Barack Obama is battling accusations of being aloof and condescending, a bit too cool and a tad arrogant. And this article from the New York Times, which describes him “as bored with the campaign against Mrs. Clinton and eager to move into the general election against Senator John McCain,” isn’t going to help. The Times explains that he really doesn’t like duking it out with Clinton, which deprives him of his lofty Agent of Change platform, so he’s taking a detour:
As a result, they said, he had decided — at least for now — not to take on Mrs. Clinton directly. In one sign of that, he has spent more time trying to shore up his own shortcomings and challenges, often to the point of nearly ignoring her, as he intensified his attacks on Mr. McCain.
But questions face his campaign that were barely discussed among his advisers only a few months ago, when he seemed on the cusp of quickly winning the Democratic nomination. Is his candidacy now off the table for some white voters? Was it bound to happen anyway? Have voters’ concerns about his patriotism and religion become a permanent weight on his biography?
White voters are bothered, and patriotism and religion are a concern, so . . . he’ll attack John McCain? That makes very little sense. Wouldn’t he be better served by going after Hillary Clinton–the gal who cleaned his clock in three major primaries –by, among other things, combating the charges that he is less concerned about bread-and-butter issues than she and that he lacks a connection to average voters? But that would be so mundane, so pedestrian. Can’t he just eat his waffle in peace?