The Pink Flamingo :: Barack Obama’s Empty Suit

“…With Obama it appears at least in part to be a matter of strategy. His campaign persona is so vague, and slogans such as "the audacity of hope" and "the politics of unity" so generic that they could mean anything, which is exactly what they've been taken to mean.

Commentators, pundits, and voters look at Obama and see what they want see -- a "healer", an "agent of change", the "new JFK" -- a new persona each week. It follows directly that everyone also believes that Obama's ideas on policy and the issues are the same as that of the beholder, that the issue dearest to the candidate's heart happens to be the one that's most important to the individual voter. No matter what the constituency or what their concern, no doubt exists that Obama will get straight to work on their particular issue as soon as his shoes hit the oval office carpet….”

Yesterday, while I was interviewing Mike Duncan, Chairman of the RNC, he stressed the fact that Barack Obama makes it a habit of speaking in rhetorical terms where he cannot be pinned down. While in the Illinois Legislature he voted present over 130 times. His health care plan, what he does have of one, is pure socialist. In the US Senate, he has been around 4 years, two of which he has spent running for President. He has a very poor voting record implying that he rarely votes. When he does, he is the MOST LIBERAL member of the US Senate. He was one of 14 Senators who voted to defund our troops in Iraq.

OBAMA’S PROBLEM WITH THE LATINO VOTE
You just don’t know how much I am enjoying this. Barack Obama has a serious problem with Latino voters. If… he is the nominee – please, let me sit and enjoy this for a moment. I’ve earned it. If Barack Obama is the nominee, THE LATINO VOTE WILL SHIFT TO JOHN MCCAIN!

Will he court them?
Dick Morris and the Hispanic Factor

“…The relationship between Latino citizens and their illegal immigrant cousins is often strained, but they are agreed that it would be unfair to force them to walk to work or to drive illegally. The shadow that is cast over them by not having a drivers license keeps them in the dark and makes it hard for them to move freely without fear of arrest and deportation. By stressing this issue, and with it Hillary’s indecisiveness and vacillation over the question during their October debate, Obama can drive the issue home and use it to score points with Latino voters.

The impact of the Latino vote in the general election will be huge now that McCain is emerging as the likely Republican candidate. The very immigration bill for which the conservatives excoriate him will serve him in very good stead in the general election. Alone among the Republicans, he can reach out to Latinos with a good chance of acceptance. The California exit polling suggests that he scored heavily with that state’s Latino vote….”

A QUICK MINI-RANT
I think there is a beautiful irony here. If Barack Obama is the Dem nominee, there is going to be a very serious problem with the Latino vote. I was talking to someone today who is marginally Republican, but went to vote in the Dem primary just for something to do. Evidently the Dem primary here in NM was a terrible mess. People were turned away if they could find where to vote. Evidently it was a mess. She was telling me, though, how many Latinos are not registered to vote here.

Why was she going to go vote for Hillary even though she is a nominal Republican?

IMMIGRATION immigration immigration

Hillary is actively courting the Hispanic/Latino vote. The woman with whom I was visiting, is Latino. She is disgusted by what had been done to the Latino/Hispanic voter within the GOP. I explained that John McCain does not feel this way about Hispanics.

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALL
1. Barack Obama cannot bring in the Hispanic vote
2. Immigration hard-liners (conservatives) have alienated the Hispanic vote in the GOP
3. John McCain has not alienated the Hispanic voter
4. If Barack Obama is the nominee, the Hispanic voters who are being courted by Hilary, but will not vote for Obama are far greater in number than the extreme far right conservatives who may threaten to take their toys and go play somewhere else.
5. There are millions upon millions of alienated moderate and liberal Republicans who will come home to the party.

There is a wonderful irony here. John McCain’s stance on immigration just may be what saves the GOP in November.

Immigration is a loser for the GOP