Can he get it? Does he deserve it?
Can he win without it?
'There is a phrase that has been applied to dating, sports and politics – “dance with the one who brung you.” Darrell K. Royal, a College Football Hall of Fame member and the winningest coach in University of Texas Longhorn history used the expression to make the point that you go with the players and plays that brought you to the championship. This is a lesson that Senator Obama needs to apply his election campaign.
Obama was able to defeat Senator Clinton in large part due to his speech against the Iraq war before he was in the U.S. senate. This speech excited the anti-war vote because he said much of what anti-war leaders were saying in opposition to the war. Throughout his campaign he emphasized that he would “end the war” in his stump speeches, a phrase that was an applause line throughout the country – not surprisingly since opposition to the war is over 60% among U.S. voters.
But, as the campaign developed and the details of Obama’s plan to “end” the war became clear, peace voters realized Obama was not a peace candidate. His exit plan for Iraq left a large “residual” force of tens of thousands of troops along with more than 100,000 private security troops (aka mercenaries) in Iraq. Then Obama announced he wanted to escalate the war in Afghanistan despite strong arguments that more troops will actually make things worse. Then, his selection of Senator Joseph Biden as his running mate dampened the support of anti-war advocates. Biden supported attacking Iraq before Bush and participated in the misleading of the public and his fellow senators by holding one-sided hearings in support of the war before the committee he chaired.
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