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Obama's Bold Move

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October 11, 2008 10:30 AM

ABC News' John Berman, Sunlen Miller, and Ursula Fahy report: Barack Obama has staked out a brave, perhaps even risky position on a subject dear to the hearts of millions of voters in key swing states.  It isn't taxes, or health care, or entitlements this time.  No, Obama has a taken a stance on the baseball playoffs. 

Standing in Philadelphia, in front of thousands of residents of Philadelphia, he went out on a limb. "I am a White Sox fan," he said, "but since the White Sox are out of it, I'll root for the Phillies now."  So there you have it, Obama is now pulling for the Phillies.  Write it in stone. Hold him to it.  Sure, there is a lot to like in the Phillies.  Lefty Jamie Moyer, for instance, pitching into his late 40's, is defying the limits of age (take notice John McCain). The Phillies have nice uniforms and a nice stadium too.  There is a lot to like, but is that really what Obama likes?  Could it be that the Phillies are from Philadelphia which is in Pennsylvania, which is a battleground state?   And does it help that they are playing the Dodgers from Los Angeles which is in California, which is a safe Democratic state?  Who really  needs the Dodgers anyway?

Will Obama stick to this position when he campaigns in Florida?  After all, the Tampa Bay Rays are in the playoffs, and are located smack in the middle of key swing territory in the Sunshine State. Will Obama be brave enough to tell Rays fans (all 6 of them) that he is rooting for the Phillies?  Or will he try to claim dual allegiance to a National League Team (the Phillies) and an American League team (the Rays)? And if he does that, what about the millions of truly moral, excellent, and just fans of the Boston Red Sox? Massachusetts is no swing state, but Red Sox Nation knows no borders, and there are thousands of rabid fans in New Hampshire, a key battleground state.

Has Obama boxed himself into a corner?  Or will this be just another case of a politician saying one thing and doing another? No wonder so many people are cynical about politics.

October 11, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (67)

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Is this a news?

Posted by: zen | Oct 11, 2008 10:48:02 AM

iam a phillies fan.. so i approve this message , phillies vs redsox world series phillies in 6 .

Posted by: sam | Oct 11, 2008 10:50:40 AM

Obama is presidential!

McCain erratic. wanna know why?

Formula to there economic & foreign policy plans ( 3Cs )

Meaning, for Obama,
1. Consultation
2. Consolidation
3. Confrontation.

McCain.
1. Confrontation
2. Consolidation
3. Consultation

The difference is that Obama approach leads to "confidence" and "leadership", while McCain's lead to "confusion" and being "erratic"

My theory of leadership entails that before you take action i.e on economy, you consult with your advisers before coming out to make any statement, this also applies to consulting your allies before going to war.

But, he will do otherwise and at the long run he becomes confused. If you take a closer look, McCain is yet to get a stable slogan for his campaign.

First, it was "experience"
Secondly, it becomes "ready to lead"
thirdly, "Country first"
and now, "Change is coming"

McCain need to take a nap, period!

Posted by: Cole | Oct 11, 2008 10:52:29 AM

If I were Obama, I'll do the same by supporting the Phillies, Pen has gone to the DNC candidates in the past two presidetial contests, Florida has not. And the electoral map of today shows that Obama can win without Florida if he wins Pen and MI where he now has substantial lead.

Posted by: bukpu | Oct 11, 2008 10:53:11 AM

red sox fans just like someone to stand to theur convictions on their team

we do.*

*(disclaimer...outside the Yankees)

Posted by: dl | Oct 11, 2008 10:56:28 AM

by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

Republicans don’t need to dress up for Halloween this year. They’re scaring the pants off Barack Obama’s followers by their mere presence. Anything they say, wear, or do provokes instant cries of “RAAAAACISM!” Wink, blink, or think critical thoughts about Obama? You’re a bigot!

How many racial bogeyman have Obama operatives and sympathetic journalists discovered lurking in “coded language” and attire? Let us count the ways:

*At Tuesday’s presidential debate, John McCain referred to Obama as “that one.” Official Obama press agitator Bill Burton sent off an e-mail blast to reporters: “Did John McCain just refer to Obama as ‘that one’?” Horrors. Taking their cue from Burton, spooked Obama supporters hyperventilated like teenagers on the set of the Blair Witch Project movie. “The racial undertones were subtle but unmistakable,” declared Maya Wiley of the leftist Center for Social Inclusion. “McCain was tapping into a current of superiority among white voters. It was an attempt to ‘otherize’ Obama.”

“Otherize?” Sounds like something you do to your car tires to prepare for winter.

UC Berkeley linguistics prof George Lakoff was also haunted by “That One:” “The phrase was meant to say, ‘You and I are in the same area, but he’s the outsider.’”

Memo to McCain: Next time, call him “The One.”

*Obama supporters on the heavily-traffic Democratic Underground website (where such mainstream Democrats as Elizabeth Edwards hang out) saw the ghost of the Ku Klux Klan in Sarah Palin’s white suit jacket. Yes, white clothes = racism.
“Palin is wearing white again, inciting the racist crowds. She should just drop all pretense and put on her white hood and light up a cross. She is a despicable human being,” fumed a DU poster. “Grand Princess of the KKK,” proclaimed another. They’re “trying to send subtle signals to their rabid base,” yet another member of Obama’s rabid base declared.

My racial decoder ring must be on the fritz. Because I’m not getting the signal. If she wears white stockings, drinks a vanilla milk shake, and refers to budgetary black holes, are those incitements, too? And what about her gorgeous white teeth? Perhaps she should drink more coffee — hold the white cream! — to avoid emitting further racial radiation.

*Such paranoia is not limited to the fever swamps of the Internet. Earlier this week, the Associated Press disseminated an “analysis” accusing Palin of injecting a “racial tinge” into the campaign because she criticized Obama for his longtime relationship with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. Palin’s comments were completely unobjectionable: “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America.”

I saw a vice presidential candidate drawing stark philosophical differences between two tickets. The AP saw Freddy Krueger with lipstick and a noose.

“Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as ‘not like us’ is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American,” the AP piece frothed.

Obama is half-black. Ayers is white. One of the Weather Underground’s victims was black police officer Waverly Brown of Nyack, New York. Where do I buy a pair of the super X-ray glasses that can detect the racism in Palin’s remarks about the Obama-Ayers alliance?

*I’ll have to borrow those hysterical-colored spectacles from Time’s Karen Tumulty, who spotted racist goblins in the recent McCain ad criticizing Obama for seeking advice from Fannie Mae corruptocrat, Franklin Raines. “Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman,” Tumulty balked in a blog post titled “McCain plays the race card.”

Um, “sinister?” The ad’s photos of Obama and Raines were standard shots — some with dour expressions, others smiling. The fact that Tumulty perceived them as “sinister” suggests that she should perform a self-racism exam before diagnosing anyone else.

*A parade of Congressional witch hunters for Obama also detects the specter of George Wallace behind every policy bush. Democrat New York Gov. David Paterson says conservative criticism of Obama’s community organizing days is code for “black.” Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks complained to the New York Observer: “They are trying to throw out these codes.” In the same piece, Democrat Rep. Yvette Clark divined segregationist intent in Palin’s references to Joe Six Pack and hockey moms. “It leaves a lot of people out.”

And Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid echoed Time’s Tumulty on the McCain camp’s Obama/Raines broadsides: “The only connection that people could bring up about Raines and Barack Obama is that they both are African-American, other than that there is nothing.”

The Washington Post reported that Obama’s office phoned up Raines for housing advice and has stood by its reporting. Is the newspaper part of the McCain/Palin hooded racists’ coven, too?

Obama’s witch hunters better beware. When there’s racism in every hiccup, nobody’s air supply is safe.

Posted by: HP Boston | Oct 11, 2008 10:57:38 AM

OBAMA MISJUDGEMENT CONTINUES--more info George Steph and ABC won't report


http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/09/1525564.aspx

Posted by: George Steph of ABC Loves Obama | Oct 11, 2008 11:00:42 AM

Michelle Malkin is a disgrace to the Filipino community. Period.

Posted by: JoeReed | Oct 11, 2008 11:15:25 AM

Typical Obama. He waits until the Phillies are up 2-0 to announce his decision.

Posted by: geevill | Oct 11, 2008 11:15:35 AM

obamacalendar.com

JOURNEY TO THE WHITE HOUSE...2008/2009

Posted by: Obamacalendar.com | Oct 11, 2008 11:25:09 AM

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. That's 20 seconds of my life that I will never get back.

Posted by: MikeyMo | Oct 11, 2008 11:28:26 AM

I currently live in Florida, but moved here from Philly three years ago. I miss it and can't wait to go home. Go Phillies!

Posted by: DMR | Oct 11, 2008 11:34:04 AM

HP Boston

enough

anyone who does not see the seeds of a Timothy mcVeigh, Joe Vogel, or sirhan sirhan at this past week's Palin rallies...

is blind to history...

which would explain a lot that you say.

Posted by: dl | Oct 11, 2008 11:38:07 AM

and Michelle Malkin must not have watched television this week.

lol

or seen the interviews outside the PA rally of people going IN to that rally for McCain yesterday.

everyone needs to see those interviews it will send a chill up your spine.

Posted by: dl | Oct 11, 2008 11:39:46 AM

HP Boston

There is only minor flaw in Michelle Malkin comments. Democrats are winning and it's the republicans who are running scared. Look at them. They even admit they are scared.

Obama is going to be president and they isn't a thing your racist butt can do about it. (refer to your comments in the other blog)

Posted by: The Unshrub | Oct 11, 2008 12:05:47 PM

If this is the best you republicans can do, Obama has it in the bag.

Posted by: The Unshrub | Oct 11, 2008 12:08:54 PM

Michelle Makin is such a bigot to put her artile here just proves some people just will never give Obama a fair shake. So keep going to these rallies and take the mic from McCain and say Barack is an Arab we will see how much indepedants will agree with you.

Posted by: Mike Sk | Oct 11, 2008 12:09:34 PM

Here's a question was the Obama plant at that rally dl or someone else?

Posted by: geevill | Oct 11, 2008 12:12:18 PM

Reading the headlines of your blogs this morning I see words associated with Barack such as Brave.....Palin, unethical, unlawful...ect. It's the same stunt you pulled when Hillary was running.

ABC is a disgrace.

Posted by: SadStateOfAffairs | Oct 11, 2008 12:12:24 PM

This is only NEWS because Obama said it - everybody get your rings in your noses ready to hook up to the Obama chain - and NO that's not RACIST - it's referring to being CATTLE. PS - I am a minority - and I would certainly vote for Kirby Puckett for president if he were still with us - for an outfielder, he had great aim.

Posted by: hummingbird | Oct 11, 2008 12:13:55 PM

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