Obama the politician....

The Chattering Clusters have chosen the right man in Obama even though he is a left leaning Democrat. Or is he?

Having dispensed with the race to become Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama now faces up to a tough electoral college battle with his Republican Party opponent John Mc Cain. All through the Primaries the media commentators had Obama pinned as a Liberal Democrat. He was clearly an ideologue and this would be in undoing because the electors did not want such a President.

But hold the phone! Obama is moving his political rhetoric and his policy positions towards the center of the continuum. Oops! What does this mean? What is a media pundit to make of this move? What does it do to all those projections about which candidate wins which States in the fall election?

Well the first thing Obama has to do is win an election so these moves are seen as part of the political strategy to win the White House. So he had to move to policy positions that appealed to the wider electorate and more especially to the so called 'independent' or non committed voters. These voters were not his concern when he was facing down Hillary Clinton for the nomination. Now they are front and center in his political calculations for winning office. That is as it should be.

What we are seeing with Obama is emergence of a gifted politician in a race for the highest office in America. His ability to read the politics of the race for the White House is beging to be his greatest asset. Why?

First he has won the Chattering Clusters and they will elect him no matter what he says in the lead up to the fall election. He is their teflon candidate and so nothing sticks to him except their votes. Second he has to now appeal to the Chattering Clans. Those independent minded voters who might either stay at home and not vote or vote for Mc Cain. Obama can appeal to them by showing how he will govern. Yes govern. They are going to see Obama running for the job of President of the United States with the same strategy around issues that he will have when he sits in the Oval Office.

It is important that Obama runs a campaign based on what he intends to do not what he has to say to get elected for two reasons. First he needs to win over the support of the independents so that he has a resounding victory in the fall election. Second he needs to demonstrate to the Democratic Party how he will act as the incoming President.

My guess is the 'independent voters' will like what they see of Obama in this election but the Democratic Party leaders will not.