The fact the Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is a Mormon is a fact that has dogged Romney throughout the campaign. According to a recent poll, 1/3 of all Americans say they would not vote for a Mormon for President. And no surprise, many of those intolerant bigots are people from the religious right of the Republican party. Now again, I do not support Romney or his views, but by no way do I think that any candidate should be judged by his religion--or for that matter his or her race, gender, etc.
There has been talk about Mitt Romney giving a speech to address doubts about his faith and supposedly the speech is already written, just waiting for Romney to give it. There is reportedly great debate withhin the Romney campaign on whether or not to give the speech. Here are my thoughts:
Right now, I don't see Romney needing to give the speech. He is far ahead in Iowa, his lead in New Hampshire has grown even more, and he is now ahead in South Carolina. If Romney is asked about his faith on the campaign trail, then surely he should answer it, as he has done. But to say that Romney needs to give this huge speech just doesn't make sense to me at this time. Why mess up something that is going so well? What exactly is Romney going to say anyway?
His religion doesn't seem to be hurting him yet; it is his values (genuine or not) that are actually helping him appeal to conservative Republicans. Now, of course, the general election is a different story. As more and more Americans pay attention to the Presidential race, Romney might need to address his Mormonism, much as J.F.K. did in 1960 about his Catholicism. But Romney should determine that when and if the time comes. Right now I would advise Romney to do keep up whatever he is doing, because it is working, and there is no need to jeopardize that.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Obama Blows the Crowd Away
This past Saturday night, at the Jefferson Jackson dinner in Iowa, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama finally showed that fire that everyone has been waiting to see. I am far from an Obama fan, but even I must admit that his speech created an electric atmosphere. This was the best I've seen Obama since his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It could very well be the turning point in this campaign.
In Iowa, Obama has been running neck and neck with Sen. Hillary Clinton in the polls. Iowa is in fact the only place where Obama is even remotely close to Hillary in the poll numbers. That is why Iowa is where Obama must stop Hillary. And I think his great speech last Saturday was his first step in trying to halt the Clinton machine. I look forward to seeing the next poll numbers from Iowa to see if Obama has picked up any momentum. I predict he will and I also predict that the Iowa Caucus results will be an extremely close call. I am now more convinced than ever that Obama might just be able to win Iowa.
The one thing I must criticize Obama for is his refusal to mention Hillary by name in his speeches. When he goes on the attack, it is obvious that he is talking about Sen. Clinton, so why doesn't he just call her out by name? I guess it is no big deal to most voters, but it's just something that irks me. If Edwards goes after Clinton, he doesn't have a problem calling her out by name. Same thing when Clinton challenges Obama. In my opinion, it just appears that Obama doesn't have the "guts" to call Hillary out by her name, and thats just not something that appeals to me.
It should be interesting to see how Hillary and her campaign respond to her slumping poll numbers and the attacks by Obama and Edwards this week. I have a feeling that Hillary will just leave Edwards alone; he is no threat to her. Obama, on the other hand, might be in for a surprise. Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communication director, is known to play hardball. It was Wolfson who really led the charge in the Clinton campaign back in the summer when Clinton went after Obama for saying he would meet with foreign leaders "unconditionally." If you noticed, it was after Clinton branded Obama as "naive" and "weak on foreign policy" that Obama began to drop in the polls and Clinton picked up speed. I see Wolfson doing the same this week. The Hillary campaign is going to go after Obama's biggest weakness-----his complete lack of experience. The argument is going to be made-"Obama has spent just over 2 years in the Senate, is he really ready to be President?" And when you make it sound like that, I think we can all agree, it plays to Hillary's favor.
Whatever the backlash may be, I must commend Obama for finally showing the same spirit at the JJ Dinner that made the country fall in love with him back in '04. I feel that Obama's speech on Saturday might have just won him the Iowa caucus. I also am sure though that Hillary won't go down without a fight, and I expect it to get ugly in the next few weeks. And although I am a Hillary supporter and I enjoyed her comfortable front-runner status, the other side of me is glad to finally see a race. There is nothing like the hardball, nail-biting, no-holds-barred feel of Presidential politics.
In Iowa, Obama has been running neck and neck with Sen. Hillary Clinton in the polls. Iowa is in fact the only place where Obama is even remotely close to Hillary in the poll numbers. That is why Iowa is where Obama must stop Hillary. And I think his great speech last Saturday was his first step in trying to halt the Clinton machine. I look forward to seeing the next poll numbers from Iowa to see if Obama has picked up any momentum. I predict he will and I also predict that the Iowa Caucus results will be an extremely close call. I am now more convinced than ever that Obama might just be able to win Iowa.
The one thing I must criticize Obama for is his refusal to mention Hillary by name in his speeches. When he goes on the attack, it is obvious that he is talking about Sen. Clinton, so why doesn't he just call her out by name? I guess it is no big deal to most voters, but it's just something that irks me. If Edwards goes after Clinton, he doesn't have a problem calling her out by name. Same thing when Clinton challenges Obama. In my opinion, it just appears that Obama doesn't have the "guts" to call Hillary out by her name, and thats just not something that appeals to me.
It should be interesting to see how Hillary and her campaign respond to her slumping poll numbers and the attacks by Obama and Edwards this week. I have a feeling that Hillary will just leave Edwards alone; he is no threat to her. Obama, on the other hand, might be in for a surprise. Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communication director, is known to play hardball. It was Wolfson who really led the charge in the Clinton campaign back in the summer when Clinton went after Obama for saying he would meet with foreign leaders "unconditionally." If you noticed, it was after Clinton branded Obama as "naive" and "weak on foreign policy" that Obama began to drop in the polls and Clinton picked up speed. I see Wolfson doing the same this week. The Hillary campaign is going to go after Obama's biggest weakness-----his complete lack of experience. The argument is going to be made-"Obama has spent just over 2 years in the Senate, is he really ready to be President?" And when you make it sound like that, I think we can all agree, it plays to Hillary's favor.
Whatever the backlash may be, I must commend Obama for finally showing the same spirit at the JJ Dinner that made the country fall in love with him back in '04. I feel that Obama's speech on Saturday might have just won him the Iowa caucus. I also am sure though that Hillary won't go down without a fight, and I expect it to get ugly in the next few weeks. And although I am a Hillary supporter and I enjoyed her comfortable front-runner status, the other side of me is glad to finally see a race. There is nothing like the hardball, nail-biting, no-holds-barred feel of Presidential politics.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)