Obama and McCain at Risk?
Barack Obama and John McCain are both at risk; the one looks arrogant, the other negative and whiny.
Both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are at risk; they are both presenting themselves as less than amiable individuals:
- Obama comes across as ‘arrogant and presumptuous.’ As someone who presents himself as the candidate of change and hope, who will transform American politics, and improve that country’s image in the world, he has to be careful not to present himself as someone who’s full of himself. Of course, all those running for president think pretty highly of themselves, but you’ve got to be able to hide that arrogance from the public. If the public considers you (extremely) arrogant, they won’t vote for you.
- McCain, on the other hand, does not come across as arrogant. Not at all. No, his problem is that he appears to be negative and whining all the time. When Obama went to Europe, McCain’s campaign constantly complained that Obama got more attention than their boss, that Obama was so arrogant, etc. etc.
Although both men are taking risks in this regard, it seems to me that McCain has the bigger problem; when people have to choose between a whiner and negative person on the one hand, and a arrogant yet positive person on the other, then tend to go for the latter. That’s human nature.
This happens to be one of the main reasons that I believe that McCain will have a hard time winning these elections. Running against hope is always difficult. The only way to beat hope is to offer a different kind of hope. Thus far, McCain has not been able to do this.
Obama is also at risk as he has been of falling into the caricature of the typical Democratic politician accusing Republicans of being racist, wanting to take money from old people, being directed by corporate interests, etc. People don’t believe it and don’t like it. Obama had many chances to run as a unifier, and someone who would break from that mould. He’s been giving up all his chances.
I understand the point that you’re making, however I respectfully disagree.
Obama does seem presumptuous and arrogant because he has been running as the "change" candidate against both democrats AND republicans. During the primary election he made the same arguments against Hillary that you claim he is making solely against McCain and republicans in general. This just is not true. Obama has always run AGAINST "washington" — the inside politics and backstabbing division that he believes Clinton and McCain represented. Now that Clinton is out of the running he’s more than willing to bring her onto his campaign (as a spokeswoman) but not as a partner in developing policy. Obama is a true-blue reformer which puts him as a candidate on the outside looking in. He’s proud of it too — which is why people believe that he’s being arrogant and presumptuous.
Me, i just believe that he’s trying to win the best way he can…by making up for his lack of experience with confidence and good judgment.
I can understand if you think I’m just an Obama nut though…cause I kind of am.
As I told my wife this morning Obama is getting in trouble for trying to look "too" presidential and McCain is struggling to look presidential. Who’d thunk it!
Austin,
I’m a true blue reformer, Perot was a true blue reformer, Obama just has a typical democratic platform, and is completely partisan. Just because Obama figured out that lobbyists were a good campaign issue, doesn’t mean he takes no money from lobbyists. His campaign is saying they’re not taking money from registered federal lobbyists, but they’re taking corporate money from registered state lobbyists, from bundlers, and other sources. Just because they portray their campaign as funded by the grassroots, doesn’t mean its true.
What are you blind? Obama is the biggest arrogant obnoxious candidate the Democratic Party has ever had. In fact, I use to be quite liberal and was voting for Democrats until Barack Obama came along. He ruined the Democratic Party, period.
He’s not the candidate of change, he’s the candidate of empty promises, no substance, stuttering, and a scientific experiment in how you can win elections simply with speeches.
His voting record is a sham, he has barely been a senator and has had the audacity to run. That’s arrogance. To think you can win an election with almost no record?
Please don’t misunderstand me when I say this, but the only reason Barack Obama is getting any attention is simply because he is African-American. That’s it. Just think about it, if a white man had made the same mistakes and speeches and actions, he wouldn’t even be allowed to be a senator!!!