Ohhh...Nasty

I just received the first of, I'm sure, many pieces of anti-Obama email from someone's mailing list.

It was really nasty and obviously came from a Republican source...professionally done in a way that looks almost like it was knocked off by an amateur. Entitled Obama Thanks You. Presented as an ironic twist on a personal message from the Senator to his supporters. Full of all those right wing code words you can hear all the time on talk radio. Probably written by someone on the staff of Michael Savage or his ilk. It refers to "youthful drug use and criminal behavior", it brings up all kinds of specious garbage about the Kennedy's, it refers to Farakhan and white guilt and a 'left-wing' voting record. It mixes legitimate criticism with all sorts of racist button pushing.

I just received the first of, I'm sure, many pieces of anti-Obama email from someone's mailing list.

It was really nasty and obviously came from a Republican source...professionally done in a way that looks almost like it was knocked off by an amateur. Entitled Obama Thanks You. Presented as an ironic twist on a personal message from the Senator to his supporters. Full of all those right wing code words you can hear all the time on talk radio. Probably written by someone on the staff of Michael Savage or his ilk. It refers to "youthful drug use and criminal behavior", it brings up all kinds of specious garbage about the Kennedy's, it refers to Farakhan and white guilt and a 'left-wing' voting record. It mixes legitimate criticism with all sorts of racist button pushing.

This is an early draft of what is to come in thick droves. It's almost enough to make me want to join the Obama campaign just to be in these people's face. But that isn't the Obama style or message is it?  

My question is when the flack starts flying thick and heavy are the Obama people prepared to handle it, or do they think that they can float their way into office on "I have a dream" rhetoric?

Now that Nader is in the race we can expect accelerating attacks on the Democrat candidate from both the right and the left.

I know Hillary can handle it. The Clintons are used to this crap. They've been getting it straight on for the past 20+ years.

I thought Obama was very impressive in maintaining his cool in the Texas debate. This is encouraging.

Right Obama is getting from Hillary and her people just a little taste of what is to come. Meanwhile McCain is trying to get warmed up and past all of the last minute inter-party nonsense. But, make no mistake, what's coming is hardball politics. We'll soon see whether Obama can brave the storm and sail on through it (or above as he indicates is his intention.)

It's perhaps sad that this movement of earnest, mostly young people may learn the hard way that they have to play it down and dirty to win an American election. Largely upper income and higher educated, they may think that they can get by without a street fight. Unfortunately we ain't in some Jimmy Stewart - Norman Rockwell fantasy - we are in a cynical, decadent, fragmented and polarized empire that has been living too long in the world of its own collective fantasies.

Yet, I certainly wish us all well. Maybe Obama can sail Democrats to a clean victory. Maybe he can miraculously keep the election from devolving into trench warfare.

I dunno...the last person who campaigned on being a 'uniter not a divider' was George W. Bush, and he turned out to be the most divisive president ever. Unfortunately every idealist carries a shadow. This is the reason, given an untried and unproven candidate skeptics like me need MORE SPECIFICS to bring these wonderful intentions down to earth.