Democrats in Trouble as Convention Approaches

The Democratic convention starts next Monday, Aug. 25, 2008, and it’s been a long time coming since Obama anointed himself as the presumptive nominee on June 3rd, and Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign four days later.

In the meantime, Obama of the soaring speeches read in oratorical grandiosity to thousands of eager, mostly youthful fans has flip-flopped his way ungracefully to the center on most issues and floundered lately in his exchanges with John McCain, his Republican adversary.

Not surprisingly, the One’s poll numbers have been sinking lately and as we might expect, the media is offering Obama all kinds of helpful advice. Take a look at these examples from the list of articles indexed at RealClearPolitics this morning:

Obama: In Need of a Game Changer - David Gergen, CNN
It's Up to Obama to Erase the Doubt - Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe
Where's Obama's Passion? - Joe Klein, Time
Obama's Not Over the Hill(ary) Yet - Margery Eagan, Boston Herald
Daley Says Shhh, Library Quiet on Obama - John Kass, Chicago Tribune
Obama Needs a Narrative - Steven Stark, Boston Phoenix
Woe Is Me, Said the Democrat - Debra Saunders, San Francisco Chronicle

Since it was the latest Reuters/Zogby that reported McCain now leads Obama by five points, it’s appropriate that John Zogby, over at the Huffington Post, is asking: Do Obama's Sinking Poll Numbers -- Signal History Repeating for Democrats?

If the media can be taken seriously – doubtful after their performance during the Democratic primary – Democrats are in trouble in a year when the presidential contest was theirs to lose. But they have only themselves to blame; after all, they went along with their media allies who repeatedly trashed Hillary Clinton, the immensely better qualified candidate, while succumbing to the allure of a talented motivational speaker. Obama demonstrated once again last Saturday night at Saddleback that he is completely at a loss without a teleprompter.

The good news is that it’s not too late. All Democrats have to do is abide by their own rules and hold a legitimate roll call vote next week and elect Hillary Clinton as their official nominee.