Obama the new Dukakis after dumping Wright?

Perhaps kind of like calling pork “the other white meat,” Barack Obama as Michael Dukakis redux is Ted Rall’s take on the Illinois senator as potential Democratic presidential nominee.

He makes the comparison after an almost stereotypical take on Hillary Clinton:

Hillary Clinton has figured this out (that Republicans win elections in years when national security is a top concern). Her policy actions — voting for war twice, the Patriot Act, keeping silent about torture and Guantánamo — have been engineered to project Republicanesque hawkishness. She dresses butch and talks like a female prick--i.e., bitch. You don’t like her. She doesn’t want you to. She wants you to think that she's macho enough to deal with Them the next time They pick a fight at three in the morning.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has already given away a store he doesn’t yet own. He’s the new century's version of Dukakis.

“I would explicitly reach out to disaffected Republicans and remind them of some of their traditions,” Obama told U.S. News & World Report. “Very rarely do you hear me talking about my opponents without giving them some credit for having good intentions and being decent people.”

“I think I can reach out to Republicans and independents more effectively than any other candidate,” he said on “Meet the Press,” citing his “ability to focus on getting the job done, as opposed to getting embroiled in ideological arguments.” No wonder Republican pundits love him! Not only will he be easier to beat in November — if McCain loses, they'll get the same love from President Obama.

Rall then explicitly connects Obama’s March 18 speech on racial issues, with what he sees as Obama throwing Rev. Jeremiah Wright under the bus, as underscoring the Dukakis factor.

First rule of politics: never apologize. It won’t satisfy your critics, and it makes you look weak. If Eliot Spitzer had followed that dictate, he’d still be governor of New York.

First rule of presidential politics: fight for those near and dear to you. Michael Dukakis lost points when he was asked what he'd do if his wife got raped. (Correct answer:
”I would kill the rapist.”) If a man won’t stand up for his own wife — or his own pastor — how can we trust him to fight the terrorists?

That said, Rall notes that Wright is right about many things, including his accusing the U.S. of importing drugs, exporting guns and training murderers, per the lament of a Wall Street Journal editorial.

As always, Rall is thought-provoking.

I disagree that he threw Wright under the bus. I also disagree with Rall’s unspoken contention that Obama didn’t need to distance himself more.

That said, Obama could have shown himself to be a true progressive by specifically affirming his solidarity with the statements Rall noted that wingers in the Journal deplored.