Hope: The Sequel

John Heilemann wrote in New York Magazine about the Obama campaign Hope: The Sequel.

Digby wrote about it, "I will never understand why political campaigns think it's helpful to telegraph their plans in public, but here's the obligatory "inside the Obama campaign strategy" piece by John Heileman in New York magazine. To the extent it isn't spin, it's quite interesting, and since so much of it is unflattering, I'd have to guess that's most of it."

Since much of the article talks about their worry about not having enough money, I wondered if it isn't just another political play since it basically says there's reason to be afraid of the other guy and we're short of funds. But as usual, digby nails it in her ending: "Speaking of which, has anybody heard anything about an agenda for that second term?"

One thing that struck me in the article: "But Obama’s plea to look forward, angel, would cut more ice if the economy would cooperate a bit more generously and consistently. The Obamans have been praying for circumstances like those that unfolded in 1983–84, in which slow but steady improvement on the jobs front would let them run an updated version of Reagan’s “Morning in America” campaign. Instead what they’ve been handed is a succession of fits and starts and false dawns, in which decent jobs reports are followed by anemic ones, creating in the electorate a widespread and free-floating angst—with just a third of voters saying the economy is improving and nearly two thirds believing the country remains on the wrong track."

Maybe they could do more than just pray.