I knew I’d get under someone’s skin sooner or later…but alas, it was just a reprint of Michael Van Winkle’s response to the Obama Poll.
Where I think Michael makes a good point, and I may have been unclear, is when he says:
Archie goes on to claim that Ryan shouldn’t be criticizing Obama as “left,” but rather posturing himself as “center.”
While I theoretically agree, in practice the two strategies are concomitant. In order to open up a space in the center, you have to demonstrate that your opponent doesn’t belong there. This is what Phiel is trying to do.
The strategy can work so long as she remembers where, precisely, the middle is. Perhaps her only mistake was not being quite selective enough on her points of attack. After all, it isn?t the primaries anymore; Ryan doesn?t have to worry so much about his base.
The Ryan camp might be more successful if they focus the media spotlight away from “conservative” issues like abortion and gay marriage, and on to more centrist issues like taxes and education.
Painting Obama as left is good strategy, but you have to move yourself ot the middle. There is nothing mutually exclusive about doing both, but Phiel didn’t do that and that was supposed to be my point.
But Michael–Ryan is behind no matter how you cut it. He might be able to catch up with a smart campaign, but clearly, Obama is ahead.
And what the hell is with the Archie thing? (this isn’t just Michael).
Left… Center… Center-Left?
Let’s hear from Mr. Obama —
“Really, I think Mr. Ryan is taking a page out of the national Republican play book and asserting that if you do not subscribe to what I consider a ‘radical’ vision of George Bush’s … then you’re a liberal, and I fundamentally reject that.
“My views and the manner to which I’ve operated are closer to moderate Republicans in this state, like Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar, than Jack Ryan’s are.
“I think Jack Ryan is a decent person. I think he’s well-meaning, but he embraces fully a Bush agenda that neglects important issues working families are facing. If you like the direction George Bush is taking the country, Mr. Ryan is going to be a better choice for you.”
But if you don’t like the direction George Bush is taking the country, please click on the link to your right and donate some money to Mr. Obama’s campaign.
I think this is the biggest problem–Jack is trying to run as a Bush Republican in a state that doesn’t like Bush.
AP puts hammer to nail.
I stumbled upon this site:
http://www.russstewart.com/3-31-04.htm
Some Republican leaning lawyer from Park Ridge. He explains Jack! numbers problem quite well.
JACK! might just be an ArchPundit reader. After making his campaign look ameteurish at best with the tired “too liberal” claptrap (perhaps it was a 10th anniversary homage to Newt and crew, who used such logic to critical acclaim in ’94), they seem to be tacking to the center — namely, union folk.
Not a bad strategy. These guys (and face it, most are men) might be swayed against the black liberal with the odd name.
But execution proved another problem.
Today’s Sun-Times describes a presser in which JACK! tried to appeal to the manufacturing base in IL by pointing out that state government jobs now outnumber manufacturing jobs here — and that Obama has been complicit in this.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-sen161.html
Unfortunately for JACK!, his research was…how do you say it…shitty. Seems his count of state gov jobs (846,000) actually represented the 60k state workers, as well as federal and local government and university employees. Ooops.
And his sidekick at the presser, State Sen. Larry Bomke, had voted for many of the bills JACK! was hitting Obama on.
If you haven’t read the story, do. It is a bit of an embarrassment for JACK!’s campaign.
To be sure, it is a long campaign. But already at a disadvantage, JACK! isn’t doing himself any favors.
I think that Sen. Obama summed it all up nicely:
“Mr. Ryan obviously hasn’t served in any policy-making position,” Obama said, “so it’s not surprising he doesn’t have a very good grasp of the statistics and the issues involved.”