I'm an Obama Precinct Captain, but I'll admit to being blissfully unaware of his legislative record, other than what he's said in speeches. In the end I don't really care--his record is a wash with Clinton, but McCain's is obviously slightly better at getting his own legislation passed. I think this is going to be a talking point in the General election. I think it's a little unfair to complain too loudly about a rookie senator not getting everything done he'd like to while he was the minority party and opposition to the President.
Obama is a little green, and this is going to be the narrative going forward. The people who are voting for him don't care. We believe he's going to listen to the will of the people and use good judgment... Hillary isn't really interested in listening to the people, and McCain's judgment is a little suspect given all his flip-flopping.
Schmoab, I recently did some canvassing for Obama in SC and was impressed by the organization of this campaign. But most of the door-to-door volunteers were not well versed on issues. It was stressed by the captain that all issues questions from voters be directed to to him, if answers were not available on printed handouts. They didn't want anyone to accidentally give false information to voters. I thought that was a great idea considering the inexperience of most of the canvassers, which is to be expected in a volunteer organization.
That being said, I believe it is critical that precinct captains (at the least) should be familiar with their candidate's positions and accomplishments and be able to back their devotion with some rational substance. If not, then you will leave him vulnerable to just such attacks as you saw with Matthews last night. I have the Obama religion, too, but you and I and other devotees are not going to convince the rest of the electorate just with dewy-eyed devotion. The where's-the-beef-attacks are only going to get worse during the general campaign. The Republicans have already declared they are going to push on this. Time to get ready for the assault - be able to explain and support your point of view and don't let the Republicans outflank Obama.
I agree Mijoh, it's obviously not Obama's fault personally. But I believe the Obama campaign staff should have made sure that Sen. Watson was better prepared to speak on national TV during an election show, especially since Matthews has a history of lunging and attacking when he senses uncertainty in any degree.
Thanks for your good list of Obama legislative accomplishments and links. I think it's time for the Obama campaign to start publicly answering its critics and get this information out there or else the "fluff" characterization is going to stick.
