Campaign 2008: By the Numbers
During the TV ads and stump stops, there seems to be one focus of both presidential campaigns.
Is it the economy? No.
Is it Iraq? No.
Is it "change"? No.
It's Barack Obama.
In a presidential election with no incumbents running, voters must turn to the candidates, whom many know well (McCain) or whom many have yet to meet (Obama).
Both parties had major problems during the primaries. The Democrats had a heated battle between Obama and Clinton, which will be definitively closed when the Clintons speak during this week's convention (or so the Dems hope). The Republicans elected McCain, who has been painted as too liberal for conservative tastes (even he admits it!).
Tonight, CNN's John King pointed out the trend to focus the Republican campaign on Barack Obama. He said that given "the fundamentals" (which includes the state of the economy and Pres. Bush's low approval ratings), the only way Republicans can hope to win is to "disqualify" Barack Obama: He's unpatriotic, he's an elitist, he doesn't share your values, etc. I would add, "He's a crypto-Muslim," as a concern of many conservatives, but that wasn't mentioned on CNN.
Does my assertion that Barack Obama is the focus of both sides of the political spectrum have any merit? Well, let's check the numbers.
(All searches performed at 1 AM on August 26, 2008. I'm a night owl.)
Number of results for "McCain" on the conservative Townhall.com search of columns: 782
Number for "Obama": 1,165
Number of results for "McCain" on Townhall.com search of everything (audio/video, blogs, columns, etc.): 8,825
Number for "Bush": 9,208
Number for "Obama": 16,774
Number of results for "McCain" on the liberal DailyKos.com search of stories from last 5 years: 2,990
Number for "Obama": 3,770
Number of results for "economy" on JohnMcCain.com: 255
Number for "security": 249
Number for "Iraq": 227
Number for "energy": 176
Number for "POW": 39
Number for "country" (as in, "Country first"): 423
Number for "Obama": 453
Did I prove that Obama was the focus of both sides of this battle? Well, maybe not, but he's certainly discussed much more by bloggers, conservative and liberal alike, and he's certainly a big talking point of Senator McCain. But let's keep pretending that only the "mainstream liberal media" is nonsensically obsessed with Senator Obama, with "The One."
In my view, Sen. Barack Obama has had enough time being the focus of both campaigns. Now the focus must shift to President Bush.
And on a side note,
Does anybody really think that the option of voting "for Obama" and "not for Obama" (rather than "for McCain") is healthy for America? John McCain seems to believe that's how a person wins, by trying to ruin Obama's reputation and keep Obama on the defensive. We'll just have to see how well that strategy works come November.
Is it the economy? No.
Is it Iraq? No.
Is it "change"? No.
It's Barack Obama.
In a presidential election with no incumbents running, voters must turn to the candidates, whom many know well (McCain) or whom many have yet to meet (Obama).
Both parties had major problems during the primaries. The Democrats had a heated battle between Obama and Clinton, which will be definitively closed when the Clintons speak during this week's convention (or so the Dems hope). The Republicans elected McCain, who has been painted as too liberal for conservative tastes (even he admits it!).
Tonight, CNN's John King pointed out the trend to focus the Republican campaign on Barack Obama. He said that given "the fundamentals" (which includes the state of the economy and Pres. Bush's low approval ratings), the only way Republicans can hope to win is to "disqualify" Barack Obama: He's unpatriotic, he's an elitist, he doesn't share your values, etc. I would add, "He's a crypto-Muslim," as a concern of many conservatives, but that wasn't mentioned on CNN.
Does my assertion that Barack Obama is the focus of both sides of the political spectrum have any merit? Well, let's check the numbers.
(All searches performed at 1 AM on August 26, 2008. I'm a night owl.)
Number of results for "McCain" on the conservative Townhall.com search of columns: 782
Number for "Obama": 1,165
Number of results for "McCain" on Townhall.com search of everything (audio/video, blogs, columns, etc.): 8,825
Number for "Bush": 9,208
Number for "Obama": 16,774
Number of results for "McCain" on the liberal DailyKos.com search of stories from last 5 years: 2,990
Number for "Obama": 3,770
Number of results for "economy" on JohnMcCain.com: 255
Number for "security": 249
Number for "Iraq": 227
Number for "energy": 176
Number for "POW": 39
Number for "country" (as in, "Country first"): 423
Number for "Obama": 453
Did I prove that Obama was the focus of both sides of this battle? Well, maybe not, but he's certainly discussed much more by bloggers, conservative and liberal alike, and he's certainly a big talking point of Senator McCain. But let's keep pretending that only the "mainstream liberal media" is nonsensically obsessed with Senator Obama, with "The One."
In my view, Sen. Barack Obama has had enough time being the focus of both campaigns. Now the focus must shift to President Bush.
And on a side note,
Does anybody really think that the option of voting "for Obama" and "not for Obama" (rather than "for McCain") is healthy for America? John McCain seems to believe that's how a person wins, by trying to ruin Obama's reputation and keep Obama on the defensive. We'll just have to see how well that strategy works come November.
posted by I, the Progressive Jew at
1:00 AM
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