Don’t Panic
Posted on August 18, 2008 by andrew
No, I’m not worried by Barack Obama’s declining poll numbers. This is, to veer wildly between different pop culture catchphrases, all part of the plan.
Remember: Obama has spent two weeks out of the last month away from the continental United States. One of those weeks was spent out of the country entirely and the other was spent largely relaxing on tropical beaches. The campaign has a long-term strategy, and part of the long-term strategy included incurring some short-term pain in return for a great image of a statesman visiting other countries to be pulled back out later as well as getting a candidate who hadn’t been allowed to rest for nearly a year to recharge his batteries for the homestretch.
The campaign looked to be in rest mode as well, but it wasn’t. Only three things were seen to have mattered in late July and early August: Vetting a running mate, preparing for the convention, and continuing to build an unprecedented juggernaut of a voter outreach machine. Now the candidate is back and the campaign will refocus on a new set of goals for the time immediately before, during, and after the convention. You may disagree with the strategy, but that was the strategy, and we outside observers have no real way of judging its success at this moment.
If Obama comes out of the announcement of his running mate and the Democratic Convention with polling numbers that continue to lag or if we start to hear bad news about the voter registration and turn-out programs, I will start to worry. For now, tied polls in Ohio and Colorado should be exceedingly minor concerns.
Sphere: Related Content» Filed Under 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama
Comments
Leave a Reply
