David Axelrod is an experienced Chicago political operative and Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist. He played a key role in lifting the almost unknown state senator to political superstardom in the 2004 US Senate race in Illinois. He is the man who designed "Yes, we can" as Obama's catchphrase when the candidate himself would have liked something more intellectual, something deeper. "Yes, we can" was a huge success when Obama defeated Alan Keyes in 2004 for the US Senate seat and it has reverberated many times over this year, becoming well known even in the Spanish version "Sí, se puede" that has been said to be the original version of the chant dating a few decades back to a different context.
Axelrod was hugely successful in creating Obama's image. A candidate that previously just couldn't deliver soundbites was suddenly delivering the catchiest of them. Can Axelrod now reinvent Obama, bring him back to a lead in the polls, starting with a good result next week in Indiana and North Carolina? Of course the results already are there, Obama has a lead in the delegate count that may in any case prove to be insurmountable even if Hillary Clinton keeps doing what she did both in Ohio and in Pennsylvania. But there is a general election coming and Obama needs a new start and get some of that freshness back that put him in the pole position in the first place.
Who would've fought that this far in the campaign the biggest issue that Axelrod would end up tackling is Jeremiah Wright? Obama's former pastor has even accused Axelrod of being responsible for the decision not to include him among the speakers when Obama's campaign was launched in the first place. Obama has denounced Wright's controversial statements in rather clear terms and Axelrod is the person credited with seeing Wright as a problem from the beginning. Axelrod himself has been making public statements, responding to Wright's criticism of him as not being in touch with the African American church scene, saying that Wright is out there for his own good, not any more helping Obama in any way. While Axelrod may have been rather perceptive of the risks of having Wright associated to the campaign in any way, the outfall of the pastor issue is certainly not very good for Obama so far. If Clinton wins Indiana, fingers will be pointed toward those responsible for Obama's campaign strategy and the handling of Jeremiah Wright will certainly be talked about in those discussions.
David Axelrod knows Chicago politics very well. He did wonders for Obama in Illinois and he has long experience working for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, a rather controversial veteran politician who never has been very close to Obama. Axelrod is also very close to Rahm Emanuel, another Illinois politician who is credited by many as the chief architect behind the successful Democratic strategy in recapturing the majority in the US House of Representatives two years ago. While Wright has been accusing Axelrod of being out of touch with the African American community and steering Obama away from that community, Axelrod has worked successfully even for other African American politicians, Chicago Mayor Harold Washington in the 1980s and more recently, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. The issue of race is more important in the contest than it has ever been. Axelrod needs all his experience from previous campaigns where race has been an issue in order to get Obama back on track as a uniter who reaches across all ethnic, racial and religious divides. Axelrod may be a rather cynical and harsh political operative, perhaps Obama's answer to Karl Rove but it is Obama's idealism and freshness that made Axelrod choose him over other candidates in 2004 when he could have made much more money working elsewhere.
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