I told them so! I said to the three Republican Strategists in Washington six weeks ago that it was a strategic error to hinge the Home Stretch of the McCain campaign on a 20-year-old Obama-Bill Ayers encounter. I never thought the issue would have resonated among American voters.
For Bill Ayers to be a major issue in an American election campaign today, he would have to physically mount a Republican platform and introduce new details of his past association with Obama. As long as Ayers and Obama remain tight lipped on the issue, it will not fly.
Fox News has tried its very best to highlight and keep the issue alive, but in an environment of economic uncertainty and bewilderment and with neither McCain nor Palin advancing credible and practical proposals for remedying the crisis situation, scare and smear campaigning will not work.
On his present trajectory, it will take more than the resurrection of a Bill Ayers or former Muslim association to prevent Barack Obama entering the White House. Not even the fall out from an estranged relationship with his former spiritual leader will work at this stage of the campaign.
The issue that can impede Obama’s progress on November 4th is the issue that was in play from the moment he conceived the idea of running for President of the United States of America. The question he asked himself back then, is unfortunately still the question that millions of Americans are asking themselves today and will answer only on November 4th. The central issue on November 4th is not whether Obama is up to the job or is ready for the White House. The issue to be determined is whether America is ready for Obama and the most significant feature of his candidacy.
But in relation to the campaigns that have been run to date, clearly the Democrats are finishing stronger. They have remained on message. The Republicans have gone off track. They opted, unadvisedly, to go the route of character smearing rather than confidence building and problem solving.
In many respects the Republicans in America are making the same error that Owen Arthur and the Barbados Labour Party made in the lead up to the last general elections and which Mia Mottley continues to make as Leader of the Opposition. They appear fixated with the issue of political pedigree and whether the emergent leader and associates are worthy of such high office.
The intrinsic message the Republicans are sending is that Barack Obama is not White House or Presidential material and that summation is not based on his intellect, capacity or capability. Similarly, the current leadership of the Barbados Labour Party does not believe that David Thompson or any of his associates are worthy of assuming the mantle of leadership of Barbados, and again, that supposition has nothing to do with intellect, capacity or capability.
The 20 elected members of Parliament on the Government side in Barbados are capable of defending their honor and will, by performance, demonstrate their worthiness for such high office. They should expect, however, a continuation of such attacks. The very candidates that the BLP ran in the last elections are now also being turned upon by its new leadership, on the basis that they too lack the pedigree necessary to run for or hold public office in Barbados.
Had they won their seats, they would have provided the legal framework for the current leadership to remain in the lofty position of government. The fact that they lost, renders them empty, useless and a waste of time. The innate attitude and perception of the new leadership toward such individuals has finally surfaced.
The question that one must ask and answer therefore is what constitutes “the perfect candidate” in the sight of the new leadership of the BLP? Early indications suggest it could be an issue of gender or sexuality. Does one now have to be loved by the leader to qualify as a candidate?
In the past we heard of Owen’s boys. To be a candidate for the BLP in the next election, does one have to become a Mia girl?
Media houses, statutory boards, manufacturing concerns, the entertainment industry and several central government departments are all outfitted, I am aware, with female supporters of the new leadership of the BLP. From time to time, they have all been recognized and acknowledged as Mia’s girls. Are any of them among the new 15 that are being sought?
A party that loses in such dramatic fashion must, of necessity, undergo a metamorphosis. But never in our wildest dreams could we imagine that what now appears to be emerging, is what the Labour Party would have come to.
Barbadians are known to be quite liberal in their beliefs, but this might be asking a bit much. One has to wait and see what the neo-conservatives in that organization do or how they respond to the emerging BLP, under its current leadership. A profile of the non-south east audience at Parkinson School two Sunday’s ago was “most insightful”, to say the least.
Of course, for broaching the subject, this writer will once again bear the brunt of attack and ridicule at this weekend’s annual conference. Social origins will be brought into question. So too will school background and the fact that this writer does not hail from what some may refer to as “an illustrious secondary school”. Of course, innuendoes will be made against professional achievements and wealth accumulation. As was attempted in the past, clippings from political newspapers in the region may also be used to tear down and destroy this writer. But, will that change the facts of life as experienced by ordinary Barbadians? Will that enhance the image of the BLP in the sight of the electorate? Will that resolve social and economic issues in Barbados today?
Of course not! But, like the Republicans in America, they will not learn.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.