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party is in need of radical reform with the elimination of the superdelegates, the caucuses, and the proportional allocation system.

[irliberal]

Hillary Clinton supporters should work for Obama''''s resounding defeat and vote for McCain. I will volunteer and vote for McCain in a swing state.

Posted by crat3 at 11:46 A

That won''t happen, at least not in a significant number you foolish republican. You can''t manipulate us. We know who the enemy is, and it certainly isn''t Hillary or Obama.

[irliberal]

GO OBAMA 2008! Heck, GO OBAMA/HILLARY 2008!

Republicans? Too bad, so sad.

Stick a fork in ''em, they''re done.

[wiccantexan]

"No More Drama, Vote Obama"

[mcvet]

Hillary Clinton supporters should work for Obama''''s resounding defeat and vote for McCain. I will volunteer and vote for McCain in a swing state.

The pro-Obama biased media simply reflected the rigged innards of the Democratic Party against Sen. Clinton.

A crushing defeat is needed to repudiate the rigged, corrupt Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party is in need of radical reform with the elimination of the superdelegates, the caucuses, and the proportional allocation system.


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Posted by crat3 at 11:46 AM : Jun 05, 2008
+ report abuse

You didn''t believe in ANYTHING Senator Clinton stood for IF you are willing to back McSame! On EVERY issue, top to bottom, Obama and Clinton are on the same page. So what it comes down to is YOU are a fraud using the very tight race and the loss by Senator Clinton to justify your abandoning EVERYTHING she has worked so hard for.

[noloyalisti]

Anyone who would vote for that sick crazy McSame is absolutely a moron and does not deserve the privalege of being a Democrat.

Hillary represented business as usual, endless war, fraudulent elections, media monopoly, etc. We desperately need a progressive or at least someone smart enough to head in a progressive direction. Obama is the man!!!!!!

[wogerwabbit]

"Obama will be in a position to deal conservatism some of its worst setbacks in 40 years."

Don''t blame Obama, blame the neocons who hijacked the Republican party and turned it into a hate group.

[quatermass2]

First: Obama will mop the floor with McCain in any one-on-one appearances, town hall, or debates. No question.

Second: The Repugs are scared sh^tless, because they are stuck with a 71-year-old cancer survivor with a Keating 5 scandal in his past and ties to crooked lobbyists in his present, a record of supporting a "hundred years of war" in Iraq, and admitted ignorance on the economy. I really have to laugh at their problem here - the "base", the slack-jawed rapture nuts and creationist loonies, can''t stand this guy and will stay home in droves.

Third: Hillary went down, not because of "rigged" elections, but because too many people remember the eight years of Clintonism as eight years of one scandal after another, a First Lady who acted like a cross between *** Cheney and JR Ewing, and were sick to death of her horn-dog husband. No way would Obama want her (and consequently, Bill) anywhere near the VP slot.

[stopkidding]

Keep calling this centrist candidate "left-wing" as long as you like. We know you would rather just shout n****r and be done with it. This election, your twin strategies of creating fear and enabling ignorance will probably not work.

[lawyertom1]

Dream on, guys. McCain has sold his soul and morphed into Bush-3. Really sad. He has also demonstrated his less than stellar grasph of key foreign policy issues. Sad to see.

[lb4075]

I am sick and tired of hearing persons of a politically conservative persuation use "left" and "leftist" as a scare tactic and slander. The most left president we ever had was FDR.
I am sick and tired of having my patriotism questioned because I don''t agree with "right" which seems to think it "owns" patriotism.
What I think people have been responding to in Obama is that the "right" had made a hash of things. They are voting for Obama, and so am I, because 1) he is trying to bring people together to solve things and 2) he is proposing a different approach than selling the country and its tax revenues to the biggest corporate donor. If that''s leftist, than I''m for it and so is the rest of the nation.
The best thing I heard from his speech Tuesday night was that he welcomed a debate with John McCain on the issues. There is much about John McCain that is admirable, but he needs to separate himself from the self-righteousness segment of his party. There was once a time when Democrats and Republicans worked out between them solutions to the country''s problems. THAT''S patriotism, people, and we''re goin to need all it we can get.

[old300d]

Obama says he will stand by Israel and an undivided Jerusalem as its capital.

He keeps talking like that and he could get my vote ! ! !

[nikosretsos]

I don''t really believe that Hillary lost the nomination because of an "Anti-Clintonism" wave -as the article contents. If that wave existed, she wouldn''t have gotten more votes than Obama. She is certainly guilty for supporting Bush -and voting for-
the war in Iraq, and that I believe was her undoing.

As for McCain''s claim that he has national security experience that Obama doesn''t, that is not true either. McCain is a avid and mind-blowing warmonger, and he tries to serve that disposition as national security experience. He sees protracted wars as a virtue of U.S. hegemony that might be compromised without them, but Alexis de Tocqueville(1808-1859) said: "No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country."

Baraq Obama just happened to be the fluke that sprouted in the middle of an Iraq war doubtful repentant [Hillary], and an Iraq war unrepentant [McCain]. And America is deprived of the best and the most experience statesman the U.S. needs today: Al Gore. Nikos Retsos, retired academic

[old300d]

Bush worked hard to divide up Israel. It did not work and things did not turn out well for the leaders who tried to divide Israel.

Obama claims to be a Christian ! I think he may be reading the Bible ! ! !

Does McCain claim to stand for an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel ?

[PacificGatePost]

OBAMA''S DISTURBING TREND

If he wants to get to the White House, Obama needs to reverse his current trend as he heads into battle with McCain.

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/06/concern-for-obamas-down-trend.html


He also needs to tap Hillary for VP.

[notblue]

ib4075, FDR was a far right conservative compared to the modern "screaming child" socialist leftwing party in America today.

[noloyalisti]

First of all the NRO has lost ALL their credibility based on their support of the invasion, bush and his crime family and mcBush.

Why don''t the neo cons at the NRO just call him a liberal (OH, NO!) and get it over with. Obama announce he will not take corporate lobbyist money for his campaign. That must make him a communist huh dummies?

[eezzzee-2009]

It is 3:00 am and Hillary gets a phone call. Obama has clinched the party nomination what will you do now the voice on the other end proclaims.

It is 3:00 am days later and the only thing heard from Hillary is the sound of clicking keys as she hacks away on her calculator!

Hillary, the Queen of Spin and a Legend in Her Own Mind!

http://klintons.com

[wiccantexan]

"look at me mommy!! i made a rhyme!!! yay!!"

Posted by jamesm12341
------------------

Go me! Clever AND good-looking. :)

[guysdigdirt]

Wow, could it be a worse election than this? Obama is so far left even he does not know what he stands for. McCain is... well is looking too much like Bush.

Which is worse?

Is Ron Paul still around?

[Razzl]

For decades opinion polls have showed that while the public didn''t like the "liberal" label, our political views are overtly liberal--supporting women''s legal right to abortion, social welfare programs like social security if they work, universal health care even if it''s a government program, etc. Conservative operatives like Rove and Gingrich managed to tar the word with their brush but didn''t manage to turn the American soul; and now that the proper spokesman has been found at the right moment, all the errant assumptions of the right wing are going to come crashing down. Obama and the Democratic congress will begin fashioning the European-style social democracy we need to be if we''re to be a civilized society, and the public will cheer in helping to erect it.

No amount of name-calling is going to deflect a public whose current generation is proudly calling itself "liberal" besides just subscribing to the values of liberalism. NRO squandered its inheritence on Cheney and Iraq, and will soon be in foreclosure...

[wiccantexan]

Is Ron Paul still around?

Posted by guysdigdirt
----------

Now there''s a thought. Obama/Paul ''08!

[tomthespud]

The editors of the National Review are more intelligent than this - the Democrats are certainly not "betting that Clinton%u2019s triangulation and Bush%u2019s perceived failure have changed the country so much that an uncompromising liberalism is once again politically viable." This implies that Obama was chosen by the party leadership in a rational, calculated decision. Obama was chosen by caucus and primary voters, most of whom are attracted to his charisma and his personality, and probably couldn''t even tell you what the phrase "Clinton''s triangulation" means. The Review is certainly correct that he is the most liberal candidate in years, but implying that he was ''chosen'' because of this is a complete misunderstanding of the way that he won throught the primary and caucus system.

[ausus-2009]

"Anyone who would vote for that sick crazy McSame is absolutely a moron and does not deserve the privalege of being a Democrat."

Judging by his or her poor spelling and reduction to childish name-calling, moron would be an apt term for noloyalist. One dictionary definition describes a moron as a person whose mental development of a 9 to 12 year old child.

[rafterman1]

===FDR was a far right conservative compared to the modern "screaming child" socialist leftwing party in America today.===
Posted by notblue

As opposed to the modern "screaming child" fascist rightwing party in America today?

[ubrew12]

Don''t worry, NRO:

All you boys need to do is set off a coupla terror attacks this Fall, and make lots of noise prosecuting the terrorists Bush has caught (note the timing on these prosecutions: I can see why the Republicans didn''t want them left to the Justice Department).

Your boy McCain will be a shoo-in.

[elz523]

Why would anyone listen to what the fools at the NRO think regarding anything? They have been disgraced by their mindless support of the Bush Administration and the Iraq debacle.

[elz523]

I am a member of the new Puma PAC, People United Means Action.

We are democrats who are organizing against the underhanded methods of the DNC in your attempt to %u201Cappoint%u201D Barack Obama as the nominee for our party. The clear majority of voters in our party have chosen Hillary Clinton as the one we want to face John McCain.

We will not vote for Barack Obama in November. We will stay home, vote a third party, and in the swing states we will vote for John McCain.

There is still time to do the right thing. The DNC must do everything it can to convince the superdelegates that Hillary Clinton is the only Democrat who can win in November.

We are united against your usurpation of the will of Democratic voters. There will be no unity in the Democratic party until the votes and voices of the 18 million democrats in ALL 50 states are listened to.

We will not back down, be bullied or pandered into supporting a disastrous candidate like Barack Obama. He has been tainted by too many real scandals. He will lose in a landslide loss in all 50 states.

We will not vote for Barack Obama for president.

Puma Democrat

Your an idiot and I think that you are likely a ******* Republican trying to take advantage.

[elz523]

===FDR was a far right conservative compared to the modern "screaming child" socialist leftwing party in America today.===
Posted by notblue


Are you kidding? Both parties have moved so far to the right there is no room there anymore.

[ubrew12]

NRO: "Democrats have done Republicans the favor of nominating one of the few Democrats this side of Dennis Kucinich who could lose"

If Obama is a lefty, do you think he could possibly do something about this statistic?
Income bracket: %Change in income* (1970-2000):
Bottom 90%: -22.5%,
90-95%: 0.4%,
95-99%: 19.5%,
99-99.5% 47.0%,
99.5-99.9% 90.0%,
99.9-99.99% 227.0%,
Top 0.01% 412.0%
*as a share of ALL U.S. income. Source: ''''Perfectly legal'''' by David Cay Johnston

Its taken 30 years to make Americas poorest 90%, 20% POORER, compared to her wealthiest 10% (and, not coincidentally, put $10 trillion on the nations debt load). Does anyone actually think Obama could even BEGIN to address this robbery? I doubt it.

But, we need to pull away from giving the country away to our wealthiest 10%. The Dems are supposed to be the ones to help us do that, so vote Dem, for now.

[samthetvcat]

---"But by nominating Obama, the Democrats are betting that Clinton%u2019s triangulation and Bush%u2019s perceived failure have changed the country so much that an uncompromising liberalism is once again politically viable. If McCain presents a competent and reformist conservative alternative, he can prove the Democrats wrong."---

Why would the GOP assume we''re not going to triangulate? The general hasn''t even started yet - of course we''re going to triangulate!

If Independents never thought of the Dems as being the party of strength, security, control, choice, freedom, courage, leadership, winning, limited government, capitalism, family, tradition, guns, personal responsibility, Christianity, patriotism, and pro-life promotion, then hold onto your hats because we''re about to make your heads spin!

[samthetvcat]

---"Good luck USA if Obama is elected. We probably won''''t live to regret it."---
Posted by krisinal

One of the Presidential candidates has established an organization which generates a broad, steady, self-sustaining stream of income that''s created lots of jobs and generated millions of dollars of income for businesses small and large across the country. That''s Barack.

The other Presidential candidate has notified the Government that he''s going to be needing welfare, and is desperately trying to save money by asking the other Presidential candidate for help in getting him exposure to big crowds and free publicity via ''town hall'' meetings. That would be McCain.

Democrats are the party of capitalism, prosperity, independence and limited government. GOP are the party of the incompetent government-dependent rich.

Look at Barack''s organization as evidenced by his speech and the surroundings on Tuesday. Then look at McCain''s which looks like it was shot via webcam in somebody''s basement.

Why would their leadership as President be any different?

[samthetvcat]

PS Shoot, I should have used this part of your comment instead krisinal:

---""President Obama" and a Democrat majority in the House and Senate will ultimately bankrupt this country."---

[noloyalisti]

Sam the TV Cat. You''re scared of Obama banrkrupting the country? What have the Government Of Pigs party been doing for us for the last 8 years? You must be kidding because no one could be that stupid and be able to feed themselves.

[noloyalisti]

Sam the TV Cat, I misread your post. I am sorry for accusing you of being an anti-American repub, that was a bad insult. Accept my apologies and go Obama. I just ordered 10 bumper sticker from MoveOn.org.

[noloyalisti]

I agree that TruUSA is a moronic republican plant. Who else could be that ridiculously ignorant?

[samthetvcat]

---"Sam the TV Cat, I misread your post. I am sorry for accusing you of being an anti-American repub, that was a bad insult. Accept my apologies and go Obama. I just ordered 10 bumper sticker from MoveOn.org"---
Posted by noloyalisti

Oh that happens all the time when I include somebody else''s quote - also, that''s a good thing if my sneaky-deaky shift towards packaging Barack in the GOP ''lingo'' sounded so convincing that you thought I was GOP . . . then hopefully the Independents won''t buy into the idea that he''s so ''far left''!

Dems 08! :)

[patriot12436]

ausus
And what is the priviledge of being a democrat ? I f i were a democrat i would be so ashamed right now i wouldn''t admit it. I am non-partisan and will vote for a third party. I would have supported Hillary but no more. I have lost faith in our govt all together no9w and will wait for the civil war to begin.

[patriot12436]

wiccantexan
Paul would never be seen on a ticket with someone like obama.

[patriot12436]

ubrew12
Vote democrat. After they have nominatd obama i doubt they could ever run anyone i would vote for ever again.

[patriot12436]

McVet
All i can think of is a biblical saying
FORGIVE THEM LORD, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.
Now i wait for the civil war to begin. I have given up on any hope of the sysyem working again.

[patriot12436]

samthetvcat
If obama has created all these jobs,where are they ?
Why are people losing their jobs, their homes by the thousands daily ? It can''t be thy are all bad financial planners.

[element51]

patriot12346....You''re sounding a little dramatic there. What do you think will bring on this "civil war" that you warn of? And I, for one, have never been more proud to be a Democrat. Although I know that racism is still stalking around out there I can also see that Americans are starting to see the light in larger numbers than ever before. It''s time that we reach out and embrace our black brothers and sisters and come together as one. Senator Obama will bring a light to politics and we will finally have the truth which has been absent for so long. Yes, I am proud to be a Democrat. If you chose to jump ship and give up on America I feel sorry for you.