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Originally Posted by dc_dux
pan.....you say this with such certainty like you know something the rest of us dont.
In fact, there is nothing to suggest that this will be a very HUGE issue. Polls dont suggest it, focus groups dont suggest it, campaign professionals in both camps dont suggest it, talking heads on TV dont suggest it...
And to the extent that it was an issue as a result of the misleading attacks on Obama, he has addressed it to the satisfaction of most.
IMO, the huge issue MAY be the record number of younger (18-25), first time voters that Obama has attracted who believe he represents the best hope for their future as evident by the exit polls from many (most) of the primaries held to date. The turnout among young voters in the Democratic primaries has been 3-4 times past turnouts in many states...and Obama has won most of these primaries in part because he has won this demographic group by a large margin in every state.
But I am not as certain as you because these same voters tend to be fickle, may lose interest between now and Nov and may not show up when it counts.
Just to make it clear,there is little or nothing that supports your conclusion that Obama's affiliation with his church or the statements of his pastor will be a huge issue or an issue at all..other than to those who have already decided not to vote for him.
The only issue that is marginally related to all of this "nonsense" is race. While publicly, most voters say that race is not an issue, privately, in the voting booth, it is still uncertain if some voters are willing to vote for a black president (ie the Bradley effect).
And its a waste to time trying to convince these folks to take a second look....particularly if they get so easily offended if their "certainty" or their superficial, one-sided view of the issue is questioned.
If you find this offensive or degrading or a personal attack, IMO, this is something you have to deal with yourself. |
First, if you do not think it will be an issue, you do not listen enough to your political rivals and depend too much on polls. Polls this early do not mean much.
Secondly, the GOP and radical right are not going to show their hand and put much heart into any attack right now. There is nothing to gain from it.
No one thought Swift Boat would be an issue in March '04 either. It is not a question of whether or not something is an issue to you, it is a question of what value someone who asks you as a supporter of your candidate puts on the issue.
DC let's say I support X for Senate. You ask me because you see I am very vocal in m support of candidate X. You come to me and say X has done this, the people around X has done that, his church/family/etc have all been accused of the other thing. Now, you may ask the question and open the issue up, but there maybe 10 people watching because they have heard the same things and have similar questions but never really wanted to ask because they feel not well informed, are scared, etc.
Now, if I minimize, put you on the defensive or just become all argumentative..... you will all of a sudden be wanting to make what was a small issue bigger, the people watching will see the defensiveness and anger over the issue and either tune politics out completely or believe there is more to X than they at first believed and may tune out any legit defense I may have because I already became combative and showed there maybe something there.
Now, if I answer, "Candidate X has addressed that this way, I understand your concerns and I believe that Candidate X truly handled this best when he did....... and said......... What is it about this issue that bothers you (DO NOT ACCUSE, IMPLY OR MINIMIZE)?" Listen to the concern then answer with your feelings about the issue.
Now, instead of having a negative exchange, I not only made myself look knowledgeable over the issue, I turned it into a positive exchange. I have gained respect and may have swayed a vote or 2... instead of losing votes and losing people's respect. I am a representation of my candidate, whether I want to be or not, as soon as I speak out, show my support with t-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, etc for him/her, people will see me as an expert on the candidate.
This is where politics is going wrong and why we lose voters and close elections are lost. Negativity at the ground level. The politicians and talking pundits have enough negativity, supporters are supposed to maintain an optimism and positive view of their candidate.
So to interact with someone who has a question about the candidate in a negative fashion, no matter how negative that person may have come at you... will determine how some will see that candidate.
In other words, since you are the candidate's representation on the ground level:
Answer the question like the candidate would.
Now, do you think, Obama would have answered the questions I posed the way they were answered here?
But then again..... what do I know? I'm a racist, xenophobic, asshole who has no right asking questions because, well I'm not informed and I'm a racist and that issue was so last year....
You set a negative tone when asked about your candidate, you'll receive negativity back. You set a positive tone and an uplifting and people will see your candidate as a positive.
If I coming out negatively attacking your candidate and you answer in a positive, non minimizing, knowledgeable way... then all of a sudden my attack has lost steam and the people watching then look at the issue differently.