Why the Hopemonger has faded

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Politico notes a change in direction for Barack Obama that reeks of desperation, as well as a tendency to listen to the worst advice coming from his party. The Hopemonger has departed, Carrie Budoff Brown reports, replaced with a drearily recognizable Democratic presidential archetype, the kind that lost the last two elections to George Bush. Obama has traded in his one positive asset in this campaign, and for a very specific reason:

The “hopemonger” is gone.

Barack Obama sounds more like a man trying to shake a rain cloud these days, dispensing a teeth-clenching, I-get-your-pain stump speech in town after town that offers only snippets of the unbridled optimism that long permeated his campaign pitch.

Beginning in the days before his party’s convention, the inspirational has given way to the traditional: attacks on John McCain, a register of policy prescriptions and partisan language with the sting of a needle. …

However, Brown misses a major point in this sudden ditching of the “Hopemonger”. Obama ran as an outsider, whose utter lack of experience got outweighed by his ability to bring change and reform. Unfortunately, Obama has never shown any evidence for that proposal, which has made that theme wear thin, and McCain has effectively attacked it. Obama himself and his Democratic allies stuck a stake through its heart by attacking Sarah Palin as inexperienced, when she had more relevant experience as an executive and done more to fight corruption than Obama ever has.
Sarah Palin sucked all of the oxygen out of the presidential campaign for more than two weeks, leaving Obama unable to answer at all, let alone effectively. Why has she dominated the news cycles? People forget that she’s the first new face in this 20-month campaign in over a year. Obama could have benefited from picking a fresh face as his running mate in a similar manner, such as Kathleen Sebelius or Tim Kaine. Instead, he bypassed the much more experienced Bill Richardson to pick Joe Biden, who wasn’t even a fresh face in 1987 when he plagiarized his way out of his first run for the Presidency.

It's hard for the Messiah to attack corruption when he's been an integral part of Chicago politics, not exactly known for its squeeky clean image.



Why the Hopemonger has faded