OBAMA’S WOMEN PROBLEM
Published on TheHill.com on July 29,2008
If soccer moms determined the outcome of the 1996 presidential race and security moms tipped the balance in 2004, it is beginning to look as if older moms are the key to the 2008 contest. Obama has a problem among women over 40 and a big problem among women over 50. These groups, normally the staunchest of Democratic supporters, are showing a propensity to back McCain and a disinclination to support Obama.
HOW ISRAEL’S RACE COULD SHIFT OURS
Published in The New York Post on July 28, 2008.
The most important primary for our 2008 election may be yet to come – the Kadima Party primary in Israel in mid or late September. It pits liberal-leaning Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni against hardliner and former Army Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz. (Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to sit out the contest and concentrate on staying out of jail.)
The polls are neck and neck; in the most recent, Livni’s once-formidable lead has shrunk to 2 points. Hanging over the battle is the Iranian nuclear program.
MEDIA IS FOR OBAMA; BUT VOTERS ARE SPLIT
Published on FOXNews.com on July 25, 2008.
If you read, watch and hear the media describe the campaign of 2008, it appears to be the most one-sided contest since Reagan trounced Mondale in 1984. McCain always comes across as borderline senile, lethargic, and pitiful while Obama is awash in media heroics and theatrical flourishes.
But the race is still basically tied according to the polls.
OBAMA’S VOYAGE SHOWS US SALES RESISTANCE
Every day for the past week, I have been anxiously following Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll watching for an Obama bounce from his foreign foray. And every day, the polling shows the same tie that it has shown, inexplicably, for three weeks. (I say inexplicably because of McCain’s inept campaign). Now, finally, after his marvelous Berlin speech, he is showing what Rasmussen calls a “modest” four point bounce.
The difficulty Obama has had in mounting a sustainable lead illustrates the depth of the sales resistance to him among average American voters. His ongoing inability to win the votes of women over 50, in particular, it is interesting and shows that their fear of the “other” is quite pronounced. If McCain were to run a series of ads for weeks on end about Obama’s flip flops, he might make it permanently impossible for the Democrat to mount a lead.
MCCAIN’S WAY FORWARD
Published in The New York Post on July 23, 2008.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has cut the legs out from under John McCain by basically endorsing Sen. Barack Obama’s troop-withdrawal plan.
Just when McCain had Obama on the defensive over the Democrat’s plan to surrender after we’ve won in Iraq, Maliki has made McCain look the naïf for opposing a timetable for withdrawal.
Unless McCain changes his approach, he’s lost the use of this issue. He can’t come out for staying in Iraq longer than the government we support wants.
ROMNEY: A MISTAKE FOR MCCAIN
Published on TheHill.com on July 22, 2008
You’ve probably heard the story about the tycoon who wanted to bring out a new kind of dog food.
He spent lavishly. He hired the best marketing person, the top PR firm, the best ad agency, the No. 1 packaging expert, the most powerful distributor – but the sales were flat after six months.
He summoned his consultants to a meeting and asked why the food wasn’t selling. “The dogs won’t eat it,” was the answer that came back.
ILLEGAL RX? BARACK OBJECTS & DICK ANSWERS
Published in The New York Post on July 22, 2008.
In yesterday’s Post, we criticized Barack Obama’s plan to “give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage.” We raised the question: “Are they Americans?” – noting that the 47 million statistic includes those who’ve come here illegally and are subject to deportation.
The Obama campaign complains that the senator has no such plan. Indeed, he’s said his plan “does not” cover illegals: “We’ve got limited resources. And it is important for us that, when we’ve got millions of US citizens that aren’t yet covered, it’s important for us to make sure that they are provided coverage.”
O’S HEALTH RX: COVER ILLEGALS
Published in The New York Post on July 21, 2008.
Democrats’ single most important domestic proposal – universal health insurance – may blow up in Barack Obama’s face when voters are exposed to the deadly details.
Obama has said, proudly and often, “I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage.” But are they “Americans?”
That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants – who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance.
STOP OIL SPECULATION NOW!
Published on FOXNews.com on July 18, 2008.
For once, it is the Democrats who have the right idea…we can only hope that the Republicans come along.
Senators Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid are pushing legislation to restore the controls over the oil future’s market speculation that existed before brokerage houses like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley set up a commodities exchange in London to evade restrictions imposed by the Federal Commodities Trading Corporation.
CAPITAL GAINS TAX INCREASE A BIG OBAMA VULNERABILITY
Look around. American banks are failing because of a lack of capital. Our biggest financial institutions are selling pieces of their equity — and their souls — to sovereign wealth funds to raise cash. The debt pyramid constructed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is tottering. All because of a lack of invested capital. After all, why should anyone invest in American stocks? The market is dropping, the dollar is weakening, and interest rates are the lowest in the world.
Now Obama pledges to double the capital gains tax. This misguided policy will drive capital off shore and turn a flow into a torrent. The financial problems of American banks will be amplified. McCain should pounce on this issue and correlate the current crisis with Obama’s position on capital gains. It would be a big winner.
