The Clinton campaign is going after Barack Obama because he knows his arugula. They are also critiquing him for using professors from his time at Harvard Law School in his campaign commercials. Prometheus 6 has a good article saying that basically the Clinton campaign wants to capitalize on people’s ignorance. I agree.
I would add though that some might think it is only a matter of what is practical. For Obama to win, he would need to dumb down in order to reach the average American. I would disagree with this though. This is one case where I believe the conventional wisdom on how to run a Presidential campaign differs for Obama because he’s black.
An African American presidential candidate cannot be a C-student like George W. Bush. He would not be taken seriously. A viable African American presidential candidate would have to express way above average academic accomplishment to be taken seriously by the average voter. I mean, as academically accomplished as Barack Obama is, you still have people saying he’s “all style and no substance” or “naive.” He engineered the biggest fundraising record in Democratic history, and you still have people calling Hillary’s campaign the “sharp,” “brilliant,” and “disciplined” one.
It will also be hard for the Clinton camp to convince people that Obama is an elitist given his family background and community organizing work, not to mention his race.
Therefore, Obama doesn’t need to dumb-down. He just has to make sure that his references match the location he is in. If he’s in New York City, he’s not referencing Shoney’s and if he’s in South Carolina, he’s not referencing Au Bon Pain.
Read more.
August 14, 2007 at 11:24 am
“Dumbing down” is what has given us Rove, etc. We need to “rise up” the discourse, and bring along the folks who need more political literacy.