How Obama Wins

Two reasons: the speech he gave this week and his record.
 
In 2008, Obama had a gift for giving exactly the right speech at exactly the right campaign moment. He did it again yesterday with his speech echoing Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal (Click here for the full text):
 
“I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. Those aren’t Democratic or Republican values; these aren’t 1 percent values or 99 percent values. They’re American values, and we have to reclaim them.”
 
He artfully puts Republicans in bed with the 1 percent:
 
“Their philosophy is simple:  We are better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. “
 
His timing was perfect: Just as the Republican fight boils down to Romney and Gingrich.
 
So he has the message. What about his record? Not long ago, two Democrats were talking about just that:
 
“I just wish he was stronger,” opined one. To which the other replied:
 
“Well, all he’s done is save the country from a deep depression, save the financial system – with no thanks from the banks, rescue the automobile industry, finally pass health care reform – all the while having to fight Republicans who want him to fail so much they don’t care if the country fails, protect Social Security and Medicare from Republicans who want to abolish both, got us out of Iraq like he promised, got Osama bin Laden like Bush promised and didn’t do and then push a dictator out of Libya without getting us into another war.”
 
“Hmmm,” said the first Democrat. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
 
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Gary Pearce

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How Obama Wins

Two reasons: the speech he gave this week and his record.
 
In 2008, Obama had a gift for giving exactly the right speech at exactly the right campaign moment. He did it again yesterday with his speech echoing Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal (Click here for the full text):
 
“I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules. Those aren’t Democratic or Republican values; these aren’t 1 percent values or 99 percent values. They’re American values, and we have to reclaim them.”
 
He artfully puts Republicans in bed with the 1 percent:
 
“Their philosophy is simple:  We are better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. “
 
His timing was perfect: Just as the Republican fight boils down to Romney and Gingrich.
 
So he has the message. What about his record? Not long ago, two Democrats were talking about just that:
 
“I just wish he was stronger,” opined one. To which the other replied:
 
“Well, all he’s done is save the country from a deep depression, save the financial system – with no thanks from the banks, rescue the automobile industry, finally pass health care reform – all the while having to fight Republicans who want him to fail so much they don’t care if the country fails, protect Social Security and Medicare from Republicans who want to abolish both, got us out of Iraq like he promised, got Osama bin Laden like Bush promised and didn’t do and then push a dictator out of Libya without getting us into another war.”
 
“Hmmm,” said the first Democrat. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
 
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Gary Pearce

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