Wednesday, August 20, 2008

There's a war going on outside...



I am still particularly bored with the race for president. I think that mostly because its has become politics as usual again. The Republicans are predictably on the attack and the Democrats are taking a "holier than thou" high road that may get them in the "What the hell happened" section of the evening news again. I listen to a lot of the news and AM radio and hear the attacks on Obama and the worst part about them are that they are UNCONTESTED!

We should all take a look at how in the people in the public eye are torn down and lose their stature when they don't actively defend themselves from defamation logged by opponents. There are classic examples

Bush (Sr.) vs. Dukakis

Bush (Jr.) vs. McCain (learn your history)

Bush (Jr.) vs. Kerry (can you say swiftboating)

and even
50 Cent vs. Ja Rule (remember how that played out...man so sorry Ja)


Anyway the point is when you take this "he is just tripping" or "nevermind that because none of its true" road a lot of times you end up losing. I know that God said turn the other cheek but this is getting a little ridiculous. It has often been said that the critical mistake that the Obama campaign is making is by allowing McCain to define Obama vs. Obama defining himself. I heard a quote in a movie (ironically called the American President) that people could be led to drink sand in a desert - not because of their faith/following of a leader but rather because they couldn't tell the difference. Translation if you can convince people of something its no longer relevant whether its fact or fiction - it is REAL to them. So all summer - all these undecided voters have been hearing how "unprepared" Obama is, and how he doesn't have a real plan for the economy. Well if there is no definititve (and easy to understand) counter to that - who is to say that its NOT true. There is no one to "say" its not true so in effect it becomes true for many.

More recently polls have showed Obama's massive lead over John McCain is fading almost completely. I have some reservations as to whether or not all these people were polled consistently (McCain had practically been on snooze waiting for the Hillary to get out of the race). But at the same time I kind of have to believe it when Obama is kind of just cruising from day to day (2 vacations in the campaign so far...are you serious?)

Matter of fact the Obama campaign needs to take a lesson or two from the hip-hop battle book. While I don't think that Obama needs to "go negative" and actively attack McCain. I do believe that he should return to something that worked well with defeating Hillary - counterattacks. Anyone remember the "she knows better" line. That worked well - actively calling out what is a blatent attack and not just dismissing it but picking it all the way apart -utterly revealing its stupidity or irrelevance - then bringing up again and again why its being used to distract from the real issues. THEN present those out one by one.

I also think that Obama needs to take some hard lines on some of these issues. Not everything needs to be treated with rubber gloves. The situation with Georgia vs. Russia required a yes or no kind of stance and a what would you do reaction. McCain jumped at the opportunity (although I think that has more to do with him wanting a war that he can lead this country into and or through) - and caught most of the headlines and momentum from it. Lesson learned.

Next- its time to awaken the army for change that the Obama campaign had going so well. While its not in Obama's character to attack McCain - what does that have to do with the rest of us. If Rush Limbaugh can ask loose questions about Sen. Obama's religious background - why can't we actively question the issue of McCain's age? Or the political scandals he was caught up in over the years?. The only thing I would say is off limits is his wifes drug addiction - that's just rude to no end. But everything else? - Game On. (If you are really smart you will see what I just did and how easy it was to do it).

While I can appreciate that black folks are excited about the possibility of Black President - I think its high time we educate ourselves more about what electing Barack Obama (not just a black man) means for us - so that we can start defending it and projecting it in an educated manner. We can avoid missteps like the Bernie Mac or Ludacris flak and have more representations like this

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