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Jewish World Review March 4, 2008 / 13 Adar I 5768 A neophyte looks like a pro, and vice versa By James Klurfeld
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I have been consistently skeptical that there's any correlation between how a candidate runs a presidential campaign and his or her ability to lead the nation effectively. The whole process has become so long, drawn out and complex - so much an endurance test - that the only attributes it highlights are the ability to sleep in unfamiliar, uncomfortable motel-room beds, eat fast food, shake hands until they blister and still manage to smile. Are you really sure you want to vote for somebody willing to undergo so many months of unending indignities? And what does it all have to do with running the country? But having watched this primary campaign, especially the Democratic race, I do find myself coming to some conclusions about the relative merits of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama. I'm impressed with Obama's strategic grasp of campaign strategy - and his ability to implement that strategy. In one sense, Clinton has seriously undercut her major campaign rationale: that she has the experience and is ready from day one. Well, for all that experience - and she and her husband, God knows, have run a lot of successful campaigns - she looks as if she has been outstrategized and outmaneuvered on the ground by the neophyte. It's really incredible. Obama spent time and money organizing to win caucuses in many of the small states that the Clinton crowd decided to ignore. That takes political savvy and organizational ability. Clinton obviously believed she could win enough delegates by Feb. 5, Super Tuesday, to deliver a knockout blow. When that didn't work, she didn't have a backup plan. Also incredible. At the very least, it shows that he chose good people and let them do their jobs, a sign of a good manager. Clinton chose people who were loyal to her. I often had the impression her staff, especially the younger members, idolized her to the point that they couldn't even fathom she was screwing up the campaign. This is especially interesting because most of the political pros signed up early to work for Clinton, figuring she would win and they would get high-level jobs. Obama had to pick from the leftovers. I'm also more impressed with Obama under pressure than Clinton. Her performance over the past week, when things have clearly not been going well, has been bizarre. One day she said she was honored to be on the same stage as Obama and the next she was saying, "Shame on you, Barack Obama," and then heavy-handedly mocking his lofty rhetoric. Clinton said it was meant to be a light moment in the campaign. Ouch! In contrast, there seems to be a calm at the center of Obama that is reassuring. Obviously it helps to be the front-runner. And I believe he has become more self-confident and articulate in the debates as the campaign has continued. He has been able to parry Clinton's thrusts with grace. Even at his worst moment of Tuesday's debate, when he would not come out and say that he not only denounced Louis Farrakhan but believed him to be an evil person, he managed to take a cue from Clinton and say he rejected his support. It's not that he has not made mistakes. He has. But he recovers from them and gets better. Of course, not everything depends on campaign tactics. We pundits tend to make too much of them during the campaign. Voters are more interested in a sense of who is going to help them cope with their daily lives than who's running a brilliant campaign. In the end, voters make a gestalt judgment that combines issues and character with a big dose of intuition. And that comes from watching the campaign, sometimes closely, but more often while distracted by the events of daily life. But judgments are made. And for the past few weeks, those judgments have been coming down on Obama's side. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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James Klurfeld is a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University.
02/22/08: The allure of Obama for young people
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