April 23, 2008
For Us, By Us (John Feehery)
The viral marketing effort of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is perhaps the most impressive aspect of his campaign. He has updated the Howard Dean fundraising machine with some MoveOn.org organizational heft, and as a result has garnered spectacular fundraising results and an impressive turn-out operation.
The mantra of viral marketing is “for us, by us.” Viral marketing is basically friends telling friends about a product. That product becomes cool and then becomes incredibly popular. Obama is the cool product, especially for younger voters and those who want to be young.
The “for us, by us” model has its limits, however. Sen. Obama found that out the hard way. It is a model used to entice those in the know. It is for the cool kids, the technically savvy, the elites.
But in the bigger states, with large ethnic voting blocs and older voters, the model has failed.
Senior citizens and ethnic voters, especially blue-collar Catholics, are largely immune to Obama’s newfangled viral marketing campaign.
To get these voters, you can’t rely on the new ways. You have to rely on the old ways. And Obama has to work twice as hard to prove he is for them and with them. This is for two reasons.
First, he is young. His youth and inexperience hurts him with older Americans. Polls show that senior citizens just don’t think Obama is qualified for the job.
Second, Obama has a unique background. It is not just that he is black, which may be a factor with some voters. It is also because he is relatively unknown. Sure, he spent some time on the South Side of Chicago, but he is not from there. It is hard to really pinpoint where Obama is from. Is he from Hawaii? Kansas? Kenya? Indonesia?
Blue-collar Catholics like to know where a guy is from before they make a value judgment on him. Is he one of us?
Obama tried gamely to make the case that he is a regular guy by drinking beers and bowling, only to have the bowling experience become a huge gutter ball. His comments in San Francisco didn’t help. Throw in the video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and most ethnic voters, as witnessed by the vote yesterday, concluded that Obama was not one of them.
This is a huge burden for Obama going into the general election. The Reagan Democrats are the ultimate prize in winning this election.
Ronald Reagan seemed like he could be a regular guy. John McCain shares that trait. Barack Obama does not. That is what hurt him in Pennsylvania and what may hurt him in November.
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So basically you think he can't win because he's black, but you give yourself cover with the lame "not knowing where he's from."
Nice.
Please continue to be part of the problem and not the solution.
Comment by PR — April 23, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
Obama is from that part of the world that, as our media constantly tell us, hates America. He wants America to change in such a way that Iran, Kenya, and George Soros will be satisfied. Luckily, most of the senior citizens have enough wisdom to give this hopeful changer the boot, and the sooner the better.
Comment by Igor R. — April 23, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
Obama only cares about raw power, but he is unable to think about the long-term. It is my hope that he will self-destruct before the next election, so let’s just stick with how good he is with crowds and that’s that.
Comment by Yuseff Nuttin — April 23, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Igor, your racist attitude to Obama is showing again. Just because you have a problem with a black running for President does not mean the rest of the world does.
Comment by JenR — April 23, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
Igor, I feel a need to remind the other readers that you voted for Bush, twice. How utterly stupid can you be?
Being the total nazis that you claim to be, I am sure you also got sexually aroused when Bush pranced around on that aircraft carrier sporting a flight suit announcing "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED".
So let's put Igor's assinine opinions in the proper context, that of a raging nazis, an American hater.
Comment by Lester — April 23, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
I am that Reagan Democrat, my husband is that Reagan Democrat, and I am voting for Senator Clinton if at all possible, and McCain if the Super Delegates all go the wrong way. My husband is for McCain and his wallet!
Comment by WE KNOW — April 24, 2008 @ 1:17 am
"Ronald Reagan seemed like he could be a regular guy. John McCain shares that trait."
Yes, they both SEEMED like they could be a regular guy. And you forgot George W. Bush, who also "seemed" like he could be a regular guy, someone you could "have a beer with" while he has screwed all of us regular guys for the last seven years. Reagan did the same, taking us from creditor to debtor nation, borrowing and spending $3 trillion and quadrupling the national debt while showering welfare on corporations and tax breaks on the top 2% and at the same time increasing taxes on wage earners. But they SEEM like "regular guys." GW Bush and John McCain are fabulously wealthy — Bush with money made by his granddaddy and daddy, and McCain by marrying a beer heiress after dumping his first wife after she was no longer pretty or advantageous to his career. McCain was involved in a savings and loan scandal that cost "regular guys" millions in lost savings (anyone remember the Keating Five?). All three pursue policies that relentlessly, consistently transfer wealth from regular guys to the already fabulously wealthy.
But they SEEM like "regular guys."
Comment by Jim Martin — April 24, 2008 @ 1:27 am
WE KNOW;
You do seem like the sort of people that would vote against your own well being. You would vote for a man because he looks like you and would screw you and your husband over a man that doesn't look like you who maybe could make your life better. You would consider sending your children off to die in a 100 year war because the man who said it looks like you. You would allow the rich to get richer, oil to go higher, housing to fall lower just because the man who could fix it doesn't look like you. You know, you're the definition of insanity. You would vote for the same thing over and over because the solution isn't the same skin color as you. You are not the only one, but the more I see of your kind, the sorrier I feel for my country because of people like you.
Comment by Mike Coleman — April 24, 2008 @ 1:00 pm
Lester, how many times will you lie after I told you that I've never voted for Bush? You're a sick liar.
Comment by Igor R. — April 24, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
JenR, this "accuse anyone who doesn't like Obama of being a racist" tactic may work with your liberal friends, but it won't work with me. As I said many times, I would vote for Thomas Sowell or Walter E. Williams ahead of McCain. Obama is a pro-Islamic, pro-Third World Marxist, and that's why I don't like him.
Comment by Igor R. — April 24, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
Mike Coleman, You can't play the race game with me it will not work! Reverend Wright is the one playing that game, not me, so go yell with him please.
Comment by WE KNOW — April 25, 2008 @ 12:38 am
I agree with you Igor, and no more race games, it will not work!
Comment by WE KNOW — April 25, 2008 @ 12:41 am
We need a Clinton in the White House to fix our economy, and not a green-horn! If things are really as bad as you say than why do you want to put a man wet behind the ears in the white house?
Comment by WE KNOW — April 25, 2008 @ 12:52 am
Thanks WE KNOW.
Comment by Igor R. — April 25, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
Its time to get real Obama is not electible. The company he keeps speaks volumes. We do not know much about his back ground and the ties of family history. The media, Clyburne and Jesse Jackson played the race card by wanting every African-American that is a delegate to jump ship from Clinton camp to try and make sure Obama is the first Black president. His people will loose and so will he.
I will not vote for him if they give him the nominee, he has not won the big states. The cacsus he has won is because of the way they storm in.
Texas Democrat thi will be the first time for me to vote for a Republican.
Comment by Ann Chamberlain — April 26, 2008 @ 7:32 pm