NY Times: Key Dems Freakin Over Obama...

by: texan4hillary

Sat Aug 16, 2008 at 17:04:59 PM EDT

Note who in the party is publically begging Obama to do what he has never been able to do-talk in simple tongue about he will fix the nation's ills. The Gov of Co. Gov of TN etc.. No mention of Hillary here-but the candidate these governors seem to want ain't Obama. He isn't closing the deal although some delude themselves into thinking this is carter vs reagan where in the final few weeks Reagan proved himself in his debate with carter and voter fled to him.

This is not 1980. The party is sticking itself with the wrong nominee who ain't Reagan. Also note what Obama staff is now saying-they promised the moon but now concede they are bogged down in 18 STATES!  They are talking about a point here or there etc..

The Obama camp thinks they have placated Clinton supporters with a sham rollcall. Sen Breaux claims he needs Biden or something. Yeah, right.

Seems to me supers will go along with Obama barring a bombshell in the next 10 days. But a great read about a party on the skids.

As Senator Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination next week, party leaders in battleground states say the fight ahead against Senator John McCain looks tougher than they imagined, with Mr. Obama vulnerable on multiple fronts despite weeks of cross-country and overseas campaigning.

These Democrats - 15 governors, members of Congress and state party leaders - say Mr. Obama has yet to convert his popularity among many Americans into solutions to crucial electoral challenges: showing ownership of an issue, like economic stewardship or national security; winning over supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; and minimizing his race and experience level as concerns for voters.

"I particularly hope he strengthens his economic message - even Senator Obama can speak more clearly and specifically about the kitchen-table, bread-and-butter issues like high energy costs," said Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio. "It's fine to tell people about hope and change, but you have to have plenty of concrete, pragmatic ideas that bring hope and change to life."

Or, in the blunter words of Gov. Phil Bredesen, Democrat of Tennessee: "Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums, he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives."

Obama advisers say . . . his agreement to a roll-call vote on Mrs. Clinton's candidacy at the convention should bring her disappointed supporters into the fold.

Yet these advisers also acknowledge that the Obama phenomenon - the candidacy that helped inspire record voter registrations and turnout during the primaries - has come down to earth in a divided, economically stressed nation. Even though political analysts say that the economic conditions favor the Democrats in this election, and Mr. Bush's unpopularity could hurt Republicans, Mr. Obama has not broken away from Mr. McCain in polling - a reflection, in part, of the huge numbers of undecided voters across party lines.

"Democrats should take a deep breath and realize that there are a group of voters who won't make up their mind about a candidate until deep in the fall," said David Plouffe, Mr. Obama's campaign manager. "And there are 18 states that are battlegrounds for a reason, and they'll be decided by 2 to 4 points. I don't care about national polls."

The McCain campaign has sought to turn Mr. Obama's celebrity against him by portraying the freshman senator as out of his depth in crises like Russia's invasion of Georgia. As Mr. Obama was in Hawaii last week, Mr. McCain presented himself as a man-at-the-ready, opining daily about Russia, as well as repeatedly invoking action verbs like "drill" in pledging to address high fuel prices.

. . .Many Democrats pointed to the election of 1980 when voters, choosing between a relatively inexperienced former governor, Ronald Reagan, and an unpopular incumbent, Jimmy Carter, finally flocked to Mr. Reagan at the end after resolving whatever qualms they had about him.

"I think Senator Obama is a motivational speaker, but at the end of the day I don't think that will translate into votes, and certainly not the image of strength that Ronald Reagan had," said Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

In response, several Democrats said that choosing a seasoned party leader as his running mate would help Mr. Obama in the fall if he is unable to fully allay voters' uncertainty that a one-term senator is ready for the presidency.

"The one area he still needs credibility in is experience, and picking an Evan Bayh or a Joe Biden as vice president would help a lot with that," said John B. Breaux, a former Democratic senator from Louisiana. "It wouldn't be bad if he came out early and said who his secretary of defense and secretary of state would be - that would address and stabilize the concerns about his experience."

"In rural parts of Georgia and the South, there is still some fear about people who look different from themselves," Ms. Kidd said. "And there's also healing left to do among women who wanted to see the day that a woman was elected president,"

Mr. Bredesen, of Tennessee, said that while the Democrats had little chance of carrying his state - the Obama camp is sending Mr. Bredesen to campaign in other states - Mr. Obama could still take steps to appeal to undecided Democrats there that might increase his chances elsewhere.

Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado, the host of next week's Democratic National Convention, said Mr. Obama needed to hone and amplify his plan to create more jobs if he wants to woo undecided independent voters, who make up the largest bloc of the electorate in the swing state.

much more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08...