So, How Many Houses Do You Own?
Vol: 83 Issue: 22 Friday, August 22, 2008
It seems pretty early in the campaign season for the Democrats to have already reached this point of desperation.
Particularly in light of the high hopes they had upon entering into the Silly Season. “It’s the Democrats’ to lose” was what the pundits were saying only a few weeks ago.
(The same pundits, I hasten to add, that pronounced Hillary Clinton ‘the next president of the United States’ — until somebody noticed that Barack Obama was black).
There is a well-established military doctrine that gives a two-to-one advantage to the defenders of an entrenched position. The advantage always goes to the defender.
At this point in the 1988 election, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis (remember him?) was running 14 points ahead of George H. W. Bush in the popular polls.
Dukakis won eleven states in the general election to Bush the Elder’s forty-one in a landslide. The election was ‘theirs’ to lose in 1988 — and they lost it.
At one point, McGovern led Nixon in early polling during the 1972 election. McGovern’s landslide defeat was even more impressive than Dukakis.
In this case, John McCain, as a Republican, holds the entrenched position, whereas Obama represents the attacking force. Following established rules of combat, then, Obama should leading by double-digits at this point.
He should be. But he isn’t. In fact, as of the latest Rasmussen poll, Obama is trailing by at least five points. Why?
I think there are lots of reasons. Jeremiah Wright. Tony Rezko. His school records in Indonesia listing him as a Muslim citizen of Indonesia. His elitism.
His comments about Midwestern xenophobes “clinging to religion and guns to justify their antipathy towards strangers.”
His dedication to the proposition that the best time to take “a principled stand” is after consulting with the pollsters.
His position on late-term abortion. And his almost-neurotic preoccupation with his color.
Obama has been insisting for months that soon, John McCain will attack him for ‘having a funny name’ and for ‘not looking like the rest of those presidents on the dollar bills,’ and, “Oh, did I mention that I’m black?”
The only ones to notice Obama’s funny name and the fact that he is black are the Democrats — and always in the context of warning that this is what McCain will eventually use against him.
I recall but one time when Obama’s ‘funny name’ was linked with McCain. That was when Bill Cunningham referred to Obama repeatedly as “Barack Hussein Obama” while introducing McCain at a campaign rally in February.
McCain immediately excoriated Cunnningham, calling Obama ‘a man of integrity’ saying that “I absolutely repudiate such comments.”
Assessment:
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The DNC hasn’t even kicked off this year’s convention and they are already desperate to the point of distraction.
Last week during the ‘Showdown at Saddleback’ Rick Warren asked both candidates to define ‘rich’. Obama set out to actually define it, demonstrating how little he actually understands about the economy.
Obama decided ‘rich’ meant more than $250k annually. And if he were referring to folks living Seminole, Oklahoma, he might be right.
On the other hand, if he were referring to people living in Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Miami, Houston, etc., $250k means you probably can afford to live in a house instead of an apartment.
McCain answered by saying, “If you make $5 million, then you’re rich.”
McCain then laughed at himself and predicted that the Obama campaign would use his answer in a campaign attack ad.
The audience joined him in the laugh — but less than a week later, there it was, just as McCain predicted. The Dems went after him for being ‘out of touch’ with ‘ordinary Americans’ and painted him as just another rich white guy.
When McCain was unable to answer the question, “How many houses do you own?”, Obama’s campaign strung the two answers together as evidence of McCain’s elitism.
“If you’re like me, and you’ve got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don’t lose their home, you might have different perspective,” Obama said.
Not smart. Obama got his mortgage with the help of convicted money-launderer Tony Rezko.
For the record, McCain’s wife’s family owns eight homes. (Cindy McCain’s family is worth $100 million) But the McCain’s have a pre-nup that separates their property.
So the reason John McCain doesn’t know how many houses he owns is because he doesn’t own any!
This election was the Democrats to lose — and they’re working hard at losing it. Maybe America still has four more years, after all.
Time will tell.
Omegaletter 