Obama, Awaiting a New Title, Carefully Hones His Partisan Image

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Obama, Awaiting a New Title, Carefully Hones His Partisan Image
By MICHAEL POWELL
Published: June 3, 2008

....As Mr. Obama stands poised to claim the crown of presumptive Democratic nominee, he is, gingerly, fitting himself with the cloth of a partisan Democrat despite having long proclaimed himself above such politics. That his shift in tone was inevitable and necessary, particularly as Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, slashes at Mr. Obama as weak on Iran and terrorism, does not entirely diminish the cognitive dissonance.

For 17 months, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, has changed remarkably little about his stump style. He projects the image of a post-partisan candidate with the confidence of a man convinced he holds a copyright. “He is an intensely serious guy whose identity and behavior and tone is pretty rigid, and that’s fine,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant who once worked for former President Bill Clinton and is now unaffiliated with either Democratic candidate. “The first rule of politics is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

This might account for the careful manner in which Mr. Obama frames his attacks on Mr. McCain. Mr. Obama sets up his political jabs with a to-be-sure-my-opponent-is-not-a-knave disclaimer. He reminds his audiences that Mr. McCain, of Arizona, is a war hero, and he honors his service. (That Mr. Obama’s tone sometimes suggests that Mr. McCain, 71, might have been a Civil War veteran is surely coincidental.)

When a question is raised about Mr. McCain’s recent, incorrect assertion that the number of American troops in Iraq is at “pre-surge levels,” Mr. Obama waves his hand magnanimously. Everyone, he tells listeners, makes a slip of the tongue. At this point Mr. Obama slips the rhetorical shiv into his rival. “The problem is that John McCain can’t admit he made a slip, and we’ve seen this movie before,” Mr. Obama told an audience in Great Falls, Mont. “Just like George Bush, John McCain refuses to admit a mistake.”

Mr. Obama’s advisers argue, gamely if implausibly, that he has not dipped his cup into a partisan well. “I don’t look at it as partisanship,” said Robert Gibbs, Mr. Obama’s communications director. “I look at it as a difference of philosophy.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/us/politics/03obama.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[crikkett]

1. the language of the editorial slants in favor of McCain

when Michael Powell mixes a handful of barbs and snipes into his 'analysis' of Barack's speaking style.

[electropop]

2. Obama can let others say it: McCain doesn't know Shiite from Shinola.

McCain does have a habit of repeating lies, even after he has been corrected repeatedly. It's pretty sad when Joe LIEberman knows more than he does.