Patterico's Pontifications

11/26/2011

Obama’s not-so-secret weapon

Filed under: 2012 Election — Karl @ 9:59 am



[Posted by Karl]

According to the AP’s Julie Pace, it might just be the Sheriff:

A year from Election Day, Democrats are crafting a campaign strategy for Vice President Joe Biden that targets the big three political battlegrounds: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, states where Biden might be more of an asset to President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign than the president himself.

Doug Powers goes right to the Biden Blooper Reel; I’ll simply note that last month, the AP’s Julie Pace was reporting that Michelle Obama might be her husband’s not-so-secret weapon.   I don’t mean to pick on Ms. Pace in particular.  After all, the Tribune Co. and New York Times were writing similar pieces before the 2010 midterms — and we know how well that turned out.  TIME did the Michelle O story in 2010; NBC’s Andrea Mitchell joined Pace for 2011.

The obvious cheap shot would be that Obama’s not-so-secret weapon is the esatblishment media.  But it’s not just bias, it’s laziness, as evidenced by all the stories written about Laura Bush as a secret weapon, despite a similar lack of evidence.

It may be more useful to read the Biden spin is light of the larger debate on the left between analysts like William Galston, who thinks Obama’s path to victory still runs through the Rust Belt, and those like Ruy Teixeira, who argues that demographics make Virginia, Colorado and North Carolina more appealing targets for Obama. Alec MacGillis thinks Obama is adopting the latter strategy, but sees it as a false choice.  But maybe it just looks like Obama is focusing on the latter group of states because the best Obama can do in the Rust Belt right now is to send Joe Biden.

–Karl

76 Responses to “Obama’s not-so-secret weapon”

  1. Ding!

    Karl (4b361c)

  2. Dumbass.

    This is the same guy whose boyfriend Obama supports the far-left islamocommie brotherhood.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  3. “Send in the clowns” is an old circus device to quiet crowd unrest. I doubt that it can be used to quiet voter unrest.

    Michael M. Keohane (996c34)

  4. In today’s WSJ, Pete DuPont discusses the drop Biden/add Hilary scenario…
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204630904577056462756242968.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

    AD-RtR/OS! (e7d9c8)

  5. Good post, Karl. I think Obama is pursuing an all-of-the-above strategy so putting Biden in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida makes sense given the polls. Similarly, Michelle is more popular with voters than her husband is, and thus it’s not a surprise to see her on the cover of Reader’s Digest touting Michelle Obama’s Family Values given its reputation as a mainstream, family-friendly publication. (But the cover photo is generating some interesting comments.)

    However, Politico’s Playbook (11/26/11 edition) reports “Democratic officials said Biden will follow in the long-standing tradition of vice presidents playing the role of attack dog” in the next election. Does this mean Obama’s strategy for Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida is to go negative? If so, it sounds like the current thinking is Obama will lose those states.

    By the way, on the same day as a report that a NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at 2 military checkpoints, we can rest safe knowing that Obama is concentrating on the tough issues:

    After playing basketball at Fort McNair on Saturday, President Barack Obama seemed to approve the tentative deal reached earlier in the day to end the NBA lockout.

    When asked about the potential agreement, Obama gave a thumbs-up and said, “Good deal!”

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  6. Comment by DRJ — 11/26/2011 @ 11:14 am

    Yes, isn’t it remarkable how much better we get along with Pakistan now that the Cowboy from Texas
    (who couldn’t remember, or pronounce, Pervez Musharraf’s name) is gone?

    Those “re-set” buttons are really powerful.

    AD-RtR/OS! (e7d9c8)

  7. “Those “re-set” buttons are really powerful.”

    AD – Absolutely. Look at how wonderfully they have secured Russia’s cooperation in reining in Iran’s nuclear ambitions!!!!!11ty!!!!!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  8. I personally look forward to Joe Biden spending as much time on the campaign trail as possible. To me the state does not matter. He is like a secret weapon and his effects cannot be misunderestimated.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  9. AP, September 16, 2012
    “With under eight weeks remaining in a Presidential election that experts are reporting is too close to call, the Obama campaign has brought out a surprise surrogate to help solidify the vote of African-Americans and other urban progressives in battleground states. A less bombastic, more circumspect Jeremiah Wright has been quietly appearing on behalf of the President in Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Detroit this past week. . .”

    JVW (4d72aa)

  10. 8. What daley said.

    Sucka needs two or three national opponents to manage a cover-of-darkness historical fluke.

    gary gulrud (d88477)

  11. Obama’s plan for the Rust Belt is union bribes and graft.

    AZ Bob (6f1e2b)

  12. JVW,

    I can believe the substance behind your headline might happen … but the AP would never report it.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  13. Joe Biden sparkles if you put him in sunlight is what I heard

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  14. With quotes like “Stand up Chuck” Biden will make it interesting.

    sickofrinos (44de53)

  15. “Joe Biden sparkles if you put him in sunlight is what I heard”

    Mr. Feets – He sparkled so much in the 2008 campaign they had to put a muzzle on him. I hope they leave Joe alone to express himself freely this time around.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  16. Yes, isn’t it remarkable how much better we get along with Pakistan now that the Cowboy from Texas
    (who couldn’t remember, or pronounce, Pervez Musharraf’s name) is gone?

    Bush played ball with the Pakistanis so they played back.

    All Obama does is bomb, bomb, bomb.

    Who woulda thunk it???

    deepelemblues (ea26b9)

  17. “All Obama does is bomb, bomb, bomb.”

    deepelemblues – He lurvs him those reformers in Syria, though. No humanitarian crisis there like Libya, no sir. Uganda, WTF? Honduras, WTF? Iran, WTF?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  18. Sparkle Joe is thinking about running in 2016 so he’s gonna want to put his best foot forward next year Mr. daley

    oh dear

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  19. 3.“Send in the clowns” is an old circus device to quiet crowd unrest. I doubt that it can be used to quiet voter unrest.

    Comment by Michael M. Keohane — 11/26/2011 @ 10:58 am

    I thought the “send in the clowns” reference was to the practice of using clowns to distract rodeo bulls from thrown (and possibly injured) bull riders.
    Still apropos to this election.

    Have Blue (39630e)

  20. With Sloe-Joe in the arena, there is even more BS to step/slip on than a herd of longhorns could provide.
    Those clowns need to be careful where they trod.

    AD-RtR/OS! (e7d9c8)

  21. deepelemblues – He lurvs him those reformers in Syria, though. No humanitarian crisis there like Libya, no sir. Uganda, WTF? Honduras, WTF? Iran, WTF?

    I get the feeling Syria will take care of itself – which doesn’t excuse the ~4,000 murdered protesters we could have tried to save.

    deepelemblues (ea26b9)

  22. Joe Biden masturbates while naked in the shower is what I heard.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  23. If there is any secret weapon, it will only be swapping Ol’Hairplugs out for Hillary!That’s the only playus The One really ash left. he cannot run on his record.

    Michelle is like nails on a blackboard for everyone not already in the Obama camp.After the Nascar debacle you would think they figured out white working class people despise Mrs. Affirmative Action. But the woman knows how to vacation on everyone else’s dime, which makes her at long last proud of her country.

    Bugg (ea1809)

  24. If Joe Biden is a secret weapon then . . .
    [chortle] all I can say is . . .
    [chuckles] that I . . .
    [guffaws] can’t imagine that . . .
    [rolling on the floor laughing my ass off] I’m sorry, but I . . .
    [struggling to keep from peeing my pants I’m laughing so hysterically] can’t even finish this thought.
    [Almost having a seizure from laughing so hard.]

    The hysterically laughing Dana (f68855)

  25. President Obama won’t dump Joe Biden to replace him with Hillary Clinton, because he knows that, if he did, after January 20, 2013, he’d be a dead man walking.

    The dead serious Dana (f68855)

  26. Obama is going to get creamed in Colorado. This state was a push over for him because of an incompetent GOP that had self-destructed in Senate and Governor primaries, such that the GOP infrastructure let McCain down.

    But in 2012, Coloradans are just completely sick of Obama’s poor performance.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  27. That’s good news, SPQR.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  28. People actually donated money to Biden’s Presidential campaign.

    Dear. God.

    The Dems have given us:
    John Kerry
    John Edwards
    Howard Dean
    Joe Biden
    Barack Obama

    But all the Republicans are dunces…. right NBC?

    SteveG (e27d71)

  29. a secret weapon
    will usually explode
    not implode like Joe

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  30. I think the congress should enact Joe Biden Control.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  31. The Dems say sorry, Joe must go
    Or the election Barack will blow
    They’re really sad
    That O’s been so bad
    But a Repub? Good heavens, no!

    The Limerick Avenger (f68855)

  32. Hillary Clinton is wildly popular in PA, OH, & FL. She destroyed Obama in those primaries.

    koam @wittier (b266ab)

  33. Not only that his campaign earned a 250 K fine from the FEC, not that it matters at all.

    narciso (ef1619)

  34. Joe Biden will probably say some loony shat about Obama being the antichrist who collabarated with Bush and the bankers to suck his brains out through a bendy straw.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  35. there once was a Joe from Delaware
    who plagiarized away without a care
    a wife fond of black leather
    his melon light as a feather
    whether he’s in or he’s out, Big Zer0 hasn’t got a prayer

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  36. Beside the total economic mess Arab Spring is really turning up skunk cabbage for Urkel. Nowhere he turns is there a glimmer of positive spin for his continued tenure.

    Bet he dies on the golf course, victim of a rare clear sky lightning strike.

    gary gulrud (d88477)

  37. So is the word Biden synonymous with dumb?

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  38. I’m happy to say
    I never voted for Joe
    Delaware’s dummy

    The Limerick Avenger (f68855)

  39. This guy is though, shocker, another musicologist;

    http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/permafowl/#commentsmore

    [note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]

    narciso (ef1619)

  40. When I lived in the First State
    They told me, Joe is first rate!
    We love the big lunk
    Forget all that junk
    ‘Bout his plagin’, that’s all just hate.

    The Limerick Avenger (f68855)

  41. DohBiden asked:

    So is the word Biden synonymous with dumb?

    Well, dohhh!

    The Dana who can see the obvious (f68855)

  42. there once was a VP named Joe
    who was — to be nice — a bit slow:
    Barack and Rahm picked him
    so Joe couldn’t evict him:
    Hence “Barack, and Loco, and Doh”

    no one you know (3e92e3)

  43. perry or biden
    either correct answer to
    “least quick on his feet?”

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  44. >Obama is going to get creamed in Colorado

    NOT so sure- we have a lot of idiots and dopers and tree-huggers and people who have completely lost touch with reality

    Jones (2ec172)

  45. Obama is going to get creamed by Bawney Fwank in colorado and he will like it.

    FIFY 😀

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  46. I can tell you right now that in Florida, Biden and the Communist are HATED down here, especially by construction workers who are undergoing the worst times they’ve ever encountered. The schools here are empty, and everyone knows the good times will never come back until Obama the idiot is gone. And even then it won’t happen until we can rid our state of our Congressional delegation: Debbie Wasserman-Schulz and brain-dead Bill Nelson. DWS is the most obnoxious, arrogant, vicious Yid-bitch on planet earth, and Nelson, who always prided himself on being a moderate if not “southern” Democrat, KNEW that Barack Obama was a Marxist even before that demented fool was elected. Sorry, for any Jews I may have offended, but DWS really really really is the PERFECT example of a JAP, and I know some Jews here who admit it and hate her as much as I do.

    DV (045cef)

  47. Urkel has so crapped the bed not even Bite Me will sleep in it. No way Hill wants this cycle’s fight.

    Europe is coming apart by March, China is looking at 30% unemployment in its Enterprise Sector abutting Hong Kong and a 50% drop in residential valuations in 2012.

    Gas will follow the dollar in higher valuation as exports vanish.

    We are certain to have much worse news from the Middle East if new fronts. Egypt and Syria are bound for civil war. Turkey is financial toast, Iran hotting up and then there’s the Pakis.

    Holder is an open sewer stinking up DC. The NLRB is nasty. Urkel will be running against Congress.

    2012, Annus Horriblis for ibn Dunham. May he meet a just end.

    gary gulrud (d88477)

  48. I though we did know who shot the sheriff but we still don’t know who shot the deputy.

    Pat Patterson (adef21)

  49. 48. Brooks is a half-wit:

    “Look at what’s happening in the world. President Obama did a very significant shift in Asia, getting the U.S. much more involved in becoming a rival to China. That’s not going away,” Brooks said. “Second thing, Tahrir Square in Egypt — the Middle East is not going away. The Iranians — we just had another report showing the Iranian nuclear program is still going on. The Middle East — believe me, you can’t escape it.”

    Cancelling the Polish-Czech treaty got us nothing with Russia-they’re in the Iranian/Syrian pocket as the last shreds of Soviet ‘influence’.

    Egypt is weeks from all out civil war. And what do you suppose China’s resort will be with deflation, unemployment and civil strife? Look out in the Spratlys.

    gary gulrud (d88477)

  50. Brooks was the kind who fell for the same kind of schemes, as Simon Pegg, across the pond;

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066720/David-Camerons-green-guru-Steve-Hilton-reveals-doubts-global-warming.html

    narciso (ef1619)

  51. Colonel: Rick Perry sure isn’t much of a debater, I’ll give you that. Barack Obama, on the other hand, was a top-notch debater. But, of the two, which one has actually been able to do his job?

    The Dana who can see the obvious (f68855)

  52. Joe Biden is doin’ his job
    Protectin’ Barack from the mob
    Can’t be impeached though
    ‘Cause then we’d have Joe
    Who’s just as dumb as a door knob

    The Limerick Avenger (f68855)

  53. perry serves Texas
    obama has done a job
    on America

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  54. The Peeps must retire
    McCain to live like hobbit
    in Arizona

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  55. _______________________________________________

    NOT so sure- we have a lot of idiots and dopers and tree-huggers and people who have completely lost touch with reality

    That is a case of “stuck on stupid” disease, which infects a fairly large percentage of the populace. Its symptoms are widely seen in urban America, inner-city America, blue-state America, in nations like Venezuela/Argentina/France/Greece/Mexico. So at any given time, in any given election, a case of lunacy likely will break out in the voting booth.

    The very fact President “Goddamn America” — a person with one of the, if not THE, most disreputable backgrounds to ever get into the White House — managed to win in 2008 in the first place shows how severe the “stuck on stupid” contagion (aka lazy leftism) has become throughout the US.

    Mark (411533)

  56. President Pinocchio Mengistu Halle is destroying our jobs.

    DohBiden (ef98f0)

  57. Honestly they should put jobs on the endangered species list.

    DohBiden (ef98f0)

  58. I always thought that Obama’s “secret weapon” was the gullibility of the American people. But perhaps that’s just me.

    Icy (4acfcb)

  59. The only reason Obama picked Biden in 2008 was because Biden supposedly remedied a foreign policy gravitas deficit. (Hard to believe in hindsight, and it was hard for many of us to believe at the time, but there you have it.)

    Biden has no constituency that could credibly threaten to abandon Obama if Obama pulls the rip-cord on Biden’s golden parachute in 2012. What, you think Delaware’s three electoral votes are in play? No, there is no downside to appointing Biden as “Senior Super-Coordinating Advisor-at-Large to the Leader of the Free World and the Savior of America,” with a promise that he can still attend cabinet meetings, yada yada yada.

    Obama actually will try very hard to argue that he’s the better choice than the GOP nominee on foreign policy. He will claim successes in killing bin Laden and getting peace with honor in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. He will claim to have deterred Iran from getting the bomb. He will point out that, like Bush-43, he’s kept the terrorists from pulling off another major attack on American soil (knock wood). And he’ll paint the GOP nominee as a Goldwater-style extremist eager to get into a ground war and resulting occupation in Iran.

    As much as Obama will hate doing it, making Hillary the new Veep will (from their point of view) firewall Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, and maybe allow them to try to compete in Virginia, Nevada, and North Carolina.

    Beldar (65378a)

  60. the Dems have lock on
    the Stuck on Stupid Syndrome
    public school brainwash

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  61. Joe Biden has the IQ of a pipe of chemicals.

    DohBiden (ef98f0)

  62. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh yes according to the left pro-lifers are responsible for teen pregnancies. Why not blame the horny teens.

    Sorry for the Off Topic.

    DohBiden (ef98f0)

  63. a song for the De-Evolution…

    http://youtu.be/uqoH4rvXxpU

    ColonelHaiku (1dad58)

  64. Maybe:

    AP, September 16, 2012

    “With under eight weeks remaining in a Presidential election that experts are reporting is too close to call, the Obama campaign has brought out a surprise surrogate to help solidify the vote of African-Americans and other urban progressives in battleground states. A less bombastic, more circumspect Jeremiah Wright Al Sharpton has been quietly appearing on behalf of the President in Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Detroit this past week. . .”

    Comment by JVW — 11/26/2011 @ 12:17 pm

    Sammy Finkelman (2d0c86)

  65. Am i banned?

    [note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]

    DohBiden (ef98f0)

  66. My comments didn’t show up because I was on internet explorer.

    Anyways Obama will not win.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  67. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, states where Biden might be more of an asset to President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign than the president himself.

    “The crowd is booing Curly, send out Moe”

    Kaisersoze (298188)

  68. Obama has good deep knowledge about administration.

    Termination letters

    Termination Letters (3eb4e8)

  69. About a year ago, I spoke at a conference in Europe that attracted a lot of very rich people from all over the continent, as well as a lot of people who manage money for high-net-worth individuals.

    What made this conference remarkable was not the presentations, though they were generally quite interesting. The stunning part of the conference was learning – as part of casual conversation during breaks, meals, and other socializing time – how many rich people are planning for the eventual collapse of European society.

    Not stagnation. Not gradual decline. Collapse.

    … and we get a President that just had to make America “more like Europe” just in time for the “Apocalypse.”

    #OccupyAnthonyWeinersShorts (d1c681)

  70. Surprisingly, the Post got the story wrong;

    http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/46971#comment-413150

    narciso (ef1619)

  71. Edsall is trying to understand why this is so, they
    told us years ago;

    http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/the-future-of-the-obama-coalition/

    narciso (ef1619)

  72. Elderly Queen with speech impediment abdicating.

    Barney doesn’t have the legs to run from Urkel.

    gary gulrud (d88477)

  73. FT op-ed says Europe has 10 days before collapse. Euro in free fall, buh bye US exports.

    Urkel doesn’t give a rip. Anymore, ever? His seecret.

    gary gulrud (d88477)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1130 secs.