When you make appearances, especially as a guest on Meet The Press or any other news show, DO NOT do the following: (1) refer to John McCain as John - that's too chummy and viewers need to know it is the Republican candidate that you are speaking about; and, (2) When asked what your thoughts are about Joe Lieberman's speech at the RNC, do not chuckle and refer to him as a friend, and that your children are friends - that's too chummy and a lost opportunity to state that he betrayed the Democratic party and 51 MILLION voters in 2000.
You are in the big leagues now - senatorial congenialty rules DO NOT APPLY. Your supporters deserve better and demand better!
Something about this Obama-McCain 9/11 commemoration meetup just doesn’t sit right with me...their joint statement sure sounds nice, but what will the outcome be? It’s like the advertisement where Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich are sitting on a couch talking about unity. I feel like retching every time I see it.
Regardless, I hope Obama can make lemonade out of lemons – it’s a perfect opportunity to effectively articulate that what brought New York City back to its feet was not politics and politicians. It was everyday folks who cared about their community. Yes, it was COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS who performed the real work and who sacrificed the most – firefighters, policemen, emergency responders, charities, and foundations. When Bush said the best thing you can do in the face of this onslaught was to go shopping, it was community groups that picked up the pieces of this tragedy – silently and without fanfare. It was everyday folks who responded from all over the country to a call for duty. Meanwhile, war profiteers like Giuliani were turning 9/11 into a selfish, despicable opportunity to cash in with book deals, lucrative speech tours and faux patriotism – how dare he deride community workers during his Republican Convention speech! Don’t even get me started with his right hand man, Bernie Kerik, the Police Commissioner who thankfully was disgraced for the corrupt fraud that he was.
If Obama must meet McCain in New York City then he must also take a stand, raise these issues and do it on his own terms. Otherwise, he will find himself at the beck and call of Rove and his ilk who are already spinning some new conservative lie about Obama’s lack of spine, integrity, and commitment to our troops and to our country. Just wait and see....I guarantee that a new advertisement (approved or not approved by the McCain campaign) will surface soon thereafter and it will go something like this - Reverend Wright screaming from the pulpit about how America deserved 9/11; cut to the photograph of Obama smiling with his arm around Wright; then a shot of Obama by McCain’s side at the 9/11 site; ominous music will accompany tragic scenes; and a final bold print script will state – "which of these men do you really trust to take care of this nation, your family and our troops?"
Instead of waiting for this type of inevitable negative advertisement, the Obama team must act preemptively and air one of their own. An advertisement that defines what really happened post-9/11 would go something like this - hundreds and hundreds of images where the average citizen was caring for a complete stranger; an average citizen rebuilding their community; cut to a scoffing Giuliani at the Republican convention stating, "a what...a community organizer?" He knows damn well that he couldn’t have done a damn thing without the support of his community and the people that organized them. If you want to make it a general all-encompassing advertisement about community organizing then throw in Katrina and other events where real people are doing the real work that makes this nation great.
If Obama fails to take advantage of this opportunity, we will see the same old weak television appearances by Gibbs & Co., meekly whining about the other side’s advertisements (I can already see the response - you know Wolf, we went to NYC to show unity and to promote political unity – and now they are being mean to us again – darned it).
Go on the offense now.
I am tired of losing. Though I consider myself an independent, I have voted for a Democratic Presidential Candidate in every single election since 1984 (Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry – pretty slim pickings when you see it in print). Unfortunately, the Obama campaign is heading towards a train wreck unless it initiates a drastic change in its approach. It’s quite possible they will be the biggest losers of all time – and so will we. Here is why:
I am tired of losing – get this damn thing on track!
