WP, Eugene Robinson: What Obama Needs: A Keystone Address

What Obama Needs: A Keystone Address
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, March 7, 2008; Page A17

....These numbers, then, say that Obama will probably be the nominee. But there are other numbers that say he has a problem.

In Ohio, he was notably weak among white, working-class, non-college-educated voters. According to exit polls, Clinton beat him by only five percentage points among voters whose family income was more than $50,000 a year -- but by 12 points among those with a family income of less than $50,000 a year. And while Obama beat Clinton 51 to 47 percent among voters with a college degree, he lost, 40 to 58 percent, among those who didn't graduate from college.

This pattern was evident in the early primaries that Obama won. It seemed to fade in the Maryland and Virginia contests and was hardly seen at all in Wisconsin. But its reappearance in Ohio not only buoys the Clinton campaign and ensures a fight to the finish but also suggests a promising line of attack for John McCain should Obama win the nomination.

Obama's ability to inspire optimism and hope has been his most effective campaign tool. For some reason, though, he has been less successful in leading working-class whites to share his vision of a post-partisan America. I don't think the main reason is race. I think it's class. Obama managed to escape the danger of being pigeonholed as a "black candidate" as opposed to a candidate who happens to be black. Now he has to avoid being pigeonholed as some kind of elitist smarty-pants. Republicans must already be dusting off the playbooks they used against Michael Dukakis and John Kerry.

Obama will have six long weeks to campaign in Pennsylvania, a state whose demographics are similar to Ohio's -- six weeks to find a way to speak to white, working-class, high school-educated voters about their anxieties and their aspirations. Winning there, even if it's not a mathematical requirement, could sew up the nomination and also reassure superdelegates about his ability to hold on to traditional Democratic constituencies in the fall campaign.

Obama has already demonstrated how much words do matter. Now he needs to find some new ones.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603116.html?nav=most_emailed

...they can be fickle and might just go to the Dark Side and vote for McLame if Obama doesn't find a way to win them over.