As Republicans watch the Democratic race unfold they have their fingers crossed. Could Obama upset Clinton? Maybe? Hopefully? It is a thought that has Republicans licking their chops.
The Republicans plan on running basically running their standard playbook, the difference is that unlike most Democrats, present and past, Obama seems oblivious to possible general election issues and is running headlong into a potential GOP buzz saw.
He will either be painted as uber liberal based on past positions that he clearly staked out while in Illinois, or he will be painted as a flip flopper as he trys to temper those positions in a general elections run.
'The Politico' offers up the on the record Republican quotes and there are some that Democrats better think long and hard about. Furthermore they highlight a questionnaire that Obama himself filled out when he ran for the Senate in '96.
The questionaire is troubling. Obama in filling it out did not seem to sense a political ramifications for his answers. Given space to explain the yes / no answers more clearly, Obama left the spaces blank on key questions such capital punishment and the banning of the manufacture and sale of handguns.
Worse, Obama has since taken conflicting stances. He now says he supports the death penalty in some instances, instead of the simple 'No' that was his reply in the questionaire (when asked if he supported the death penalty).
From Kieran Mahoney, former advisor to Bob Dole, Politico gives us this:
"No candidacy of his avowed liberalism has succeeded in the United States in much more than a generation," said Republican strategist Kieran Mahoney, a national political adviser to former Sen. Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
Mahoney said GOP consultants typically have to game out: "Is this a guy who has the nuance and cleverness to hide the fact that he is an unrepentant liberal?"
"That's the question you have when you're trying to beat these guys," Mahoney said. "He's not even trying."
One of the knocks that I have made against Obama is his lack of experience and his lack of vetting. He has never been tested in a tough race. I have to wonder if he isn't trying because he doesn't fully understand what the general election will bring. I wonder if he knows how hard it will be.
Furthermore, the longer the campaign runs, the more I feel that my early gut about Obama is more right than ever. That is a very smart guy who think that he can get by with slick talk. If he has a problem with the handgun issue in PA or OH, my feeling is he thinks he can simply address it with a good speech. I don't think that will be the case in the general, when the audience isn't fawning Democratic activists, but skeptical moderate Americans.
From Mike Allen and Ben Smith at 'The Politico':
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/120 7/7312.html
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