The accusation by Clinton did not stick and it is not sticking for McCain. Chicago is anything but soft.
Barak Obama very carefully chose Chicago and its value system rather than the "imitative and elitist" culture of the East Coast. The Chicago persona with which Obama has clothed himself plants him solidly in the heartland. As in the TV ad that is now showing around the country, he carefully grounds his values in Kansas and the Midwest.
His campaign is being framed so that you have to be against Midwest values to be against Obama, even as his own life is rooted in Hawaii and Harvard/Columbia. The redeeming feature is that he chose that Chicago culture.
The mainstream media has now tried to shift gears and instead of being too soft they accuse him of being too hard-nosed. The Washington Post is trying to frame Obama as "ambitious" and "ruthless" and David Brooks of the New York Times framed him as “Machiavellian” and a “ruthless opportunist,” accusing him of throwing all of his principles under the truck.
The Obama team has, in turn, shown its own real talent at framing. Obama moves quickly when the political twists and turns that afflict any presidential campaign demand it. He hues closely to the instructions he has given his team concerning style: no shock Barak; Obama, no drama.
Change we can believe in is moving the campaign and the Democratic National Committee staff to Chicago and out side the Washington beltway and its stagnant politics.
It is actually a joy to watch framing when it is being done so well. Barak Obama has taken the title of "framer-in-chief" from Karl Rove. The Obama team does not, however, suffer from Rove’s hubris. They take the political reality thrust upon them and frame it to enhance the candidate. The McCain team can, like the Hillary team, only watch the poll numbers shift against them.
What we are seeing is that first-class political machine that is Chicago. It is constituent-centered Cook County politics and North Shore liberalism combined with Chicago’s freshness and its sense of democracy. This is the package that originally elected Obama to the U.S. Senate. It is the American spirit at its best.
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