Can Obama Win?

Since Governor Richardson dropped out, I have remained out of the presidential nomination fray. I understand simply that either of the two remaining Democratic candidates are light years better than the Republican alternative. There are a variety of reason for that and we'll have plenty of time till November to lay them out.

Now, I have hinted that I may be a leans Sen. Clinton, for one primary reason. She has been through the dirt, and the mud and the slime for so many years she is pretty immune to the attack machine on the Right. People love her or hate her. Her negatives are where they are and will remain relatively unchanged, they are a known. Sen. Obama, on the other hand, is new to the game. And where Sen. Kerry was sitting in pretty good shape right about this time, once the smear boaters got a hold of him, his polling strength diminished. I hint thahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gift with Sen. Obama, the same thing could happen. New red meat for the Rovian Right would be a boon for them, or would it?

Michael Hirsh at Newsweek understands what I mean:

Between the questions about Obama’s meager association with William Ayers, a former Weatherman, and the suspicions raised by his lack of a flag lapel pin, the likely nominee is slowly being turned into John Kerry. He is becoming, in other words, a candidate who may be mostly right about national security but who will lack the Red State street cred to carry his point—and the election.

Hirsh mirrors my line of thinking. An electoral vulnerability at a time when the Dems should, like Sen. Clinton mentioned in the debate,simply get a free pass to the White House.

You know, I wish the Republicans would apologize for the disaster of the Bush-Cheney years and not run anybody, just say that it's time for the Democrats to go back into the White House.

Over at DonklePhant, Obama is Not Kerry., they challenge Hirsh:

Obama has already proven that he’s no John Kerry. For one, Obama is far more charismatic than Kerry and is far better at sounding earnest when discussing important issues – these qualities help him weather attacks and regain trust. For another, Obama is much more aggressive in defending himself, taking every attack seriously where as Kerry allowed the swift boat matter to continue unchallenged for far too long. While there are certainly voters who will stay away from Obama because they question his patriotism, I tend to think those voters would stay away from any Democrat.

Much has been said about the debate in Pennsylvania. I watched the first half, and I am from the school of thought that Sen. Clinton, or anyone for that matter, should throw everything that could possibly be out there at Sen. Obama. Air every piece of slime that is known, and allow the news cycle to properly vet each and every one of them. Come endorsement time, if Sen. Obama is still standing, he will become the nominee. If not, we have a viable and electable alternative to assume presumptive status. But in either case, we must win, and it was made clear during the debate that is the commitment we were given from both candidates.

Obama:

But one thing I'm absolutely certain of is that come August, when we're in Denver, the Democratic Party will come together, because we have no choice if we want to deliver on the promises that not only we've made but the founders made. We are seeing peoples' economic status slipping further and further behind. We've seen people who have not only lost their jobs but now are at risk of losing their homes.

We have a sharp contrast in terms of economic policies. John McCain wants to continue four more years of George Bush policies and, on the foreign policy front, wants to continue George Bush's foreign policy.

So I'm confident that both Senator Clinton's supporters and Senator Obama's supporters will be supporting the Democratic nominee when we start engaging in that general election.

Clinton

I will do everything to make sure that the people who supported me support our nominee.

I will go anywhere in the country to make the case. And I know that Barack feels the same way, because both of us have spent 15 months traveling our country. I have seen the damage of the Bush years. I've seen the extraordinary pain that people have suffered from because of the failed policies; you know, those who have held my hands who have lost sons or daughters in Iraq, and those who have lost sons or daughters because they didn't have health insurance.

And so, regardless of the differences there may be between us, and they are differences, they pale in comparison to the differences between us and Senator McCain.

So we will certainly do whatever is necessary to make sure that a Democrat is in the White House next January.

So allow the underdog their due to point out every little imperfection of the front runner. Because we all know, no matter what Hillary, and other Democratic supporters of hers point out, it is nothing compared to what the Smear Boaters will do!

Flash