Posted by
John Ostrowski on Friday, January 26, 2007 2:57:34 PM
And thank the good Lord for that.
*Note: Hyperlinks cannot be added now, but they will be later*
I sincerely believe that if Obama enters the race (and that is still an "if" at this point), he will not have a chance at winning the Democratic primary, much less the presidency. Why do I say this? There are multiple reasons.
First, let me say, I do not believe that his name/ethnicity will not be a detriment to him. Maybe it's just me being naive, but I like to think that the American people are not that ignorant.
Why will he not win, then? The Clinton camp has already said that Obama's popularity may have reached its peak. The Clinton camp is not 100% correct on this one, but certainly Obama is in a rough spot. At this point, his name recognition is not as great as Hillary's, and he needs to stay relevant for at least another year, so it's in his best interest to get out there and generate some buzz. However, he can't explode in people's minds too quickly, or he'll risk fizzling out early like Dean did. Obama seemed to be soaring about a week or two ago, and he still leads Clinton in New Hampshire polls. But Clinton is still crushing him nationwide. The New Hampshire primary can be a springboard toward national recognition, or it could be the location of failed hopes (think Dean). Obama will have to manage his campaign very precisely if he is to stay relevant without fizzling out early. I don't think it can be done.
At the same time, Obama is from Chicago, and this is a big problem. He has already been involved in a mini-scandal with Tony Rezko, an associate of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who is in a little bit of trouble with the law right now. The land deal that he and Rezko were involved in may seem innocent enough, but I think it is just the first of many mini-scandals we will find. Obama just endorsed Mayor Daley in his bid for a sixth term. If you did not know, Daley's office is currently under federal investigation concerning multiple corruption charges. At the same time, Obama played a stupid yet deciding role in the race for Cook County Board President. In the Democratic primary, Todd Stroger's seat was challenged by Forrest Claypool. Claypool was a Obama campaigner in 2004 and was endorsed by every major Chicago newspaper. Stroger's administration was often accused of being corrupt, and Stroger himself had a stroke midway through the primary. Obama still supported Stroger (note: Stroger is black, Claypool is white). Stroger's son (this is how it works in Chicago) took over his bid and won the primary. He then received Obama's support against Tony Peraica, a Republican who actually made a strong showing (rare for a Republican in Chicago). Obama is intricately linked with the powers-that-be in Chicago, and the powers-that-be in the Windy City are always, always corrupt. This can only hurt Obama.
Second to last we have the fact that Obama is not resonating well with black voters now. In fact, he was recently trounced 52% to 28% by Clinton in a nationwide poll. Much has made of Obama's ethnicity by his friends on the left. The fact remains that Obama is the children of very rich parents who sent him to many private schools going up (including going to school with Hawaiian royalty). He also may be missing out on a link to many black voters seeing that he is not the descendant of slaves (his father was from Kenya), and thus cannot claim to share a part of black American heritage. He was also raised by his white mother (his father left when he was two). I do not like making race an issue, but it has been made one by liberals, and it will probably backfire on them.
Finally, Obama supports (or doesn't condemn) infanticide. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate while Obama was still in the Illinois state senate. Even NARAL, who originally came out against the legislation, muted their criticism when they realized that it did not look good to oppose a bill that was designed to protect infants born alive. Jill Stanek, a WorldNetDaily columnist, while working at a hospital in Illinois in 1999 discovered that babies were being left to die in soiled utility rooms. This is precisely the type of thing the act would stop, and it was proposed in the Illinois Senate. Curiously enough, it didn't pass in the Illinois Senate because Obama was willing to vote against it and, at one time, kill the bill while it was in the committee he headed. Stanek has detailed the links between Obama's church and the hospital she was working for (in her 1/17/07 column; again, sorry for no links). Obama has essentially supported infanticide.
Obama's popularity cannot be sustained. His links to corrupt Illinois politicians will come back to haunt him, as will his opposition to the most basic of legislation designed to protect innocent human life. Thank God that this wolf in sheeps clothing will go down in flames.