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Title: How the President-Elect Did It [ from Karl Rove's perspective]
Source:
Wall Street Journal
URL Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122593304225103509.html
Published: Nov 6, 2008
Author: Karl Rove
Post Date: 2008-11-06 16:43:22 by scrapper2
Keywords: Rove on Obama, the Architect speaks, Bush
Views: 88
Comments: 5
Intense and gripping, the 2008 election was also historic. The son of a Kenyan immigrant and an American mother has risen to the presidency of history's most powerful nation. Who was not moved by the sight of Jesse Jackson standing silently among strangers with tears streaming down his face as he thought of a long journey towards equality and acceptance? So how did Barack Obama win? Some of it was fortune: He was a fresh, gifted, charismatic leader who emerged at just the moment that people yearned for something entirely new. Some of it was circumstance: The October Surprise arrived a month early and framed the election in the best possible way for Mr. Obama (and the worst possible way for John McCain). Some of it was thoughtful positioning: His themes of bipartisanship and a readiness to tackle the country's pressing challenges were enormously attractive, especially when delivered with hope and optimism. And some of it was planning and execution: The Obama campaign, led by the two Davids -- Plouffe, the manager, and Axelrod, the strategist -- carefully built a powerful army of persuasion aimed at accomplishing two tasks. A candidate can improve his party's performance by getting additional people out to vote and persuading people inclined to support the other party to cross over. The first yields an additional vote; the second is worth two, the one a candidate gets and the one he takes away from his opponent. So the two Davids registered millions of voters in states the Obama campaign picked as battlegrounds, especially where there were many heretofore-disinterested African Americans and younger Democrats. Messrs. Plouffe and Axelrod understood that over the last 28 years only 11 of 20 eligible Americans on average cast a presidential ballot. They focused on registering and motivating the other nine who don't usually vote. This decision, perhaps more than any other, allowed Mr. Obama to win such previously red states as Virginia, Indiana, Colorado and Nevada. It forced Mr. McCain to spend most of the fall on defense, unable to take once-reliably Republican states for granted. Second, Messrs. Plouffe and Axelrod pried away from the GOP ranks small but decisive slices of the Republican presidential coalition. We can't be precise, because for the third election in a row the exit polls were trash. The raw numbers forecast an 18-point Obama win, news organizations who underwrote the poll arbitrarily dialed it down to a 10-point Obama edge, and the actual margin was six. But we do know President-elect Obama ran better among frequent churchgoers (perhaps getting 10 points more than John Kerry did), independents (perhaps five points more than Kerry and eight points more than Al Gore), Hispanics and white men. He even made special appeals to gun owners and sent his wife to cultivate military families. This allowed him to carry previously red states like Florida, New Mexico and Iowa. This combination helped Senator Obama run four points better nationally than John Kerry did in 2004 and 2.5 points better than Al Gore did in 2000. These small changes on the margin meant all the difference between winning and losing. It is a tribute to his skills that Mr. Obama, the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate, won in a country that remains center-right. Most pre-election polls and the wiggly exits indicate America remains ideologically stable, with 34% of voters saying they are conservative -- unchanged from 2004. Moderates went to 44% from 45% of the electorate, while liberals went to 22% from 21%. Mr. Obama understood this. He downplayed calls for retreat from Iraq, instead emphasizing toughness on Afghanistan, even threatening an ally, Pakistan, if it didn't help more to exterminate al Qaeda. Mr. Obama campaigned on "a tax cut for 95% of Americans," while attacking "government-run health care" as "extreme" and his opponent's proposals as hidden tax increases. What Mr. Obama and his team achieved was impressive. But in 75 days comes the hard part. We saw a glimpse of the challenge Tuesday night. The president-elect's speech, while graceful and at times uplifting, was light when it comes to an agenda. That may have been appropriate, but it also continued a pattern. Many Americans were drawn to Mr. Obama because they saw in him what they wanted to see. He became a large vessel into which voters placed their hopes. This can lead to disappointment and regret. What of the woman who, in the closing days of the campaign, rejoiced that Mr. Obama would pay for her gas and take care of her mortgage, tasks that no president can shoulder? The country voted for change Tuesday. But the precise direction of that change remains unclear. Mr. Obama's victory was personal rather than philosophical. The soaring hopes and vague incantations of "change" that have characterized the last 21 months were the poetry phase; a prosaic phase is about to begin. This should be an interesting few years. Let every American hope for the success of the new president and the country we all love.
Poster Comment: Say what you will about Karl Rove's ethics or lack thereof, none of us can accuse Karl Rove of being stupid about politics - his words are chilling as they are insightful: "...Many Americans were drawn to Mr. Obama because they saw in him what they wanted to see. He became a large vessel into which voters placed their hopes. This can lead to disappointment and regret. What of the woman who, in the closing days of the campaign, rejoiced that Mr. Obama would pay for her gas and take care of her mortgage, tasks that no president can shoulder? The country voted for change Tuesday. But the precise direction of that change remains unclear. Mr. Obama's victory was personal rather than philosophical. The soaring hopes and vague incantations of "change" that have characterized the last 21 months were the poetry phase; a prosaic phase is about to begin..."
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#1. To: scrapper2 (#0)
(Edited)
Who was not moved by the sight of Jesse Jackson standing silently among strangers with tears streaming down his face as he thought of a long journey towards equality and acceptance? Raises hand and calls bullshit. [Rove's] words are chilling as they are insightful: "...Many Americans were drawn to Mr. Obama because they saw in him what they wanted to see. No argument here. I just never thought I'd see a black Nazi and Hitler's spirit of reincarnation rise to power before my very eyes in 2008 AD.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition "Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." © IndieTx IndieTX: Raises hand and calls bullshit. hehehehe...Indie, you get a gold star from the teacher for seeing through Karl's shameless stroking of Pres Candidate Loser "high" Jackson's hurt ego. Maybe Karl saw Jesse crying but it wasn't tears of joy for Obama. Maybe Jesse was wallowing in self-pity, thinking as he wept "why him, not me?"
Oh geez. Look, I'm no huge fan of the guy either, but wow... that's pretty over the top rhetoric. I mean, come on. He's just another puppet owned outright by the puppeteers who own this country, OK? I'm sure right now he's being "shown the film", you know, the one of JFK being shot, taken from a totally different angle than most of us have ever seen before? Looking suspiciously like it was taken from the grassy knoll? Relax, take a breath. He's just going to continue with the same corrupt program that's been shoved down our throats since November 22nd, 1963. He'll be no different, no better and no worse.
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of its very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#2. To: IndieTX (#1)
Karl Rove: Who was not moved by the sight of Jesse Jackson standing silently among strangers with tears streaming down his face as he thought of a long journey towards equality and acceptance?
#3. To: IndieTX (#1)
No argument here. I just never thought I'd see a black Nazi and Hitler's spirit of reincarnation rise to power before my very eyes in 2008 AD.
 | Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise. |
#4. To: Elliott Jackalope (#3)
Spoken like a person with no assets or with no family or friends with draft age males. Obama has great plans for a New America. And he just might pull his vision off because he's got a majority Dem Party in the House and Senate, so no gridlock, no filibuster. It's clear sailing ahead for Barry O.
Relax, take a breath. He's just going to continue with the same corrupt program that's been shoved down our throats since November 22nd, 1963. He'll be no different, no better and no worse.
#5. To: Elliott Jackalope (#3) (Edited)
This reminds me of the people who thought that Bush would "protect" them from Gore, or vice-versa, and got all hysterical about one candidate while seeing the other through rose-colored glasses. Obama has Rahm and Ross as handlers, McCain had Kristol and Scheunemann. Ooh, big difference. Ron Paul said it well. Obama was the one annointed by the special interests, and McCain was a perfectly acceptable substitute if the Hope-Change-YesWeCan bandwagon hit a bump on the road. Those who go around thinking that one candidate would save them from the other's excesses still believe that the GOP and the Democrats represent different interests. They don't, and they haven't for decades.
He's just another puppet owned outright by the puppeteers who own this country, OK?
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