According to Yahoo News, Barack Obama backed away from an earlier challenge from McCain to debate.
WASHINGTON – Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday backed away from rival John McCain’s challenge for a series of joint appearances, agreeing only to the standard three debates in the fall.
In May, when a McCain adviser proposed a series of pre-convention appearances at town hall meetings, Obama said, “I think that’s a great idea.” In summer stumping on the campaign trail, McCain has often noted that Obama had not followed through and joined him in any events.
Obama’s reversal on town hall debates is part of a play-it-safe strategy he’s adopted since claiming the nomination and grabbing a lead in national polls. Advisers to the Illinois senator, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss strategy, say Obama is reluctant to take chances or give McCain a high-profile stage now that Obama’s the front-runner.
This is just plain unacceptable. Obama’s crafty enough to know that whether you’re playing chess or political games, sometimes you have to risk losing in order to win. Other times you simply need to make a move. It’s another lost opportunity, for it represented a chance for a gifted orator to show up an opponent who can’t even display publicly an understanding of his own policy proposals.
No wonder the Democrat can’t close the gap. This was the latest round in a political game of chicken, and Obama swerved when he should have remained steady. If he’s going to remain this timid, the media is going to help McCain walk all over him by November.
There’s got to be something we can do about this.
“There’s got to be something we can do about this.”
Who’s this we? Obama’s advice to anyone who disapproves of his tactics and his (shifting) policy stands is to exercise your option not to vote for him or to run for office yourself. Pretty arrogant* if you ask me.
Shouting down legitimate questions, how…democratic.
What a patronizing crock of shit. Check out the video to see where he basically tells the activist to fuck off by voting for someone else, of course to the great delight of his crowd.
So, chances of Barack getting himself dirty in a non required debate with McCain? About zero. You want to do something positive? Vote Independent.
*not to be confused with uppity, you see.
Hello Mister TROLL, doffin’ his cap…..
Is that as original as you can be?
What a shame, and not a little predictable.
is supersoling REALLY supertrolling?
I begin to wonder.
Maybe another CIA agent hiding in the bushes?
You see anyone you disagree with as an agent or a troll.
means that you are a total moron. Or a total asswipe.
I can’t decide.
Which, are you, superma?
Do you think that your candidate can afford to tell voters to fuck off by voting for someone else? Does he have that many votes to spare at this stage, guy? Especially when he’s rehashing the old Kerry College Try method of presidential campaigning? Flipping and flopping, flopping and flipping off his support? You’re gonna vote for a guy who takes you for granted like that? And you call me a total moron.
Get thee a mirror and repent.
always have to go to the personal attacks? Can we not agree to disagree in a somewhat cival manner? Stick to the issue not the writer? I don’t know. I just am tired of the negative personal attacks everywhere the se days. Ok…back to burying my head in the sand.
The vast majority of people here are civil, though I’ve slipped a few times myself over the years. Dataguy however, has a nasty habit of resorting to profane name calling. It indicates a feeble mind and a lack of intellect as far as I’m concerned.
It’s a problem, I know, but someone whose sig extoles the green wackos and is still looking for rational discussion does not deserve respect.
You have nothing to offer in the way of serious discussion of how to set things right, so keep your respect. I’m not interested in the respect of anyone who fails to understand how their repeated support of the same old losing politicians will do nothing to recover what has been lost. You, like so many, are delusional if you pin your hopes on the same old shit that hasn’t done one goddamned thing to oppose what our country has wrought on the world, or to oppose one goddamn thing that has repeatedly raped and bludgeoned the working people of this country into misery and economic strife. I blame YOU and everyone like you for failing to stand up and demand real action and real change. Take your respect and shove it.
What more need be said?
Al Gore gave you Bush. At what point do people like you come to grips with the reality of the democrat’s unwillingness to behave and campaign and fight like a real opposition party? I’ll say this for Cynthia McKinney. she takes no shit and talks straight. At this point that is a breath of fresh air and I’ll reward her for fighting like she means it. You on the other hand, apparently need a little more time to come to grips with reality. Take your time. We have all the time in the world.
you are a typical green, totally devoid of any abiltiy to attend to reality, a total nutcase.
I see no reason to be civil to someone whose idea of sensible centrism is Cynthia McKinney, a racist moron of the very most amazingly high level.
All I need say is FL, NH and IA, all won by that fucking anal pore of a piece of shit Ralph Nadar.
Fuck the greens.
tone it down, data. Make your points without the ad hominem attacks.
There are several things SOME Obama supporters must be aware of. The first is strategy. No political campaign can publicize their plans and strategy and hope to win, and anything that appears on the internet has been publicized. (1)We must recognize that the Republicans have effective control of the media, so any misstep by the Obama campaign becomes a widely publicized political bonanza for the McCain campaign. (2)The McCain campaign is working overtime to create a portfolio of the most pernicious political videos possible. (3) McCain cannot win on the issues due to the low popularity of the Republican Party, so he has to make Election into a single issue event, i.e.,a national referendum on Barack Obama. (4) The Obama campaign must deal with the question of RACE on the national level. (5) Since there has never been an obvious black candidate for President, no one knows how to handle this factor in a national Presidential election. So both camps will be tossing this question back and forth like a loaded hand grenade. Any strategy regarding RACE by either camp will be held at the super secret level.
Therefore the watch word to us supporters/observers of the Obama campaign is to stay strong and “Keep the Faith Baby”!! Peace….
Horse puckey. You know as well as I do that Obama can win this thing by a landslide if he’d quit acting like a coward. He DROPPED in standing following his capitulation on telecomm immunity; that one had absolutely nothing to do with the media — he made that decision all on his own. If caving in on FISA was part of a strategy, then it’s an extremely bad one.
Obama could have shown McCain up by walking all over him in a debate, but he handed the GOPher a victory by appearing weak and afraid. You say McCain can’t win on the issues. This is true; he’s just a Bush clone who can’t even demonstrate publicly that he even understands half the subjects he talks about. So why run away from an opportunity to capitalize on that early on, so as to gain a sizable lead and keep it? I’ll tell you why, as so eloquently pointed out by Paul Krugman:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/a-study-in-non-contrast
Obama would be practicing excellent strategy by being partisan and by being a genuine contrast to his Republican counterpart. Why isn’t he? It runs far deeper than the “post-partisan” narrative, which few people buy into anyway. It has to do with Obama actually being very conservative on the issues, and dropping all pretense of being anything but now that he has the Democratic Party nomination locked up. He thinks we’ll vote for him simply because of the Big Lie perpetuated that there’s no other alternative.
Actually, the offer would not be made if McCain were not desperate.
Consider this: Obama has to know by now that he could mop up the floor with McCain any day of the week. The Republican’s challenge was all about making his opponent look fearful at a time when the Democrat’s poll numbers are suffering precisely because he won’t display courage. I wonder where Joe Klein is right now, because Kerry followed that Iago’s advice in 2004 and it appears Obama is doing likewise.
Obama’s FISA vote and AIPAC speech are of considerably more concern to me than this. I realize that McCain will try to make political hay out of Obama’s decision but this will be a forgotten footnote in week’s time, and onto the next outrage du jur.
I rated one comment excellent, but for some reason it shows (none / 1). Am I missing something?
it takes two ratings for a rating to count.
That’s the black community. Anytime any person attempts to get out of the barrel, the other crabs tear him to pieces.
That’s the Black Whining Aristocracy. Jesse Jackson, all those guys. All they want to do is make Obama black, and that will make him lose.
If Obama runs as a black guy, he loses.
Sorry, but that’s just bunk. Obama does not have to campaign like a white guy, or a black guy — just a liberal-progressive candidate. Instead, he’s campaigning like a Republican, and voters are fed up with it.