Legal Commentary

Obama On Offense - Against McCain, Not Palin

By Big Tent Democrat

The Left blogs fundamentally misunderstand what they are doing wrong. Markos cites TINS:

The Obama campaign has been successful largely because of its inspiring "new brand of politics". Unfortunately, as Bill Clinton might note, that makes it somewhat difficult for the Obama campaign to get quite as nasty with the opposition as it might need to. But that's OK--because that can be our job.

The problem is not the nasty - hell, Obama has gone full out on offense against McCain - the problem is the target Obama's Tier 2 (blogs and Media (see MSNBC in particular)) is aiming at - Palin. Get tough on McCain. Talk about how McCain is tied to Bush. The Obama Tier 2 (blogs and MSNBC) are doing a lousy job because they are shooting at the wrong person. They are not getting played, they just are doing the wrong thing. More . . .

Kos writes:

I'm not about to revert to writing puff pieces about Obama thinking that his magic "new politics" bullshit will carry us to victory. He may or may not believe that crap, but I don't. We're going to win this thing the way campaigns are won -- by playing hardball. . . . Recent history vindicates the "tough and aggressive" path. We went toe to toe against Rove and his machine in 2006, and our math beat his.

Markos forgets what worked in 2006 - tying the GOP brand to George W. Bush. Obama's Tier 2 blogs have been spending all their time going after Sarah Palin, not tying Bush to McCain since Palin appeared on the scene. That has been the grave mistake. Finally, Markos cites Bob Novak:

I asked one of the Republican Party's smartest, most candid heavy hitters last week whether John McCain really has a chance to defeat Barack Obama in this season of Republican discontent. "No, if the campaign is about McCain," he replied. "Yes, if it's about Obama."

In the blogs, the campaign has been about Sarah Palin for 2 weeks, not McCain/Bush. Let's get back to McCain/Bush.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 13, 2008 (boomark / email).