Obama’s PR Problem

Over a week since the Pennsylvania primary, the dust has not yet settled; Barack Obama and the progressive blogosphere remain covered in post-Pennsylvania grime, an unsightly substance sprinkled upon them compliments of whiskey-drinkin’ Hillary and her blue collar posse. Obama’s campaign, with blogosphere in tow, are reeling, temporarily blinded by a slew of obstacles that may well prove detrimental to the credibility of both.

Barack Obama has seen his immunity from bad press finally wear off (a year and a half late). Even the supposed politically literate blogosphere has seen its support take the form of irresponsible journalism, which, I think, counts as bad press. If your fundraisers and pro bono think tanks (blogs) have stooped to blind faith, you, and our Party, are in bad shape.

A couple of days ago, Marcos Moulitsas, founder of the DailyKos, wrote a critical post of Obama in response to his appearance on Fox News. The universal condemnation of Kos’ critique was shocking. Reply threads included, “WTF???” “Well I think it’s bullshit” and “He can do whatever he damn well pleases”. The close-mindedness and ignorance among large swaths of Obama supporters has troubled me from the beginning of the campaign; refusal or unwillingness to scrutinize our candidates is the most irresponsible use of our democratic privileges.  Perhaps, instead of writing emotional, idiotic polemics, Obama supporters can figure out why Hillary keeps kicking his ass among blue-collar workers. Unfortunately, I think they’ll arrive at the same conclusion that many of us did months ago; voting for Obama is a gamble, one not worth taking with so much at stake (labor rights, free trade agreements, universal healthcare, taxes etc…) Despite it being a popular talking point before Obama began pulling away in the delegate count it’s still obviously very relevant, particularly to the most vulnerable Americans.

Pennsylvanians salted the wound that was exposed in Ohio; Obama’s liability among working class voters. This extraordinarily problematic trend (especially if he gets the nomination) has a couple of possible explanations. The first explanation is that of Obama’s persona as an arugula eating law professor. The factory workers and gun-toting workers of the American pastoral don’t like this (check out Dowd’s hilarious article on this). The working class, who have more at stake in this election, don’t like Obama’s pandering to the liberal elite; they see him, as Adolph Reed puts it, as a “vacuous opportunist”. They’ve also see another troubling trend in the Obama campaign: political amateurishness.

As the campaign progresses, Obama’s invincibility continues to wane.

After being tripped up in Pennsylvania Obama is having trouble getting up. Between Jeremiah Wright, Fox News, and the imprudence of his comments at a bourgeois San Francisco fundraiser, Obama has left his entire base disillusioned (and Hillary supporters cruelly satisfied). We read the headlines, watch him on television, and no longer see the amiable, insouciant Obama of days past. Instead, we see a political maladroit, whose inability to handle criticism on the trail speaks to the trouble our Party faces in the general should he get the nomination. Let’s hope that the Obama campaign and the blogosphere can mature into a productive, progressive force, proving that we’re the Party of ideas before the GOP spends every dime they have exposing what we skeptics have already seen.