Is Obama Ready for Prime TIme?
Compared with the general election campaign, the Democratic primaries have resembled the preseason. There is little difference between the policy prescriptions of Clinton and Obama; Senator Edwards’ lurch to the left led both leading candidates to adopt positions which were nearly carbon copies of Edwards’ own. On defending his policy positions, and attacking those of his opponents, Senator Obama, who is now very nearly a prohibitive Democratic front-runner, remains largely untested. The biggest fight between Obama and Senator Clinton has arisen over medical care, and on this issue, Obama’s campaign has been shamefully dishonest: Obama has attacked Hillary for forcing people to pay for health care they can’t afford, when in fact the point of Senator Clinton’s proposal is that it offers subsidies that make health care affordable for those who couldn’t afford it before. Obama acts as if Clinton would blight the lives of the very people she is working hardest to redeem.
The welter of half-truths the Obama camp summons to make that argument show that his campaign can go negative with the best (worst?) of them. It also shows he’s not really ready to defend his own positions on their merits. It may be that when he faces John McCain, he will be expected to do so.
Then again, maybe not.
The welter of half-truths the Obama camp summons to make that argument show that his campaign can go negative with the best (worst?) of them. It also shows he’s not really ready to defend his own positions on their merits. It may be that when he faces John McCain, he will be expected to do so.
Then again, maybe not.
