From TPM Reader RR …
I was a pretty fervent Hillary supporter during the primaries (fervent enough to have had an email exchange with you), but as a yellow dog Dem first and foremost, it is not as if I needed to heal, or needed Hillary to ask me to support our nominee. All the same, her speech this evening made a difference. In all the media hype about disaffected Hillary
supporters, what has been ignored are all the former Hillary supporters – and, I suspect, a good many Dems who supported Obama through the primaries – who are not disaffected, but who have not been feeling the voltage as we head into the general election. A close election is to be expected, but instead of Obama opening some daylight, in the last couple
of weeks McCain has been pulling even. Your recent commentaries have reflected the sense of lost traction. The dread feeling started growing on me that we Dems have nominated another high-minded loser.That has no bearing on my support as such, but it does matter when it come to fire in the belly. Given that there are no differences to speak of on issues or principles, I supported Hillary in the first place for purely strategic reasons: the perception that she is a fighter. Nothing creates enthusiasm like the smell of victory in the air, and that is what has been oddly lacking since Obama won the primaries. In the short term, hearing Hillary has fired me up, but more important, I hope it is a message the Obama team will absorb. If they do, he and we will win. Jeez, the guy came up in Chicago. It’s time for him to start showing a
little Chicago, and Hillary has set an example for him to follow beginning on Thursday.
Late Update: TPM Reader PJ responds …
In response to your reader ‘RR’ who would like to see a little more fire in the belly from Obama….
I’ve been hearing more or less this same chant from a lot of people who think that Obama hasn’t provided sufficient voltage thus far. But I think we need to consider what a high hurdle Obama is trying to cross here– he is a young black guy who hopes to be President in a nation that has been electing middle-aged white men since 1776. That’s a really big deal, and given that he will face significant resistance because of the color of his skin, Obama cannot afford to come across as an angry firebrand. Looking balanced and sober and responsible is exactly what Obama should be doing. The electorate needs to be reassured that he doesn’t represent a threat; if he projected even a hint of ‘angry black guy’ his campaign would be sunk.
I think Obama’s selection of Biden as VP makes it clear that his campaign is going to take the gloves off, and with Hillary, Schweitzer, and others standing by to help with the dirty work, I’m confident that Obama’s campaign will have the requisite edge and forcefulness. IMHO, Axelrod and Plouffe have played this perfectly thus far.
