The Thematic Trump Card?

By William Rabbe

If Hillary Clinton feels the nomination slipping away, it's not for lack of definition on policy...

With positions similar to her democratic rival, the differences between the Democratic candidates have been largely thematic. In case you haven't heard, the buzzwords are "change" and "experience". While "experience" is a good credential on a Presidential resume, "change" is proving to be something of a thematic trump card -- applicable in a variety of ways that we have seen throughout the Primary season: Change vs. More of the Same, the Past vs. the Future, Old vs. New, Forward vs. Backward... you get the idea.

In other words: Hillary's theme, experience, doesn't seem to be working...

Let's fast-forward to November and consider the electability factor: if Clinton was nominated, how would she win with "experience" against John McCain? He has the battle scars to prove his experience. Maybe this is why the "electability" polls have been reflecting a stronger Obama candidacy against the Republican in November.

To this effect, Senator Obama turned his focus away from the race against Hillary Clinton tonight and without missing a beat, he instead began addressing a presumed new rival: John McCain. It appears that the same arguments that Obama used against Senator Clinton will now be applied to him -- how's that for not flip-flopping?

But be ready, Senator Obama -- John McCain has noticed. The maverick Senator unabashedly quoted Obama's token line at the end of his speech: "fired up and ready to go" and had a response ready for Obama on his theme of hope: "To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It is a platitude."

WOW. The race is on.

A side note: remember the themes of the 1992 election were "Trust" and "Change" -- guess which was Bill Clinton's? Should she have known better?

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