Huff's Post

Arianna Huffington has a column encouraging Barack not to run as a centrist, repeating the calculation that all recent Democrats have made in positioning themselves for losing efforts. She offers a list of things Barack do to avoid their fate, including:

4) Tape to your mirror the poll results from July 2004, where Kerry was up by six, and June of 1988, where Dukakis was up by 15... and don't get complacent.

5) Go to YouTube and watch the concession speeches of Kerry, Gore, and Hillary Clinton, each of whom decided to run to the middle in an attempt to attract undecided swing voters.

She also reminds Barack not to walk away from being the candidate of change.

3) Get your campaign to give you a printout of the names of the over 1.5 million people who have donated to your campaign (at an average of $197 each). Give that list a read every day; feel the heft.

But Barack has already walked away from the game plan that got him the nomination, the campaign apparently convinced that they are so likely to win following the tried and true that there's no reason to mess around with being a different kind of politician anymore. They still talk the talk, but they have lost interest in walking the walk.

7) Heed the old Texas advice of Dandy Don Meredith and Molly Ivins: "You got to dance with them what brung you."

Voters longing for hope, inspiration, a new kind of politics, and fundamental change are "them that brung you" to the big dance. Don't let the pundits, the advisors, and the cowards convince you to let someone else cut in.

She's right, but Barack's handlers are students of history. They keep looking at John Kerry and saying to themselves, "he could have won easily if his campaign wasn't so pathetic." Barack is John Kerry II, and in the sequel, Kerry has a ruthless need to win.