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POLITICS
Obama Needs To Find His Populist Streak
McCain Has Gained Ground Following In Clinton's Footsteps; Obama Would Do Well To Respond In Kind
Why is this race getting so close? Partly because John McCain is following Hillary Rodham Clinton's playbook. What can Barack Obama do about it? Take some cues from the Clinton playbook.
Remember this Clinton ad from the primaries? "It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing. Something's happening in the world."
This month, we had a 3 a.m. moment: Russia invaded Georgia. McCain reacted by touting his experience and military expertise. Obama countered, as he often does, by emphasizing judgment. "The next commander-in-chief is going to have to exercise the best possible judgment in getting us through these difficult times," Obama said.
Asked which candidate would do a better job handling international crises, voters said McCain by nearly 2 to 1 in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll.
Clinton was accused of crude populism when she made this declaration during the primaries: "My opponent, Senator Obama, opposes giving consumers a break from the gas tax at the federal level. I support it." Now McCain is being accused of crude populism for his energy ideas. "Senator Obama says he wants energy independence, but he's opposed to drilling at home," McCain said in New Mexico last week. Obama mocks McCain. "He points down at his feet," Obama said in North Carolina, "and I don't know if he knows something I don't -- 'Drill here, drill now!'"
Gasoline prices have skyrocketed under a Republican president. The issue ought to be killing the presumptive Republican nominee. So who do voters think would better handle energy prices? It's a close call. The Battleground Poll shows McCain slightly ahead on gas and energy prices (McCain 40 percent, Obama 37 percent). The Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg News poll shows Obama leading, 39 percent to 32 percent.
Clinton's playbook didn't quite work for her in the primary season. Will it work for McCain in the general election? The electorate will be larger and more conservative than the one during the Democratic contest. But the forces for change are more powerfully aligned against a Republican than they were against Clinton.
Clinton is certainly on board for Obama. In June, she told her supporters in Unity, N.H., "To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting, or voting for Senator McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider." Are they listening? The Journal-NBC poll reports that 1 in 5 Clinton supporters say they will vote for McCain.
He has been making gains among white men and working-class whites -- the same voters who delivered for Clinton in the primaries. How does Obama reach those voters? The same way Bill Clinton did in 1992, and Hillary Clinton did in the primaries: economic populism. "If I tell you I will fight for you, that is exactly what I intend to do," Sen. Clinton said in May.
Look who's a born-again populist now. "I'm going to wake up every day thinking about you and thinking about how to make your life a little bit better," Obama said in Virginia last week. Obama even used his new populist edge to slice up McCain. "I guess if you think being rich means you've got to make 5 million dollars [a year], and you don't know how many houses you have, then it's not surprising you might think the economy was 'fundamentally strong,'" he said.
Iraq was the issue that won Obama the Democratic nomination. In the combined exit polls from Iowa through June 3, Democratic primary voters who said Iraq was their top issue tended to vote for Obama.
The economy was Hillary Clinton's issue. If Obama's going to win the White House, he has to do it on the economy. And that means finding his populist voice.
