Examiner.com
10-31-07
Can Barack Obama pack a KO punch?
by Susan Ferrechio, The Examiner
PHILADELPHIA (Map, News) - Political pros rarely agree about anything, but
virtually all of them say that Barack Obama needs to come out swinging if he is to
overtake Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Going into last night's Democratic debate in Philadelphia, however, Obama had
been slow to go on the offensive, perhaps because he based his campaign on
"the politics of hope."
In a speech in Charlottesville on Monday night, for instance, he was 30 minutes
into a 45-minute speech before he even mentioned the Democratic front-runner.
Obama, who is trailing Clinton by double digits in national polls and is behind in
Iowa, told the audience he had "gotten into an argument" with Clinton recently
over his assertion that he would "meet with any world leader" to help improve
American diplomacy abroad.
Clinton at the time called the assertion "irresponsible" and "na‹ve," and political
analysts generally agreed her tougher approach gave her the edge in exchange.
While Obama this week has made more efforts to distinguish himself from
Clinton - promising in a New York Times article to get tough with her - he has
largely avoided direct criticism, making mostly veiled references to Clinton as he
tries to distinguish himself as the better candidate.
In Charlottesville, Obama downplayed Clinton's longer political resume, but
avoided specifically attacking her or any of the other more experienced
candidates in the Democratic field.
"There are some people in this campaign who are saying elect me because I
know how to work the system, but the system hasn't been working for us,"
Obama said.
He also distinguished himself from Clinton, who voted to authorize the Iraq
invasion, by pointing out that he has always spoken out against the war. But he
never mentioned Clinton's Senate vote.
Political analysts say Obama's softer approach is an effort to promote himself as
a refreshing, positive candidate. But they agree it may also be allowing Clinton to
leave him in the dust in the polls.
"He's going to have to take the gloves off if he intends to score in Iowa," said Ray
Dearin, a politics and English professor at Iowa State University who
studies campaign speeches.
Obama is trailing Clinton by only two percentage points in Iowa, according to a
University of Iowa poll. Dearin and other believe there is still a chance Obama
can win the Iowa Caucus scheduled for Jan. 3 and, if he does, he could
potentially knock Clinton from the lead.
But in order to do that, they say, he will have to find a way to take on Clinton
more aggressively without alienating the legions of young followers who gravitate
toward his promise to bring "righteous anger and sense of impatience" to the
presidency but not to the campaign trail.
For her part, Clinton has tried to box in Obama by charging that even his mildest
criticism is at odds with his politics-of-hope campaign theme.
sferrechio@dcexaminer.com