Ok, in case you are wondering, Obama is being swift-boated. The republicans have gone after him by attacking his character, records and qualification to be the president of the United States. Like the swift-boat of John Kerry in 2004, the attacks are based on outlandish lies, fabrications and distortions. However, unlike 2004—when the 527s were carrying out the attack—the attackers this time around are the flag bearers of the Republican Party: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Sara Palin and John McCain. [Oh, don't forget the ex Democrat Joe Liebermann.] They have attacked and distorted Obama’s positions on taxes, jobs, healthcare, abortion, guns, community organizing, etc. They have landed some veiled personal attacks on his character and his race.
The goal of the attacks is to make him to look weak.
It does not matter that the Republican attacks are based on lies. A good chunk of the electorates don’t care. They don’t have the time or the inclination to find out the truth. Just look at their response to Sara Palin. “I like her because she is tough!” No further explanation necessary. They want a strong and a no nonsense leader. Appearances would do just fine, thanks. Rick Davies said that this election is not about the issues and he may have a point.
Yet, Obama's and Biden’s responses, so far, have been nuanced to appeal to eggheads. Why? Most eggheads are already with them. It seems like both leaders need to sharpen their messages. At the moment, many of the undecided electorates are looking for something else. Many of them are looking for strength. Hence, Obama and Biden need to show a little more versatility in their communication style. They need to toughen their rhetoric.
For some undecided electorates, it is not only about the issues. Other intangible qualities such as judgment and strength may be equally important. Clearly, Obama has been going toe-to-toe and tit-for-tat with the Republicans on the issue of judgment. I think he has a winning argument against them. However, I don't think that he is responding well to the new personal attacks from Republicans since the RNC Convention last week. These new attacks may be taking a toll on his reputation as a strong leader. He needs to fight back hard.
In years past, pivoting to the middle meant moderating ones position on the issues. However, this year, it might not be about moderating on issues. Obama's positions are more moderate than McCain's; the RNC platform turned hard right last week. Yet, the McCain/Palin convention bounce indicates that some independents are flocking to McCain/Palin ticket. I think pivoting to the middle this year means speaking the language that many common folks can understand. Unlike eggheads, I think that many undecided folks don’t have the time or the inclination to find out the truth about McCain or Palin. They get lost in nuanced discussions. These are the same folks that can listen to G. W. Bush’s words and say “this fella is a strong leader” instead of recoiling or cringing like the eggheads do.
The press won’t come to the aide of the Democrats to expose the lies peddled by the Republicans in their stump speeches and ads. At least, the Press won’t do so in sufficient details for the public to reject McCain/Palin ticket. The decks are stacked against Obama/Biden. Hence, they would have to take matters into their own hands.
The way to fight bullies is to hit them where it hurts.
Obama needs to start showing some naked toughness in the way he answers some of the ridiculous charges from the Republicans. Many voters on the fence want to know and see that their leader cannot be pushed around. They like no nonsense attitudes. Right now, many of these voters don't seem to see this type of attitude in Obama because he seems cautious and rarely demonstrate his toughness out in the open. He is too subtle and too diplomatic in his delivery for some folks to appreciate. Some of us know that Obama is tough. He had to be tough to beat the Clintons. We saw him display some of this toughness in the open during his South Carolina debate with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards many moons ago. He is our nominee today in part because many people were re-assured during that debate that he has some backbone and won't be pushed around. Now the Republicans are testing and challenging him anew with all their tough talks, accusations and lies.
Hillary had that tough talk throughout the primaries. The working class loved her. Sara Palin is now flaunting toughness and it seems to be working for her. Obama needs to bring it and bring it often from now until election. The eggheads are already with him.
Obama and Biden need to go on the offensive. They need to stop praising McCain’s biography during stump speeches and start calling him and Sara Palin out on their failings: Keating Five, Recklessness, Lobbyists, Sex Scandals, Carl Rove, etc. Did McCain actually crash two military aircrafts before losing a third aircraft in Vietnam? How much did those planes cost the tax-payers? There are things coming out on Sara Palin religious beliefs that seem just too scary for the average Hockey Mom. Many doctors recommend that their patients don't travel during the thirds trimester of pregnancy. Did Sara Palin actually travel on a plane during the last month of her pregnancy before she prematurely delivered her last baby? What are the circumstances? Given that she is starting with almost zero experience in domestic and foreign affairs, can she really put "Country First?" These are just some non issue oriented weaknesses of McCain/Palin ticket that can be exploited to put them on their hills. We can be diplomatic in playing hardball with them without sinking to their level.
Also, Obama and Biden need to be aware (always) that they are not addressing their senate colleagues in the campaign stumps. They need to speak in short direct sentences in response to questions:
Do you think that Sara Palin is unqualified to be vice president? Yes, she and John McCain are unfit to govern. They are divisive and polarizing. They have no plan for the economy. They don’t understand the nature of the global threat to American security. The country needs to go in a different direction. But, McCain and Palin offer more of the same.Do you think that John McCain is an honorable man? The John McCain running for office is behaving like a goon. He is not the John McCain that most of the country used to know and love. This John McCain is not a Maverick. His campaign and platform has been hijacked by the same lobbyists and Carl Rove handlers that put Bush in office. He is more of the same and will be too dangerous for this country.
Do you think that Sara Palin is unqualified to be vice president? Yes, she and John McCain are unfit to govern. They are divisive and polarizing. They have no plan for the economy. They don’t understand the nature of the global threat to American security. The country needs to go in a different direction. But, McCain and Palin offer more of the same.
Do you think that John McCain is an honorable man? The John McCain running for office is behaving like a goon. He is not the John McCain that most of the country used to know and love. This John McCain is not a Maverick. His campaign and platform has been hijacked by the same lobbyists and Carl Rove handlers that put Bush in office. He is more of the same and will be too dangerous for this country.
In addition, the Democrats need to be more aggressive and unapologetic about the fact that we care about people who need our help:
What do you think about the comment on your being a community organizer? Whoa! I am very proud that I was able to make a difference in people’s lives. It is a shame that the Republicans look down on folks trying to lift others up. They celebrate greed, fail to protect our citizens and then talk about “Country First.” Give me a break! We need to say no to their lies and deceptions. This November we will take our country back and create a government that works for the middle class.Do you think that so, so and so saying that you are “so so and so” is a racist comment? We the Democrats are the party of change. The Republicans have been on the wrong side of history from Franklin D. Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy. The crowd at the DNC convention is a proud representation of America: united and strong in our conviction to bring about change. The RNC convention is anything but “Country First” or “Change.” It is about tear them down.
What do you think about the comment on your being a community organizer? Whoa! I am very proud that I was able to make a difference in people’s lives. It is a shame that the Republicans look down on folks trying to lift others up. They celebrate greed, fail to protect our citizens and then talk about “Country First.” Give me a break! We need to say no to their lies and deceptions. This November we will take our country back and create a government that works for the middle class.
Do you think that so, so and so saying that you are “so so and so” is a racist comment? We the Democrats are the party of change. The Republicans have been on the wrong side of history from Franklin D. Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy. The crowd at the DNC convention is a proud representation of America: united and strong in our conviction to bring about change. The RNC convention is anything but “Country First” or “Change.” It is about tear them down.
And so on and so forth.
They need to boil down their message to a few sound bites and have their surrogates repeat them as often as possible—the same way the Republicans have been doing the last few election circles. However, unlike the Republicans, they have enough unsavory information on John McCain and Sara Palin that they won’t have to make stuff up.
Sunny, Seattle, WA
I am sure you have all listened to or heard all the hate mongering of the Republican party this past week. Today, I heard remarks from Pat Buchanan that if McCain wins, then Hillary will be back in 2012 running against Sara Palin. I feel sick. This is especially surprising given the pride and hope I felt the prior week after listening to the messages of Barack Obama and the Democratic party. This past week, I feel that I have been reluctantly thrown right back to the 1980s--with Reagan asking/ordering the middle class to work alone and avoid dealing with the collective interests of all Americans. For the past eight years, George Bush (with the help of a Republican congress for 6 years) took Reaganomics to it's logical end. Now, we should know better. Right? With all the economic and other challenges facing us, we should understand that United we Stand and Divided we Fall. We cannot escape from ourselves. We will succeed by being united and by unleashing the God-given talent of every single American. All for One and One for All! Anything else is just dillusional.
But, I wake up and see the pure evil and hate spewed by Sara Palin and the Republican Party celebrated by the so called liberal media: CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and NBC [Sorry, don't watch Fox]. Pathetic. A Pit Bull with a Lipstick is still a Pit Bull. There is no talk of HealthCare, the economy or a meaningful National Security in modern era [we don't live in the 1940s anymore]. With the media, it's all about the ratings they can get by covering Sara Palin--a relatively unknown politician that came (from nowhere) throwing hate and deception. We know very little about her. Who is Sara Palin? We know that, right out of the gate, she has shown little regards for an honorable American, Barack Obama. Yet, my fellow Americans have showed nothing but adulation--despite her caustic nature. Sara Palin is evil. She is a fraud. Alaska has gotten the more federal Pork spending per capita than any state in the union. Yet, the media is failing miserably at it's job as a fair broker of information. The media is enamored by the Soap Opera she presents. The broadcast networks are incapacitated by the rating bonanza they anticipate from Sara Palin's potential Brittney Spears crash and burn story. It is Soap Opera. But, the main issue is not just about celebrity news. USA is threatened by domestic and foreign policy challenges. There is no celebrity issue and gossip at stake in this year's election. The economy is at stake. The exploding HealthCare cost needs to be solved.
The world is waiting. Will the US get back on track or will it implode in self-hatred and disunity? Europe is ready. Russia is ready. Pakistan is ready. India and China are ready. An acquintance of mine asked why Germany couldn't take a better stance against Russia during the Georgian crisis. My friend was foolish; he lacked any sense of history. He knew not of the The Treaty of Malta and other treaties reached with Germany and Japan after WWII.
NATO and the United Nations were formed after WWII--to keep the peace. My friend understood little about how powers were arranged in modern world. He is a throw-back to an earlier time. His thinking is outdated. He seems unaware that much of the world has moved on. Countries have sought and achieved independence and are agitating for self determination. Many countries have sought democratically elected governments to pursue national interests. However, like my friend, George Bush and John McCain are tone deaf. G. W. Bush's policies of the past few years has endangered both NATO and the United Nations. A McCain administration would surely be the final nail on the coffins of both bodies.
If McCain wins, the situation around the globe won't be pretty.
We cannot afford to wait for a potential re-run of Hillary Clinton. Four more years of this Bush/McCain policies will mean that the rest of the world would have pivoted to protect their own self interests. Germany will surely aim to rebuilt her military to the pre WWII period--to fight off a resurgent Russia--by four more years of Bush/McCain. Similarly, NATO would be dead. Every nation in the middle east would have sought or already have access to nuclear weapons in four years of current US foreign policy; most countries in the middle east can already afford to buy nuclear technologies from North Korea, Pakistan and Libya. A McCain/Palin administration that disrespects and divides Americans (as they do now) would mean that the US won't have the unity and the military and economic strength to stop the middle east from total disintegration and strengthened extremism against America. In the next few weeks, we need to do all we can to change course and unite our fellow Americans to fight for the progress that many generations of Americans have fought and died for in the past: abolition, women's suffrage, civil rights, workers protection, consumer protection, freedom, etc., are all on the line. The choice is ours to make. Time won't wait. We don't have four years to wait. Thanks for listening.
Update: Ok, someone forwarded an insightful "Sarah Palin is Not a Hockey Mom" article.
