Obama's best strategy? Attack

[depakid]

Cain's 'maverick' myth and ties to Bush should be prime targets.

If you've heard anything at all about John McCain during the last few weeks, what you've probably heard is that he's losing. His advisors hate each other, the media are ignoring him, and he's getting photographed in golf carts and supermarket cheese aisles while his opponent strikes Kennedyesque poses.

But here's the weird thing: It's kind of working for McCain. He's only trailing by, on average, a few points in the polls. Even after Barack Obama's week of European political masterpiece theater, the Democrat's support barely budged. The reason, I believe, is that Obama is making the enormous mistake of letting the race be entirely about him, which is the only way he can lose.

A recent poll found that half the voters are focused on what kind of president Obama would make, while only a quarter are focused on McCain. Obama has attracted more media attention -- and more criticism: A Center for Media and Public Affairs study found that, over the last six weeks, the major news networks have expressed proportionately more negative assessments of Obama than McCain.

McCain may be committing lots of blunders, but the blunders aren't hurting him because the spotlight is on Obama. McCain is getting attention for his attacks on Obama, especially his frequent insinuations that Obama lacks patriotism. The attacks are usually based on lies (such as McCain's discredited claim that Obama canceled a visit with wounded troops when he discovered the media couldn't tag along -- in fact, he canceled the visit, but the media were never scheduled to come).

Obama has barely hit back. His weak-tea replies express "disappointment" with McCain and reject the "same old politics."

Here's the likely rationale: The public, by a wide margin, wants a Democrat to win the presidency. So all Obama has to do is make himself acceptable and he'll win. Hence the focus on building up his own credentials rather than tearing down McCain.

Perhaps that sounds familiar. Let me refresh your memory: it was the John Kerry campaign strategy in 2004. Four years ago, the conventional wisdom had it that a majority of the voters would reject President Bush, so winning was just a matter of Kerry proving himself as an alternative. People "are looking for some change," one pollster put it at the time, "but the change has to be acceptable. John Kerry has to prove he is acceptable."

So rather than attack Bush, Kerry focused on defining himself. The Democratic National Convention was a model of civility and positive focus. The Republican National Convention, on the other hand, was a full-throated assault on Kerry. I don't need to remind you how it all turned out.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-chait31-2008jul31,0,4864579.story

[Triana]

1. Obama needs to stay steady and cool. Attacking McShame in kind is not the answer..

....I am NOT saying he should not RESPOND to McShame's attacks - but ATTACKING HIM BACK the same way is not the answer.

Obama is not John Kerry. He's steady, has common sense, is firmly responsive, and is smart. He HAS addressed McShame's attacks clearly and firmly and he's done VERY WELL at it.

His responses about McShame creating distractions are RIGHT ON, IMO.



EDIT: and the LAME$TREAM MEDIA, the GOP and McShame will ALL try to goad Obama into ATTACKING McShame. The OP is only the FIRST you'll see encouraging him to do it. He SHOULD NOT attack McShame in the same ways - he should RESPOND to McShame's attacks CALMLY, FIRMLY, AND WITH AUTHORITY as he has done - keeping his focus and staying on message (while calmly noting that McShame is dissappointingly unable to do the same).

If Obama goes on the attack against McShame - Obama will be painted as "angry" (whilst McShame can call his wife a c*nt in public and not be considered so - ye olde GOP double-standard). Obama CAN NOT and SHOULD NOT go there.

He needs to maintain his steady manner, remain cool, responsive, and ON MESSAGE about change in politics and he needs to continue to WALK THAT TALK just as he has been doing.

[caledesi]

2. The RW is itching to provoke Obama so that can say "see, he's an angry black man." NT

[depakid]

4. The media will criticize Obama no matter he does

and ignore McCain & Co.'s repeated gaffes and policy atrocities.

You really think that's wise?

Seems to me Rachael Maddow is right- if the campaign makes this election a referendum about Obama as opposed to a referendum about the past 8 years and McCain's fitness for office, we lose.

Again.

[Triana]

5. If Obama engages in McShame's/GOP's bullshit, the election will become a referendum about Obama...

...that's another reason he shouldn't.

He needs to keep focus on the failed policies of past 8 years - and the god-awful economic shape we're in thanks to them - and on what he'll do to change that.

Maddow is right on - as usual.

[depakid]

8. "Maddow is right on - as usual. "

Apparently, you didn't hear what she said.

It was the exact opposite of giving McCain and the Republicans a pass- though my guess is that she keeps her ear to the blogosphere, and hears these sorts of things, which may be why she sounded sort of depressed.

I can't think of a candidate who's ever been handed better ammunition by his opponent, yet the campaign has done nothing with it- preferring to focus on Obama instead.

[thoughtanarchist]

3. The attacks need to originate from disassociated parties.

The McBush campaign is using whisperers.

There is no reason, with so many volunteers on the ground, that Obama supporters cannot mount their own such whisper campaigns while maintaining no overt connection to the official Obama campaign itself.

[Triana]

6. I'm disappointed that more Democratic surrogates aren't speaking up too..

..where are the other Dems? Seems they've just left Obama with no support.

[Doctor_J]

7. But without Big Media on his side, the whispers will dissipate

like a Limpballs fart in a Cape Gerrado tornado. McSame's whispers wouldn't be doing much harm if Andrea Greenspan and all the other GOP media whores weren't reverberating them 24/7.

[CitizenPatriot]

9. use their tactics

sure MSM is going to ignore it, but it's worth trying. Send emails, letters, calls to the msm outlets pointing out areas of concern re McCain and wondering if they are going to cover it. Let them know you are a concerned citizen and there are many more like you. Let them know we are tabulating their lack of response here, if you think that's a good idea. those numbers can be sent out to certain folks who are amenable like Olbermann, Maddows, etc.

I like the email under activists here that lists all of mccain's financial stuff and sounds like it is addressing those issues defensively. That is their tactic, to draw out a debate that gives the msm something to DO. chase the ball.

it has to come from us, not from Obama. Just like they use their sickening email campaigns, so we can use the web. we are, as a group, smarter. The problem in the past is we couldn't dumb it down enough. But if we put our minds to it, we can. Plus, we have humor on our side. I think the causal way Obama brushes this stuff off and then says can we talk about the issues is brilliant. It needs to be backed up by support from people like us asking the tough questions. At the very least, we can be a presence. A force. An annoyance.

Go Obama. No more shady opaque govt.

[GoesTo11]

10. I hope the convention isn't so "civil" like 2004

When the Republican convention right after that was like a bunch of hungry wolves.

I don't mind that the Democrats weren't sleazy and lying like the R's were, but they should have taken Bush to task for everything he really did. Instead, they refused to criticize at all basically.

There's a big difference between being decent - which allows for truthful criticizing of the opponent - and being a bunch of wimps.

In my opinion, the Dems blowing of the convention and the Repubs making use of their convention is probably what decided the 2004 election. The Repubs didn't have to spend any time responding to Dem charges, and instead were able to spend their whole convention with purple heart bandaids and Zell Miller ridiculing the Democrats.

My nightmare scenario: Dem convention like 2004, except that Clinton night is about rekindling divisions in the party.

My dream: Dems call to task the entire Republican machine. Connect McCain to Bush endlessly. Reach out to all Americans and show what unity of a nation looks like and how it will give us hope for the future. Hillary (and Bill) play a major role as beloved statesman and stateswoman in showing the way. Repubs follow up with a hack job like Dole's that just seems mean, with Bush primping and prancing on the stage, lethargic endorsements, Huckabee and others positioning for 2012 and no one really paying attention to McCain, capped off by Lieberman making an abject ass of himself and McCain myfriendsing his way through a speech about nothing with a slur or two that get caught. Post conventions, McCain's support falls to Bush 20% range levels as people see that he is Bush III, and then he solidifies that level with an abysmal, confused and angry debate performance.

I can dream, can't I?