Obama was cracking dog eating jokes at the Correspondents' Dinner. They don't think Obama eating dog is a big deal...
No, I think they do. But they are not used to Obama becoming the butt of a joke. This was their way to get on top of it. It was probably the correct response, as the joke seems to have run its course. But it will leave a mark, for it feeds into the 'Obama is a foreigner' meme that he himself cultivated when exotic was cool.
The thing that has to have the Obama campaign worried is that it's clear this campaign will be run by different rules than the last. The pixie dust has worn off Obama and the other side is not hapless and discouraged this time. When the Obama campaign dumps on Romney, the Romney campaign -- including the whole conservative blogosphere -- will dump back. Sometimes successfully. Nobody is taunting Romney about Seamus the dog on the car roof anymore, are they?
To me, this whole Julia thing seems insecure, off-key. Not the kind of thing the 2008 Obama campaign would ever have produced. Ticking off programs, that was never the Obama style. Gauzy inspiration and wish fulfillment, that was the Obama style. He was planning to do it again. But to pull it off, he needed a recovered economy. He hasn't got one. So it's divide and conquer; rally the base, rile up the base, agitate the base, name enemies and demonize them. In due course, he will start the whisper campaign to Evangelicals telling them not to vote for this non-Christian cultist with the magic underwear.
The campaign will turn on whether Mitt Romney can stand up to what is about to be thrown at him. If he is still an acceptable candidate come November, I think he will win easily. Americans can recognize what a failed Presidency looks like. They are just not eager to have to call the first black President a failure. |
