Saturday, February 09, 2008

Peggy Gets It

Peggy Noonan gets Obama, in a way many Democrats do not. Her latest WSJ column is getting a lot of play for the "Mrs. Clinton is losing this thing" paragraph, but I was drawn to the end of her essay:

With Mr. Obama the campaign will be about issues. "He'll raise your taxes." He will, and I suspect Americans may vote for him anyway. But the race won't go low.


Mrs. Clinton would be easier for Republicans. With her cavalcade of scandals, they'd be delighted to go at her. They'd get medals for it. Consultants would get rich on it.


The Democrats have it exactly wrong. Hillary is the easier candidate, Mr. Obama the tougher. Hillary brings negative; it's fair to hit her back with negative. Mr. Obama brings hope, and speaks of a better way. He's not Bambi, he's bulletproof.


The biggest problem for the Republicans will be that no matter what they say that is not issue oriented--"He's too young, he's never run anything, he's not fully baked"--the mainstream media will tag them as dealing in racial overtones, or undertones. You can bet on this. Go to the bank on it.


The Democrats continue not to recognize what they have in this guy. Believe me, Republican professionals know. They can tell.



I'm not as sanguine as she is about an Obama win of the nomination. But I have hope.

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