If Senator Obama Wanted My Advice

Barring a miracle (or catastrophe, depending on perspective) Senator Obama will be the Democratic Nominee for November. For a variety of reasons, starting with Supreme Court appointments, the Democrat MUST win the Presidency.

Whether his supporters wish to accept it or not, Obama has a problem attracting average white voters, which problem he has to overcome to win. Since New Hampshire on Jan. 8, Obama has won 15 of the 29 Primaries, but got a majority of white voters in only 5.

I have two bits of advice for Obama that might help him address this problem, one of which is pro-active, the other preventative.

The first concerns Senator Obama's speaking style(s). When you listen to the Senator orate, he sounds like either a professor or a pastor, depending on his audience. The Professor "voice" appeals to his white supporters with above-average educations, the Pastor to his black supporters. If Senator Obama wants to expand his base (by other than default, which may be shaky) he badly needs to come out from behind the podium/pulpit and speak to the rest of the Democratic Party. Unlike garden-variety pandering usually engaged in by politicians this shouldn't involve the usual trade-offs of attracting support one place while losing some another. Obama is certainly both smart enough and talented enough to add a third "voice" to speak to another "audience", and should get about it now.

On a related note, his more ardent supporters could help in this regard by dropping what's seen as their "rainbows and unicorns" bullshit and speak a bit less of how "inspired" and "hopeful" Obama makes them feel and concentrate more on substantive policy differences between Obama and McCain.

My second suggestion is for Senator Obama to spend a day at a gun range, not for some bullshit photo-op that might well look like Dukakis in a tank, but quietly, for purely educational purposes. As I pointed out in this Diary, almost a year ago (which then prompted this Diary), Senator Obama knows little about guns, which clearly shows every time he addresses them. I know that many here will sneer about not needing to know the difference between one and another to know they are all evil, but to millions of gun-owning Democrats and Independents a demonstrated lack of knowledge about guns reinforces the coming Republican attacks against Obama as a gun-grabber. IT REALLY MATTERS.

One day of education on this single subject would be, in my opinion, an excellent investment that could have very nice returns.