When Barack Obama’s campaign decided to purge their official website of the candidate’s former
criticism of the “surge” in Iraq, the story was instantly linked on the Drudge Report
and became yesterday’s No. 1 topic du jour on talk radio.
It was the kind of embarrassment that cut three ways against
Obama — reminding hawks on the Right of the Democrat’s anti-war
stance, pouring salt in the wounds of Democrats who’d supported
Obama precisely because of his anti-war stance, and hurting him
with independents by enhancing the Illinois senator’s growing
reputation as an untrustworthy flip-flopper.
The most important point of yesterday’s gaffe, however, is that
Obama’s Long March to the Democratic nomination was not much of a
warm-up for the media environment he’ll face as the general
election campaign comes into clear focus this fall.
It’s as if a promising recruit in Class A baseball were to find
himself suddenly catapulted into the major leagues, eagerly leaning
into the plate in his first at-bat, only to have the pitcher aim a
95-mph fastball at his ear.
Welcome to the big leagues, rookie.
UNLIKE HIS UPSET of Hillary Clinton, the fall season will pit Obama
against the concerted efforts of the conservative communications
apparatus his campaign has dubbed the “Republican attack
machine.”
Obama knows all about that machine — he might never have gotten
this far had it not been for the assistance of the Right in making
Hillary a soft target for the challenger.
Recent years saw an outpouring of anti-Clinton books by
conservative authors including John Podhoretz, Amanda Carpenter,
and The American Spectator’s own R. Emmett Tyrrell.
Throughout her 2007 reign as the “inevitable” Democratic
front-runner, Clinton faced a relentless cacophony of criticism
from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other talk-radio hosts, as
well as a steady stream of negative attention from conservative
columnists and magazines.
Many observers felt that Matt Drudge especially had it in for
Hillary, headlining every negative item about her campaign at his
site that functions as the de facto online one-stop shop for
national news.
“Progressives” who now celebrate Obama’s nomination as the
triumph of Hope seem not to have pondered this key question: To
what extent was his victory produced by decidedly unprogressive
forces who — looking forward to the general election — figured
that the callow upstart would be easier to defeat than the crafty
Clinton crew who’d beaten the GOP in every previous match-up?
EVIDENCE OF THE INFLUENCE that conservative communicators wielded
over the Democratic nominating process is apparent in the
trajectory of the campaign.
Hillary remained the clear leader until the Oct. 30 debate in which she stumbled badly when asked about a
proposal by New York’s then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer to grant driver’s
licenses to illegal immigrants.
Is immigration an issue where liberals are conflicted? When
debate moderator Tim Russert asked Hillary’s Democratic rivals for
a show of hands if anyone disagreed with Spitzer’s proposal, it was
not Obama but Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd who spoke up, prompting
Clinton’s disastrous facing-both-ways attempt to “clarify” her
position.
Limbaugh and other conservative media spent the next several
days hammering Hillary for her gaffe, and within weeks, Obama moved
ahead in the polls for the first time.
The anti-Hillary drumbeats on the Right — for months, Hannity
opened his daily radio show by welcoming his 12 million listeners
aboard the “Stop Hillary Express” — continued until early March,
when pundits declared that Obama had a mathematical lock on the
nomination. At which point, Obama’s previously unstoppable momentum
seemed to disappear as if by magic.
That top hat full of rabbits, however, was wielded by the same
radio prestidigitator who’d spent years as Hillary’s No. 1
nemesis.
Just as soon as it seemed Obama was a cinch to win in Denver,
Limbaugh waved his wand and — presto! — conjured into existence
“Operation Chaos,” whose stated purpose was to
turn the Democratic contest into a stalemate. It quite nearly
succeeded.
Of the more than 1,760 pledged delegates Obama will carry to Denver, only 262
were won after March 11. Obama had run up a string of 11
consecutive victories in February and March, but in the final 10
Democratic primaries — after Limbaugh launched “Operation Chaos”
— Hillary’s record was 6-3-1, including victories in the swing
states of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
Though many pundits sneered at the “Rush factor,” once Limbaugh
jumped on the Clinton bandwagon, Hillary fought Obama to a
standstill. Even now, his final pledged delegate count is more than
400 shy of the number needed to win in Denver. Only because of a
decisive shift of super-delegates to his standard is Obama called
the “presumptive” Democratic nominee.
There will be no super-delegates on Nov. 4, however, and no
caucuses for Team Obama’s organizers to
manipulate. Nor can the apostles of Hope expect further assistance
from Limbaugh, Hannity & Co.
OBAMA’S REPUBLICAN OPPONENT has been the object of harsh criticism
from the Right over the years, but the conservative voices that
once formed an angry chorus against John McCain — and still grind
their teeth over his immigration stance — are now singing in
unison from the anti-Obama hymnal.
As soon as the primaries ended last month, Team Obama began
sending out e-mail appeals for contributions to help defend their
candidate against the same “Republican attack machine” that had
spent all of 2007 attacking Hillary.
The tactical brilliance of his primary campaign has now become a
main theme in the media’s narrative of Obama as an
inevitable winner in November. The role of the Right in picking the
Democrats’ Rookie of the Year is ignored.
Stepping into the batter’s box this fall, however, the new kid
won’t see many of those hanging curveballs he knocked out of the
park against Hillary in spring training. That big right-hander on
the mound will be bringing some major league heat.
