Posted by
Tim Blessing on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:38:37 PM
Obama is smart, fast, agile, and almost resistant to political injury.
That's spiderman in the comics.
He has good public speaking skills, lots of charisma, and he has poise.
He has extreme economic views, social views, and foreign views almost communist.
He is a speaker on a scale of 1 to 10 (highest 10) about 8.
His charisma is about 8.
His poise is about 9.
That mean's he can use television to his advantage.
That mean's what goes on off television may be something else entirely.
His positions on issues put him at variance with the majority of the American People.
His television appeal blind's people to his numerous issue positions.
Sort of like Reagan whose personality was appealing, but his positions on the issues were not all that popular.
Innocence without translation to action.
How do you penetrate the television illusion? It depend's. With the grinding nature of television and politics. The next 6 months could allow for McCain to paint Obama as a lightweight unworthy of the office or if Obama play's it well he could use television to broaden his appeal.
Nixon defeated Reagan in 1968. Ford defeated Reagan in 1976. Dukakis beat Jackson. Pataki beat Cuomo in New York.
Yes, there are cases where the less telegenic candidate won, but how they did it is for campaign operatives to decide.
Nixon and Johnson did not debate in1964, 1968, and 1972.
Debates give the challenger a chance to equalize impressions of themselves with the senior candidate in the public's mind.
Obama may be burned out come September. The economy could shift. The Iraq situation could shift. Any of the other variables may shift to positive.
The American People take to unusual candidates every once and a great while sort of like a protest or sometime's their demanding real change.
I guess where Obama is concerned do you play chess, poker, backgamma, parchisi, or some other game to beat him.
When Reagan's image was destroyed in Iran-Contra his ability to influence events ceased, but he regained his popularity.
When Clinton was finished with impeachment he was stronger in the public mind.
Obama is an illusionist like Reagan the question is how to pierce the illusion? History is the only guide.