Published in the The New York Post on October 7, 2008
The polls now all indicate an Obama win on Nov. 4; some even suggest a landslide. But there’s a strong chance the race will tighten back up this month.
Anger over the Wall Street mess has been pushing voters to Barack Obama in droves. And John McCain’s effort to get involved in the solution only hurt him.
By suspending his campaign and heading to Washington, McCain made himself a central actor in the unpopular bailout, and thus a target of populist outrage. It also hurt his his effort to show how he far he is from President Bush - there he was, shoulder to shoulder with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Bush and Wall Street.
But October may see the end of Obama’s surge: He’s peaking too soon.
Once the Democrat is seen as the clear leader and likely winner, the spotlight will inevitably shift to him. And he may not benefit from the increased attention.
Obama didn’t do well when he last emerged on top, in later Democratic primaries. The more it appeared that Hillary Clintonwould lose, the more voter concerns over Obama’s relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright cost him state after state in the later primaries.
Obama still beat Clinton because he’d already amassed a sufficient delegate lead earlier on. That dynamic doesn’t apply in the general election.
The Democrat gained by standing back during the rescue-bill drama. But now voters (with a strong push from the McCain campaign) will be giving him a closer look - and some won’t like what they see.
They will examine his tax proposals and spending plans, and question his economic credentials. Facing one of the gravest crises in our nation’s history, they’ll wonder: Is it wise to trust an ingénue with little experience with the power of the White House?
All the cash Obama wanted to spend on health care, education and infrastructure just walked out the door en route to Wall Street. He must either abandon his program, hike taxes on almost everyone or run a huge deficit.
His ties to unrepentent terrorist William Ayers will also draw new attention. The record clearly shows that Obama was lying when he called Ayers just a guy “who lives in my neighborhood.”
Ayers got a $50 million grant for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Obama was put in charge of giving out the money and funded left-wing groups like ACORN for a program that’s now billed as “school reform” but amounted to political indoctrination.
As Stanley Kurtz wrote in The Wall Street Journal, Obama and Ayers “worked as a team to advance the CAC agenda,” namely “Ayers’ educational philosophy, which called for infusing students and their parents with a radical political commitment, and which downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism.”
So Obama will be in the spotlight on how he’d handle the economy and on whether he is part of the political mainstream.
Voters will still be in the mood for throwing the Republicans out of office, so Obama may not fall all the way down - but October will be no cakewalk for the Democrat.
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Everything we need to know about John McCain and Sarah Palin is summed up by: their their positions on health care no longer matter; their tax policies are irrelevant; their talking points have been made moot. They bring out the worst in people, but they feed the worst in people. They are basing their campaign on painting Obama as a terrorist and monster. They are cultivating prejudice, racism, fear and ugliness. America has been down this path before, and it is the exact opposite of what this country needs right now.
A true leader would lift his or her people up, not prey on their fears, their insecurities, their ignorance and their anger. They have seized on a terrified populace and encouraged terror which will only lead to hate and self-destruction. America and Americans are betterthan this, and we deserve better leaders than these.
Why doesn’t someone point out at this time Obama’s connections to ACORN? It seems that this with the Ayers connection would help unravel Obama supposed lead. One is known by the company he keeps and obama’s unsavory connections with Ayers, ACORN, Rev. Wright, and Fr. Flager should be made front page news. HIS “friends” are the country’s enemies. Obama is a sly man who gets others to do his dirty work. God help us should he be elected president and have a democratic Congress.