2008 Election CoverUps

A Political Makeover For Barack Obama

July 2008

Can It Work?
Is It Worth The Risk?
No and No. But Obama's
Campaign May Have No
Choice but to try.

By Andrew Peterson
For CoverUps.com

With the euphoria of the early Democrat party primaries long gone and his poll numbers suffering, Barack Obama's campaign advisors are urgently absorbed in a political makeover which they hope will give his battered presidential prospects a boost.

As The Hill's political pundit David Keene writes, the Obama campaign has something of a tight-rope to walk here.

Even if [the makeover] does make sense, it also presents something of a risk for a candidate who is known only as a fresh-faced outsider who rode to his party’s nomination promising “change” to suddenly become the candidate of the “business as usual” crowd. Before it’s over, many could end up wondering if a man about whom they know so little believes in the same things they believe or, indeed, in much of anything.

The timing of the makeover could have been better. It will have to be finished quickly, before the political conventions and definitely before Labor Day, when the American voters traditionally turn their full attention on presidential candidates. If by then Obama's political identity is still in a state of consultant-induced flux, everyone will know it, and the costs for Obama will be very high, if not devastating.

Obama’s managers seem willing to bear these risks, as they apparently believe that since people know so little about their candidate, he represents something of a blank slate on which they can scribble what they choose. They may be right, but it’s rather late in this year’s cycle to get away with this; with all the attention already focused on Obama, radical changes now could backfire. The new Obama they are inventing could just as easily end up being seen not as a safe if liberal traditional Democrat, but as an empty suit willing to do whatever his handlers suggest.

If voters are convinced by all this that Barack Obama’s desire for change is merely a desire for a personal change of jobs and addresses, the whole effort will end up helping John McCain play on doubts that are already out there.

Our Take

As conservative Republican opponents of Barack Obama, let us take this opportunity to urge his handlers to take as much time and trouble as they think he needs to get this makeover done right in front of God and everyone. Have at it. It will just serve to highlight all the more clearly Obama's unprincipled political extremism and cynicism. The more aware of this the voters are, the more likely and the more resounding his defeat will be at the ballot box. There is nothing quite so unattractive to people as a vain, ambitious, arrogant phony who wants to run your life. No makeover can hide something like that.

Link to article.