Monday, February 18, 2008
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Obama Echoes Deval's Speeches
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
10:03 AM
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The MSM has finally come around to noticing the striking similarity between the campaigns of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Barack Obama.
(Townhall's own John Hanlon wrote about this back in November.)
Of course, it's no wonder the two are similar; they share the same top advisor. And ironically, as this NY Times article points out, Obama is "borrowing" the ines that Patrick successfully employed to fend of criticisms that his rhetoric was only words:
David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Mr. Obama who also advised Mr. Patrick, said Sunday that Mr. Obama adapted the words from Mr. Patrick. Mr. Axelrod said that he did not write the words for either candidate. “They often riff off one another. They share a world view,” Mr. Axelrod said. “Both of them are effective speakers whose words tend to get requoted and arguments tend to be embraced widely.” ... It's important to note that while Patrick used his tremendous speaking ability to win election, his administration has been viewed, so far, as a failure. Might an Obama Administration suffer the same fate?
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Bill disowned it when Kennedy asked him to go easy on Obama. Therefore, technically speaking Bill does not want credit for this statement any more than he wants credit for the Lewisky affair. But should he ever own the comment, I will be proud to give him credit. As it stands, he said he did not call Obama's candidacy a fairy tale and that he was misunderstood and misquoted by the press. |
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After Bush, Rice and Ramsfeld failed to plan for an Iraq exit strategy and blamed it on tactical errors while not acknowledging their strategic errors - McCain championed the replacement of the commander on the ground (a tactical change) and the replacement of Ramsfeld ( a strategic change) and the increase in troops (an operational change). He did this while ALL OTHER REPUBLICANS were chanting "stay the course" and working more to defend Bush instead of finding a solution for our military men and women in Iraq. Second, McCain opposed the tax-cuts that did not include spending cuts (earmarks) because he advocates fiscal responsibility. If his idea was implemented, we would not have the current defecit that democrats are using to justify increasing taxes and ending the war. Finally, his amnesty bill was misguided BUT IT DID BRING ATTENTION TO THE ISSUE OF all the undocumented workers. Republicans had ignored this issue since taking over all the houses in 2002. While his bill was unacceptable, it forced ALL AMERICANS to deal with the "dirty little secret" of illegals working on Mitt's Lawn and other people's lawns while policy makers ignored the socio-economic implications. And of course defending our country is an accomplishment that goes beyond party politics to american politics. Now get over your childish loss with the Mitt affair and focus on presidential level politics. |
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You forgot to attribute the "fairy tale" comment to Bill Clinton.
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Words are important and Obama should proudly use his name Hussein especially because he normally defends Saddam Hussein's regime and takes glory in the fact that Iraq has gone badly. What kind of commander in chief will this man make when he is a pacifist? His judgement was not good, he is just a consistent pacifist who opposed Iraq the way he would oppose any other war. FYI - now that he is flipping about "immediate withdrawal" from Iraq, should voters get concerned about his lack of foreign policy or ANY OTHER POLICY DEVELOPMENT FOR THAT MATTER. Hussein's candidacy is the worst fairy tale because unlike other fairytale, this one is a repackaged bad rendidation of plagerized speeches offering "hope" from the false premise that "
USA is bad and needs saving from all the bad politicians who have come before Obama" - what an arrogant and misguided candidacy. I have faith that americans can tell a shallow over-sold politician when they see one. |
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When Obama voted against funding our soldiers in the middle of battle, he increased the possibility of having them killed. What planet do these people live in? I am tired of Obama and his team saying how terrible this country is and that he will "make it right again". How does a terrible country like ours end up with a bi-racial candidate and woman candidate at the same time? His "hope" is premised on the idea that this country is "bad and needs a savior badly". Well then, republicans need to tell Obama that he is not the annointed "savior" and americans are proud of this country and the audacity of hope should not be premised on the false notion that the USA needs fixing by a Johnny come lately (no pun intended). |
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Obama's views are not significantly to the left of John Kerry, who also had little legislative accomplishments, and yet Kerry came very close to beating Bush. With just a touch more skill at campaigning, Kerry could have won. Of course we know that Obama's campaigning skills are on an entirely different level than Kerry's.
We're living in a 50-50 country. Conservatives have managed to win most of the elections, but just barely. The idea that Obama will get trounced this fall because he is a liberal democrat is based on the false notion that conservatives have been wildly popular. That has never been true. |
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You're right Steve. And, of course, Deval and Obama are close friends. It was his suggestion to use the rhetoric he used in 2006.
My question is this, will McCain have to attribute his attack lines to Hillary when he uses them against Obama this fall? |
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If this is the best Bill and Hil can come up with
they are in trouble. |
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Are all about attributing ideas and language every time you use them now, does that mean every ditto-bot is going to start admitting that they are just regurgitating what they heard on the radio? I am so tired of conservatives just parroting talk radio to me and thinking that I will find them clever. Yes, I am a liberal, but I do listen to talk radio, which is why I am aware how few conservatives have original thoughts.
Word to all those bots: 'Drive-by media' is a stupid phrase that was never clever, doesn't really make any sense and pegs you as a drone. Using Obama's middle name to try to discredit him shows that you don't really have any real ideas and are just grasping at nonsense. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. |
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I'm still waiting for anyone to list even ONE accomplishment by McCain after 25 years in the Senate. We already know his Democratic party accomplishments. I'm looking for something he did for his own party. |
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just keep listing Obama's long list of achievements here. That will shut them up. Actions speak louder than words. Once everyone knows how successful Obama has been in advancing his agenda, they will know where he wants to lead and how he wants to get there.
So, Lily, you are the only one on these boards who can tell us all of Obama's accomplishments. The rest of the posters have not really researched him like you have. So, please, inform the ignorant of all of Barack's successes. |
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Wow, Matt, you surely aren't suggesting that Obama's fancy rhetoric won't guarantee him to be a great leader? I have no doubt that if he is the Dem's nominee, every time Republicans suggest this they will be accused of racism which is, ironically, more hollow rhetoric. The truth is that rhetoric is all Obama has to run on because what little he has accomplished shows him to be the ultra-liberal he doesn't want the voters to see. Dick Durbin wouldn't have a prayer in a national election but here is a guy with an identical voting record trying to portray himself as someone who can bring people together. Nonsense. |
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Last night I emailed a complaint to ABC that their Evening News coverage of Obama had been unfair. First they showed Obama saying, "My opponent says that words are not important, but words are important. 'I have a dream.' Were those words not important? [and another famous quotation I don't remember then] 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' Were those words unimportant?" He was quoting famous speeches showing how other leaders have used words to inspire the people Immediately ABC cut to another politician quoting "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and suggested that Obama had stolen the line from that politician---I didn't catch the name but he was a black politician quoting FDR as Obama had done. Ye gods, I knew that FDR said that about "fear" when I was in third grade. I am sure every American knows that ML King and FDR said those lines, and the other one was equally famous, might have been JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you". Then comes ABC with the coup de grace: "Obama's followers think he is authentic, so they will be disappointed." FDR was not mentioned; the implication was that the "fear" line was original to the other politician.
Obama's obvious intent was to show how other politicians have used "words". ABC's obvious intent was to distort Obama's use of the quotations. It speaks to Obama's strength that such an obvious distortion has to be used to try and discredit him. |
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