Happy Birthday, Mr President (Obama)

The week’s polls are coming in and it’s not looking good for Obama (or certain unnamed trolls). While the New York Times does it’s best to tint recent McCain ads as racially charged, those same ads seem to be doing their job. The Pheonix Business Journal writes:

Two new national polls show the presidential race between Arizona Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama tied.

A Gallup poll conducted between July 29 and July 31 gives McCain and Obama each 44 percent.

A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted the same dates shows Obama with 47 percent ; McCain 46 percent.

The tightness of the presidential race differs from more generic polls which show Democrats with an advantage over Republicans heading into November.

Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch reports;

But 33% of those uncommitted voters are Democrats; just 19% are Republicans. So despite breakneck campaigning, TV and radio advertising, gracing the cover of Newsweek, Esquire, Rolling Stone and others, it’s apparent that voters either don’t feel they know who Obama is or don’t know enough about him — even if McCain, R-Ariz., calls Obama a “celebrity.”

This might have something to do with Obama’s fading numbers – he’s a flip-flopping fool even on how he campaigns;

Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday backed away from rival John McCain’s challenge for a series of joint appearances, agreeing only to the standard three debates in the fall.

Obama’s reversal on town hall debates is part of a play-it-safe strategy he’s adopted since claiming the nomination and grabbing a lead in national polls. Advisers to the senator, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss strategy, say Obama is reluctant to take chances or give McCain a high-profile stage now that Obama’s the front-runner.

In May, when a McCain adviser proposed a series of pre-convention appearances at town hall meetings, Obama said, ”I think that’s a great idea.“ In summer stumping on the campaign trail, ­McCain has often noted that Obama had not followed through.

He’s flipped on the war in Iraq (while still denying the realities, he’s flopped on off-coast drilling, and now he’s flipping on townhall debates (he amazingly supported when he was still running against Hillary who said he couldn’t stand up to McCain in a debate). All in the space of a few days.

But his supporters haven’t bothered to notice Obama’s slide in the polls. In Iowa last week, the gathered crowd sang “Happy Birthday, Mr President” to him according to the LA Times;

Sen. Barack Obama walked into a town hall meeting in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last week. The crowd was enthusiastic, ready to see and cheer him.

But, before listening to his usual stump speech, the crowd, perhaps spontaneously, had something to do for their guy, according to the From the Road blog of CBS News’ Allison O’Keefe. The nominee-to-be’s fans sang “Happy Birthday.” On Monday, Obama will turn 47.

But the happy crowd did not sing “Happy birthday, Sen. Obama.”

It confidently sang “Happy birthday, Mr. President.”

And Barack Obama looked very pleased to hear it.

First he designs his own Presidential seal, then he gets to be called Mr President three months before the election. The emotional power of the “audacity of hope” might send the Obamalemmings over the cliff come November when reality sets in.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Politics