Talking Points

The clock is ticking for Barack Obama, said Marianne Means in the Seattle Post- Intelligencer. As voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other early primary states begin to make up their minds, Obama’s once-hot campaign

has cooled dramatically. In the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, Obama trails Hillary Clinton, 21 percent to 50 percent. Clinton even leads among African-Americans, 62 percent to 34 percent. And for the first time, Clinton last quarter raised more money than Obama—$27 million to his $20 million. Even Obama’s wife, Michelle, recently admitted that “if Barack doesn’t win

Iowa, it’s just a dream.” With just a few months to jump-start his own momentum and stop Hillary’s, Obama now faces a difficult choice: Drop the

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nice-guy routine and go for Clinton’s jugular, or settle for being just another flash in the pan.

Obama doesn’t need to go negative, said David Ignatius in The Washington Post. But he does need to cut loose. Obama “may be the smartest candidate in either party this year,” and at times, he can be as charismatic as a rock star. But under the pressure of national scrutiny, he’s grown cautious, measured, and “wary of letting audiences see either his passion or his vulnerability.” Early in his insurgent campaign in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was the same way. Then Kennedy discovered that when he took

risks, crowds responded with enthusiasm—and that when he encouraged this enthusiasm, the crowds got bigger. Obama pulled this off once, with his

career-making speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but ever since then his message has been carefully “leached of emotion.” Like Kennedy, Obama has to learn that he needs to give voters more than serious policy prescriptions. He needs to make them laugh, weep, and cheer. “If he doesn’t, he’s going to lose.”

Obama’s problems can be traced to one “key strategic blunder,” said Steven Stark in Realclearpolitics.com. Early on, his campaign decided that the candidate’s greatest strength is his inspiring life story. But “even in the age of Oprahesque self-disclosure,” a compelling biography isn’t enough to win a presidential race. What wins elections is a compelling vision for the future. Obama tries to sway voters by explaining why he’s the best person to lead them, but he rarely says where he’d lead them. “He mistakenly talks as if the election were mostly about him, not the country.” If that sounds like the “self-indulgent” mistake a rookie might make, you’re beginning to understand why Obama hasn’t gotten any traction.