The Politics of Hope?

You heard it here first. Today's headline: Obama's Plan

Two weeks ago, I commented on the very same thing. And lest I forget, I initially brought this to the attention of the blogosphere a week before that.

I know I'm sounding like a broken record here, but the politics of hope can only go so far. A cursory study of political history will reveal that we've heard the politics of hope from Adlai Stevenson, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, and Jimmy Carter. In those days, it was known as "refusing to go negative". Mr. Obama, you've harped on the failed policy of President Bush's Iraq War strategy but I wish you'd also entertain the notion that the entire logic upon which you've based your campaign might be faulty.

Pardon me for being skeptical, sir, but what to you and your campaign staff seems audacious I find to be indicative of a lack of testicular fortitude. Don't get me wrong, I know you're the cerebral, intellectual sort and you might find the idea of playing hardball a bit distasteful. I know you're not exactly the kind of candidate to use such strong-arm tactics. You never have before, certainly.

It is quite possible that you don't want to ruin your party's chance to win the Presidency in 2008. If the GOP alone resorts to mudslinging tactics, she could always come back to paint such efforts as desperate tactics. Indeed, that's the exact manner in which Bill's campaign portrayed Bob Dole in 1996. She'll lose this opportunity if she engages in a nasty fight for her party's nomination. It is also quite possible that you think negative campaigning will backfire and that a nasty fight between you and Senator Clinton will be a supreme turn off for voters.

Mr. Obama, your current strategy is bold in its optimism and idealism, but I just don't think it's going to work. It's been tried before many times, with limited success. When the Clinton money machine resorts to the politics of reducing you to an inexperienced, naive, pretender to the throne then we'll see what sort of a candidate you really are. I'm not holding my breath, sir.

If I am wrong, I will be the first to admit it. You get the rights to say I-told-you-so, to me and all the other naysayers.

I think you want to be President, but not until 2016.