I have seen numerous diaries on here talking about strategy Barack Obama needs to employ in order to win against Clinton, urging him to fight back, to counterpunch swiftly, to take the offensive, so that he would not be seen as an empty suit or a weak leader.
And the argument against his getting more forceful have been that it would cause him to get off-message, it would sully him with Clintonian gutter tactics, it would make him seem ungentlemanly, he would be 'picking on the girl', or that it would raise his negative perceptions among voters.
More after the fold...
There is one argument, above all of these, which I believe Obama is very aware of, and explains why, when under the triple threat of both moderators and Hillary Clinton, he did not appear to effectively fight back: Because of the racial politics of black anger.
I am old enough to well remember Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, and his two heartbreaking races for the White House. I wanted to, and never got a chance to vote for him, and to this day believe he would have made a good president, but for one fact: he has the aura and the bearing of a charismatic evangelical preacher, and is indeed a preacher. While we have seen here and there in Obama's stump speeches overtones of his 'preacher voice', he knows that in order to win over a wider constituency, he cannot be a charismatic black preacher inspiring through indignation, and in fact, there is more he cannot do: he cannot portray himself as visibly angry at the establishment he so hopes to change. And that is why he apparently 'lost' the debate by not counterpunching forcefully when facing the firing squad of the ABC News inquisition.
Instead, the next day he invoked, to the delight of the crowds, the 'Dirt off my Shoulder' move by Jay-Z. He cannot win with anger, and could have done himself irreparable harm both in polls and with his new voter base by raising the specter of race once more, because across the racial divide, it is fear of black anger that drives most white antipathy.
It is far better that Maureen Dowd affectionately rebuffs him with the moniker 'Obambi' and Chuck Todd thinks that his performance was lackluster and weak in a commentary he gave to Tim Russert last night on his show. Right after the debates Todd described Obama's performance as follows:
Todd says there was "a near disastrous performance by Obama in those first 40 minutes" of the debate in which he was forced to talk about his controversial remarks about "bitter" Pennsylvania voters, his troublesome former pastor and his relationship with a former member of the Weather underground. "This debate is going to lead a lot of Obama supporters to ratchet up the calls on Clinton to either withdraw or tone down the attacks.
And indeed, the conclusion by the pundits on Russert's show last night was that while Obama's loyal and millions-strong following were up in arms about his being treated, it is also true that he won the debate by 'not losing', but more importantly, he won the debate by not getting pissed off. Being perceived as weak gives ammunition to Clinton that she is tougher and more able to get in and fight for the White House, but the alternative of coming back too forcefully will lose him the White House once the nomination is secure -- and that is why it is better to be gentlemanly and appear weak, than to give strength to a belief that an angry black man is here to take over the nation with hordes of formerly-disaffected youth and AA voters, and maybe even take your guns away.
Obama knows what he is doing here.
(Updated) Commenters here have said that Obama is pulling punches because he is a 'good Democrat' and that he will not strike at Hillary from within the party, but won't be quite so generous with McCain in the General. Tips to commenters Jalapeno and Tobyrockssohard for saying that since he knows he needs Clinton's supporters in the fall, he will not go there with a fellow Democrat, but he won't have the same 'largesse' with McCain.
jkddude maintains
Obama's people have certainly studied Hillary, and her #1 campaign tactic in the past has been playing the victim.
He is not letting that happen.
Please feel free to share your own thoughts and theories.