Obama Underwater?
by tdaxp ~ March 17th, 2008
Turns out joining a Hate Group is bad politics, once you get beyond Chicago’s South Side:
Rasmussen Reports™: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a presidential election.
McCain has gained ground against both Democrats in recent days as stories about Obama’s former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, have been widely discussed(see recent daily results). Wright is viewed favorably by just 8% of American voters and 73% consider his comments racially divisive.The dialogue about Wright’s controversial comments appears to have had at least a short-term impact on public perceptions of Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator is viewed favorably today by just 47% of voters nationwide. That’s down five points since last Thursday (see recent daily results). The number with an unfavorable view of Obama has risen from 44% on Thursday to 50% today. Among White voters, Obama is now viewed favorably by 43% and unfavorably by 54%.
Looked at from a slightly longer perspective, Obama’s overall favorable ratings peaked at 56% on February 21, shortly after he won the Wisconsin Primary. At that point, Clinton began raising questions about Obama as part of the campaign that ultimately enabled her to win the Texas and Ohio Primaries. Since then, Obama’s net favorability ratings have fallen seventeen points (from plus 14 points on February 21 to minus 3 points today).
Relatedly, Red State and Hot Air link to a good analysis of Obama’s tactical history of race-baiting:
Link: sevenload.com
Pathogenic load reduces...
March 17th, 2008 at 10:37 am
The entire election is wide open now. Near anything could happen. Clinton has shown good fortitude in staying in and now, despite the fact that she has seemingly (and technically?) lost the delegate race, she could still win the convention on the back of an Obama campaign collapse. This is the most exciting election in generations and we still have EIGHT months to go!
Hats off to Juan Williams for calling it like it is.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I’m sure there are far worse scandals around the corner for all three candidates at this rate. Obama’s performance before the Chicago Tribune with regards to Rezko was very impressive, a model for a candidate dealing with a dicey issue by opening himself to all questions and actually answering them. I expect McCain will end up doing the same over the Boeing mess eventually, though I doubt Hillary would ever be honest enough to engage in an actual Q&A with reporters who have dug up dirt on her.
Hillary thinks she can win the nomination, but under no likely circumstances is that going to happen. Barack’s collapse (if it happened in the highly unlikely sense it could) would be likely due to an overinflated scandal she helped generate, and her loss in the election would be solidifed by a collapse of black and young voter support.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
My favorite, do we need another Bush-Cheney secrecy presidency? You’ll get one if Hillary is going to have any say in it….
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0316edit2mar16,0,3010018.story
What is she hiding? Why is she so evasive all the time?
Why do her allies on the right like Bill Kristol repeat lie after lie about Obama (as he did today in his NYT column asserting falsely Obama attended the July 22nd sermon of Rev. Wright when Obama was clearly campaigning that morning in Miami)?
March 17th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Hate Group? Race-Baiting? Really? Has your opinion of the man changed so much since attaining his front runner status that a few scandals involving the crazy pastor from his church gets this kind of response?
Or is it just that he’s the one in November without (R) after his name, thus making him the enemy, free to sensationalize?
March 17th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
that was supposed to hotlink to this post:
http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2008/01/03/vote-mccain-vote-obama.html
Where you express said opinion.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Dan, I’m a long time reader/first time poster. You run a great blog.
The longer this race goes on the more difficult it gets to imagine either candidate emerging with the support of the full Democratic party. I don’t know if you caught Elanor Clift’s article in Newsweek but she’s suggesting that the party may turn to Al Gore at the convention.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/119851
Before the story about Obama’s pastor broke I would have thought such a scenario was just political wonkery taken to an extreme, but as this race starts to look more and more like the ending scene of Reservoir Dogs I have to wonder if there’s a reason Al Gore hasn’t made an endorsement yet.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Eddie,
If Obama does not prize secrecy, where are his articles from his time as editor of the Harvard Law Review? It’s impression he did not write any, because he wanted to keep his views secret, and thus beyond any possible criticism.
Likewise, I assume that Krystal is trying to throw “sunshine” on Obama’s attendence record at Trinity UCC, try to get him to supply a list of dates he did attend, so there is less confusion and uncertainty about what he may have heard but not found objectionable enough to leave the congregation over.
Biz,
No. It would be better for the country if Obama wins the Democratic nomination. Clinton’s willing to tear her party’s soul apart to win that contest. She would tear her country’s soul out to win in November,
Brent,
I like your thoughts, and the link you give.
Obama is like a team that’s up by 10 points, at the top of the fourth quarter, with fifteen minutes left in the game clock and feeling the other team has the momentum. They can try to run out the clock, but they know there’s still time…
March 20th, 2008 at 10:32 am
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