swing voter, a swing voter! Oh, to be a swing voter, a swing vo . . . oh wait a minute, I AM a swing voter. Hmmmmm . . .
Let's see now . . . Obama's problem is that anyone that cares to know who and what McCain is and how he thinks, and pretty much what he will do and why he will do it, needs merely examine his massive political record and compare it to his massive archive of public utterances.
McCain's problem is that Obama essentially has no meaningful political record and mostly just gives inspirational speeches on hope that are filled with promises.
Now this should work in Obama's favor since he can make any reasonable sounding claim and no one can prove -- based on his record -- that he may not really mean it. but McCain's plausible deniability surrogates can also make claims regarding Obama's likely activities that cannot be disproved as long as they are reasonably in the ball park of activities and thought patterns normally credited to Far Left liberals; which is how Obama is going to be painted.
Now McCain has got problems with his political record, because we can see that he swings toward the moderate [conservatives would call it liberal] form of the republican ideology as a matter of preference, but in order to further his career [or to be seen as a good conservative soldier--take your choice there] he will swing hard right when he deems it necessary. Left to his own choices he usually picks the moderate's answer set. Backed into a Party corner he swings hard right. Can one say 'ideological and policy flip-flopper?' Ouch!
So now we come to the people who will decide this election, which are the independent minded swing voters, the currently 'disgusted with McCain' conservatives within the Republican Party, and those millions of democrats currently pissed off at the way the press and the DNC have been trying to make Obama the Party's nominee.
I shan't predict how that's going to work out, because everyone has an opinion and everyone's opinion [except mine] is based on unfounded wishful thinking. Heh, heh!
Via the GOP's cadre of seasoned propaganda professionals, backed by their political think tanks and using both stealth and above board media outlets, the GOP is probably going to be successful in painting Obama as an irresponsible liberal that goes through life with a well meaning heart and a head filled with nothing more than wishful thinking.
If, the GOP can be equally successful at pulling together as a unified Party then they can pretty much paint John McCain as a conservative leaning moderate, and therefore more balanced and reasonable in his outlook than was G.W. Bush. They will point out [falsely] that this gives the nation the best of all worlds, someone with stable and balanced moderate tendencies that has a conservative failsafe when life's scary problems arise.
Obama, on the other hand, as they will [successfully] point out is an inexperienced and clueless wimp in comparison whether or not this remotely approaches the truth.
John McCain has that calm and reasonable father figure image all mapped out while, Obama is still too young looking to carry that off. Obama can ostensibly carry off the image-hype of being a uniter and [if he can reunite an enraged half of the Democratic Party] he can potentially prove that he is the real deal in that respect.
The key to the foreign policy political battle though is if McCain can 'prove' to people that he actually understands and values the concepts of diplomacy and compromise [this man that is famous in the Congress for doing precisely that on a routine basis], while keeping faith with conservatives that he is a kick ass sort of warrior. Not an easy balancing act!
Obama, on the other hand has to convince people that he is 'tough enough and rooted enough in reality' NOT to give away the nation's best interests abroad in a liberal orgy of appeasement. Oh dear!
So what will middle America, the mainstream; what will the mainstream believe and do with this barrage of conflicting information and images and outright propaganda barrages filled with lies and distortions? Meanwhile the economy is tanking and there is still no solution in sight for an Afghanistan and Iraq War Venture settlement. What will they do? What they always do! They will go with their guts on election day.
Right now I think the odds favor John McCain despite his association with this disaster of a president; G.W. Bush. But I don't believe that they strongly favor McCain.
Obama has the gift of bullshit on his side, the ability to make otherwise intelligent people believe in his 'we can love people into loving one another' and 'things will automatically work out for the best if we just believe that it will' brain rot nonsense. He delivers the equivalent of spiritual and emotional cocaine and people believe him; no . . . they believe in him.
That's some powerful stuff that Obama can utilize at will. Put that way I now think that Obama cannot lose. See how this works? This race is going to be just that close and so when all else is equal in a political contest the wise analyst looks beneath the surface to examine the weaponry on hand.
Have I used the term 'oh dear'? Well, let's go with that again, oh dear! Which [as always] political organization has the better propagandist corps? Which ones understand the nuances of dirty tricks politics on a visceral basis? The GOP.
Which Party, on the other hand, habitually stumbles through these political contests like drunken sailors on liberty, trying things at random and in possession of all the group discipline of a cluster of cats? Which Party habitually underestimates the effectiveness of organized propaganda and so repeatedly gets blindsided by it and watches their candidate's initial popularity gradually sink through the floor while they stand around wringing their hands, wondering what the hell they can do? The DNC.
Oh my!
