I am completely over-stepping my bounds. I've no qualifications as an augur, a prognosticator. But I will defy those bounds and make a bold leap over all restraints: Barack Obama is going to shift rightward almost immediately. He has to.
If Mr. Obama intends on winning the 2012 election, he has to move to the right now. He knows that just a small swing in the electorate, something along the lines of ≤3% of the popular vote, may put him back doing community organizing in Chicago. So he has to go to the right; he has to move right to ensure that the independents and even the Republicans who voted for him do not leave him in four years.
Of course, as is his habit, he will be campaigning for the office of president in 2012 almost immediately.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, will swing WAY left. She sees Mr. Obama's dilemma and she's got to jump on it. She will hassle Mr. Obama from the far left like there is no tomorrow: he'll sound like Jesse Helms whenever she speaks about him.
Just a guess. But it's also a warning: Don't be seduced. His shift will disappear the second he gets reelected. In 2012, he'll go zooming leftward, for then he'll have nothing to lose.
©2008. All Rights Reserved.
If Mr. Obama intends on winning the 2012 election, he has to move to the right now. He knows that just a small swing in the electorate, something along the lines of ≤3% of the popular vote, may put him back doing community organizing in Chicago. So he has to go to the right; he has to move right to ensure that the independents and even the Republicans who voted for him do not leave him in four years.
Of course, as is his habit, he will be campaigning for the office of president in 2012 almost immediately.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, will swing WAY left. She sees Mr. Obama's dilemma and she's got to jump on it. She will hassle Mr. Obama from the far left like there is no tomorrow: he'll sound like Jesse Helms whenever she speaks about him.
Just a guess. But it's also a warning: Don't be seduced. His shift will disappear the second he gets reelected. In 2012, he'll go zooming leftward, for then he'll have nothing to lose.
©2008. All Rights Reserved.
