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Will The Clinton Hate Help Obama In A General Election?

By Big Tent Democrat

Publius of ObiWi seems to think it is possible:

Here’s the point (and I'd welcome conservatives' thoughts on this) – Obama seems to be steadily gaining likeability points on the other side just because he happens to be fighting the Clintons. Any enemy of the Clintons can’t be that bad, the argument seems to go. . . . All that said, whatever likeability points he’s gaining now may not matter as people fall back into party lines for the election. But then again, it doesn’t take all that much peeling off of modern coalitions to create a landslide win.

Actually, it will take a significant amout of peeling off, say 5-10% at least. More than that there are two problems with Publius' argument. More . . .

First, there is no evidence that Obama is benefitting from this NOW in terms of votes. That some conservatives and the Media say nice things about Obama has not translated into Obama runing well with Republicans in polls. There simply is no evidence to support Publius' thesis. And Obama is running against Hillary NOW. He will not be in a general election, so the enemy of my enemy theory simply makes no sense in logical terms.

Second, what price this appeal? Will Obama completely disappoint this slice of the electorate if he gains their votes? Will Obama just ignore them and his reelection chances?

Sorry, but this is a bogus theory. Here's two MUCH better theories for Obama - (1) because the Media loves him he can get more independents; and (2) he is bringing many new voters out to vote for him. I think there are plenty of counter theories to those but these at least make sense.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 27, 2008 (boomark / email).