Photo: Getty Images
Hey everyone! Remember Barack Obama? We know we’ve been pretty obsessed with Hillary these days, but don’t forget, even before she decided to cry, he decided to be black. So we would be remiss if we didn’t look into what the hell that guy has planned after New Hampshire. After all, now that the Democratic contest (or, for now, its press coverage) has narrowed to just the two front-runners, Obama is going to receive a heck of a lot more scrutiny (as was so eloquently explained by New York’s John Heilemann). As many seem to see it, Obama has two choices: He can, as Time puts it, “take up a sharper knife in his fight with Hillary,” and begin hacking at her the way she started slicing at him in New Hampshire. “I come from Chicago politics,” the Illinois senator said yesterday. “We’re accustomed to rough-and-tumble. We have to make sure that we take it to them just like they take it to us.” Or he can stay nice like always.
Obama and advisers have also said that they will not change his strategy of hope and gentility. And the smiles and the rousing stump speeches don’t seem to be coming as easily these days. Describing a rally in New Jersey, the Times reports today that “Mr. Obama’s energy level appeared to ebb at times.” “My voice is a little hoarse, my eyes are a little bleary, my back is a little sore,” Obama acknowledged. In that speech, he took aim at President Bush, arguably a safer and easier target than Clinton.
All reports have Obama hoping to strike big on Super Tuesday. Even his campaign strategy, as released by his advisers, affirms that goal. “In all of the February 5th states, we have active chapters at most colleges and universities and are pursuing support from independent voters aggressively where they are permitted to participate, which is in most of the states. California and New Jersey, two states the Clintons have pointed to as firewalls, both will have healthy independent turnout in the Democratic primary,” reads the plan, issued by campaign manager David Plouffe, going on to plead: “To fully execute a robust February 5th strategy, it will take tens of millions of dollars. Our financial picture is strong and growing stronger by the day, which will allow us to have a significant paid media presence to go alongside our grassroots operations in our target February 5th states.”
