“Yes We Can” vs. “Solution Not Slogans”: A Defining Moment for Obama

"I really almost feel sorry for Senator Clinton. She's trying to conduct a job interview and Obama's on a date."
Richard Land, Southern Baptist Convention

Barack Obama's first few dates went so well, he was hoping to get lucky, but now events have taken a turn for the worse.

Obama often says the election should be about judgment. We’re about to find out about his.

One way to view the recent election results that in Ohio and Texas (and yes Rhode Island) is to focus on campaign tactics and voter demographics. Hillary went negative and her voting groups of Latinos, working class, less educated and older lined up in the ways they had before Obama went 11-0 in February.

Another way to interpret the results is that voters actually considered the issues and a majority thought Clinton would do a better job delivering results. When you’re hopeless, you need more than hope; you need a job and some health care.

According to exit polls, Clinton beat Obama by 12 points among the voters who said the economy as the most important issue and by 16 points among those who cited health care.

People who can pay their bills can afford the luxury of getting swept up in a historical movement. The one’s whose unemployment checks have run out want more than lofty rhetoric.

If Obama accepts the first argument, he’ll start playing by the Clinton Rules of Engagement. Instead of telling us more about what he can do for us, he’ll start raising questions about her. The first volley came in the form of a new call for more financial disclosures from Clinton on who she and Bill owe for their newfound wealth.

Raising question about the other candidate, like is Obama qualified to handle a crisis or why Hillary won’t release the records of what she did as First Lady are legitimate, but if they suck all the oxygen out of the room and leave no space for more positive debate, that’s a problem for Obama.

The more he gets drawn into a charge and counter charge exchange with her, the more he looks like an ordinary pol and the less he appears to be the inspirational agent of change.

If Hillary drags him down to this level, and she has nothing to lose because she never laid claim to the high ground, she’s likely to take the party down with her even if she manages to win the nomination. The legions of young voters and other previously disaffected voters who have been drawn into the political process by Obama will likely be so disenchanted that they’ll go back to sitting out elections in the future.

Quite a legacy for the Clintons, so desperate to reclaim their lost power that they’ll poison the well if they can’t drink from it.