John Judis Is Helpful

His brilliant advice: Obama's black, liberal and he didn't take Hillary, so he'd better give one hell of a speech tonight or he's toast.

I want to say one final thing; it's about Obama's oratorical style. In response to the criticisms of his Berlin speech, some Democrats suggested that Obama should tone down his high style and seek a more direct conversational approach, even at the risk of being dull. That would be a tragic error. Obama's mistake was giving an uplifting speech to a huge crowd in Berlin; not giving an uplifting speech. High-flown oratory has always played a very large role in American politics--going back to Daniel Webster and Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson--and Obama's ability to perform in that manner is one of his greatest strengths. Obama's presentation isn't the problem; it is his message. And his first and best opportunity to fix it will come tonight.

Now, maybe I'm being unfair, but this goes back to the argument that a lot of folks on the netroots side of the fence seem to be convinced that the combination of the Bradley Effect and good old' GOP cheating means that the 2-5 point lead Obama seems to have is in reality McSame up by 15-20.

I don't buy it. Oh yes, the racism is there, but I explained my thoughts on that theory earlier, which basically boils down to "The Bradley Effect's already been factored in because the GOP has already given out so many other bullshit lies about Obama that people are glad to use them instead of lying about supporting a guy they're not going to vote for, a.k.a. "But Ain't He A Muslim?"

Apparently it's a more proper show of ignorance to not vote for the guy because of a lie that he's a Muslim (despite the whole REVEREND PASTOR JEREMIAH WRIGHT flap) then to lie to pollsters and secretly vote against the guy for being black. The GOP likes to give folks all sorts of excuses to be ignorantly bigoted overtly against Muslims than secretly racist against blacks, and so people can be proudly prejudicial against Barack Obama because he's a Muslim, explaining why he's dead even with McSame rather than 15 points up on the guy.

And you thought the GOP served no actual purpose.

So, I think Obama's just fine. Basically the people who aren't going to vote for him anyhow don't have to lie about it because they think he's a Muslim so the polls are pretty accurate where they are. Should the Muslim myth be dispelled, they'll simply find another ignorantly stupid lie to justify why they won't vote for a black man, and won't lie to pollsters about wanting to do so.

Relax, guys.