Obama: “It’s easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness”
So the results are in and she’s likely to pick up between 12 and 14 delegates more than Obama as a result of Pennsylvania, although this still leaves him with a still unassailable delegate lead.
The Obama team apparently predicted that they would lose Pennsylvania by 5%, so it’s important that they take sober assessment of what went wrong, and there’s no shortage of advice from pundits. Much of that advice centers around Clinton’s negative campaign, here’s ABC’s take:
The tough tone of the Pennsylvania Democratic campaign tarnished both candidates — more so Hillary Clinton, with 68 percent of voters saying she attacked Barack Obama unfairly.
Yet it appears to have worked: Late deciders favoured Clinton by a wide margin, boosting her to an essential victory in the state.
Some, like the New York Times, concluded the opposite:
By staying on the attack and not engaging Mr. Obama on the substance of issues like terrorism, the economy and how to organize an orderly exit from Iraq, Mrs. Clinton does more than just turn off voters who don’t like negative campaigning. She undercuts the rationale for her candidacy that led this page and others to support her: that she is more qualified, right now, to be president than Mr. Obama.
But they too went on to berate Obama for responding to the negative agenda:
Mr. Obama is not blameless when it comes to the negative and vapid nature of this campaign. He is increasingly rising to Mrs. Clinton’s bait, undercutting his own claims that he is offering a higher more inclusive form of politics. When she criticized his comments about “bitter” voters, Mr. Obama mocked her as an Annie Oakley wannabe. All that does is remind Americans who are on the fence about his relative youth and inexperience.
I am also critical of the Obama team for allowing itself to be sucked into Clinton’s new negative strategy. Barack Obama speaking last night in Indiana, the next must-win state for Clinton, attacked the tone of the Pensylvania primary saying:
After 14 long months, it’s easy to forget what this campaign’s about from time to time, to lose sight of the fierce urgency of this moment.
It’s easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics, the bickering that none of us are entirely immune to, and it trivializes the profound issues: two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril, issues that confront our nation.
That kind of politics is not why we are here tonight. It’s not why I’m here, and it’s not why you’re here.
Perhaps this was a concession that his campaign faltered by getting “caught up in the distractions”, but maybe this is just wishful thinking, we’ll have to wait and see.
What was encouraging, and this is my humble prescription for countering future negative campaigns by Clinton, was the emphasise on attacking his real opponent - John McCain and the Republican’s policies.
Although he resolutely only responded to Clinton’s attack ads in Pennsylvania, it still tarnished Obama’s message, with 50% saying that he unfairly attacked Clinton. That’s still much less than the 68% who said that Clinton attacked Obama unfairly, but it demonstrates that the perception was that both campaigns went negative.
If that lesson is to be learned and acted upon, there appear to be two choices open to Obama’s team: Take the gloves off and follow Clinton’s low road of character assassination, or take an even higher road than before. I favour the latter course.
When Clinton’s camp air negative ads, he should not respond in kind as he did in Pennsylvania. Instead he should use his superior resources to brush these off as “more of the same old politics”, but stick to his own message of hope and change on the real issues that matter and, if he needs to attack, reserve the attacks for John McCain.
As the final video shows, Barack Obama can no longer be beaten in delegate numbers. In this delegate race, he is already the winner. He should now be assuming the mantle of presumed nominee and refuse to get caught up in the distractions and silliness. Only time will tell what actual path the Obama team shall take, but more of the same simply will not do.