I'm sccared that this thing is way too close in the must-win battleground states than it should be. I'm scared because McCain is building momentum, as expected and he's doing so on the economic argument. We didn't successfully counter the socialism charge. Its like we didn't even try and therefore allowed the myth to continue and embed itself into people's minds. We didn't successfully counter the "spread the wealth" charge or explain how helping the middle class helps the economy as a whole. I'm hearing that people are saying that the stock market will crash at the end of the year if Obama is elected because of the rise in the capital gains tax. Ridiculous!! And that Obama is for socialism....crazy!! But its become part of the other side's narrative, and we found it so ridiculous that we didn't address it with the full power of the campaign.
Now in Florida McCain's commercials rule the airwaves, particularly the Reverend Wright commercial by a 527. Mailboxes around the state are filled with RNC fliers saying horrible things about Obama. Obama's giving McCain an "in" with the "Obama is anti-patriotic" theme of his campaign with the dumb "vindicated" line. There is a reason the polls are tightening in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and the other battleground states.
Groundgame isn't the only thing that wins elections. Can we make it easier on us volunteers by doing a last minute counter-argument to the socialism/"spread the wealth just because its fair" charge? Then I would feel more comfortable about our chances, and a lot of the undecided or swing voters who want to vote for Obama but are scared that it means too much change.
By Dan Payne
WITH 99 percent of this remarkable campaign now behind us, we in the political class have learned some valuable lessons.
Candidates get the campaigns they want. John McCain is no better than his campaign. He's responsible for what comes out of his mouth. McCain's campaign was sloppy, erratic, ugly, feckless, and rife with last-ditch recriminations. Barack Obama's was disciplined, poised, seamless, and powerful.
Never call your running mate a "whack job." McCain's spinners claim solidarity with Sarah Palin, but it's not a good sign when an unnamed top McCain aide tells a reporter that she is "a whack job."
A bad VP pick can be costly. According to Howard Fineman of Newsweek, of 70 or so politicians, newspapers, and pundits who shifted from McCain to Obama, 38 said they did so in part because of Palin. The New York Times poll shows 59 percent of voters now believe she is unprepared for the job.
Women aren't suckers. They will not support a female candidate just because she's a woman. Palin is ditzy, unaware, mean-spirited, and embarrassing.
The endless primaries helped Obama. They hardened the candidate, broadened his fundraising and volunteer bases, and let the country get used to the idea of a black president.
Public financing of presidential elections is over. Obama had said he'd limit his general election spending to $84 million in public presidential funds. He reversed himself and raised $150 million in September - with an average contribution of $86. Meanwhile, McCain took the $84 million, criticized Obama, and got no credit for abiding by the McCain-Feingold spending reform law.
Obama's 3-D chess game. Obama has so much money, he's playing 3-D chess while McCain is playing checkers. Obama used his TV dollars to force McCain to resign in Michigan, while he's moving in North Carolina and has checkmate in Virginia.
Crisis reveals character. Obama responded slowly, but wisely, to the Wall Street crisis. His press conferences revealed a calm, confident, reassuring, and - yes - presidential manner.
McCain misread the severity of the crisis ("The fundamentals of the economy are strong."), pretended to suspend his campaign to "help" in Washington, did nothing, then flew to the first debate in time to lose it.
Late-night comedy kills. Palin was the butt of a running joke on "Saturday Night Live," and a daily target for Jon Stewart. One of David Letterman's Top 10 lists was Excuses why Palin took $150,000 worth of new clothes: "Need to look good for the Russians who can see me in Alaska."
The Clintons aren't invincible. Hillary went from favorite to tenacious underdog but ultimately fell short. Bill sullied his reputation with African-Americans and thereby helped Obama unify the black community.
War can be fatal to Democrats. No Democratic senator who voted for the Iraq war survived the primaries. Clinton's vote to go to war, followed by her stubborn refusal to admit she'd been wrong, gave Obama a chance to seize the liberal flag and claim first place in anti-war Iowa.
Don't put your campaign headquarters in DC. Obama's and Bill Clinton's first campaign headquarters were in Chicago and Little Rock, respectively. Neither suffered from Washington-style leaks, backstabbing, and blame games that haunted McCain's and Hillary's DC-centric campaigns.
Answering every attack is not mandatory. Obama responded when an attack looked damaging. But no matter how many times McCain linked him to Bill Ayers, tax-and-spend, and socialism, the Obama campaign answered that Americans need healthcare, jobs, and a middle-class tax cut.
If the incumbent president of your party is despised, distance yourself from him. But do it before the final week.
Americans want to believe. How else do you explain crowds of 100,000 in St. Louis and 75,000 in Kansas City, Denver, and Portland, Ore.?
The Internet beckons. Campaigns everywhere will try to mimic Obama's success with the Web. Now all they need is a brilliant, charismatic candidate.
Lie down with Schmidt and you'll get up with sleaze. Steve Schmidt, a Karl Rove thug, took over the McCain campaign after the primaries. McCain took his advice and lost the press and the voters.
The final narrative: poised beats erratic. Obama is poised for a big win Tuesday.
Dan Payne is a Boston-area media consultant who has worked for Democratic candidates around the country. He does political analysis for WBUR radio.
McCain is doing what I expected, fighting back the growing Obama tide of change by reverting to the old Republican playbook of flawed economic reasoning and accusations of socialism. McCain reverts to that because they are more effective at appealing to moderates than any Ayers Robocall. Here is an argument to help counter what amounts to economic fear-mongering by those misguided conservatives who will not let go of their Reaganomics textbooks.
The reason that the McCain plan should not be implemented has nothing to do with “fairness” or “spreading the wealth” as a principle of income redistribution for the sake of some sort of “socialism”, it is a real and necessary strategy to build a strong, solid economy. Why? It all comes back to jobs.
Giving more money to a big company is not going to encourage them to hire more people if that company doesn’t have the customers to sell their products to. They’re not going to just have a few extra sales people or cashiers or waitpersons, cooks, or…yes, even plumbers…. on their staff just sitting around with nothing to do because their customers don’t have the money to purchase their products or use their services. But that’s what Trickle-Down theory of economics tells us will happen. That if we give more money to the top echelons of the economy that the money will trickle down to everyone else.
In times of economic crisis like these, we need to build our economy from the ground up. American consumers need to know they can make their mortgage payment and pay for health care or the education of their children…and then they will spend the money that will get the economy back on track. When the American people have confidence in their economy and their personal situation, then they will spend money which will lead to an increase in sales for that company which will then hire more sales people, cashiers, waitpersons, cooks and plumbers.
My favorite analogy is from FDR’s economic advisor who likened the economy to a poker game. When all the money is concentrated in the hands of one player, the only way for the game to continue is for that player to lend money to the other players. When credit runs out, the game ends. That is what we got to see unfold these last couple of months. The player with the most can take pleasure in the fact that they have the most chips, but the game is done. The chips are not worth as much to the winning player since there is nothing to use them for, and the losing players are destitute and out of the game entirely. In the case of our economy, we cannot let that happen. We do not want the game to end. We need the game to go on and on and on for the sake of all the players and citizens involved. To get the game moving again the house, or in this case the government, has two choices: they give money to the richest player so they can lend money to others, causing the poor players to fall even further in the hole with ever-escalating debt….or the house can give the poorer players some chips directly. Those poorer players can then make the decision to pay down their debt and improve the overall credit situation of the game/economy or they can keep playing and hope to generate more chips on their own. The economy churns again and the players are all happy.
For the last 8 years we’ve seen policies that gave the chips to the wealthy players. Instead of those players putting the money back into the economy, there has been an unprecedented surge in the industries that cater to the wealthiest citizens and businesses: the financial services industry and real estate. The 90’s had the Internet and Bio Tech booms and bubbles that burst, but after the correction we were still left with progress and innovation. The Republican economic policies that Bush implemented and McCain wants to double-down on, have led to booms in industries that center on the buying and selling of financial “products”….that is, the buying and selling of MONEY. Instead of innovation in science, in energy, or something that furthers the progress of humanity, the trickle-down theory leads to the hoarding of wealth and improvements in areas of the economy that have little benefit to the overall economy of the country or the world.
As it turns out from "Inside Edition" Joe the Plumber does not even have a plumber's license. Joe was actuately planted by the McCain campaign so that McCain would have something to use against Obama in the debate. While on the topic of what level Republicans will stoop to, in Columbus Ga they have began stealing Obama and other Democratic nominee yard signs. I think we have to work to ensure Obama gets elected no matter what acts Republicans commit. We need to make sure he has so many supporting voters that these acts do not faze Obama's outcome. I am challenging everyone to take at least five people to the voting polls with you that you know are voting for Obama. Please pass this on. We have to fight harder than ever to get Obama in his well deserving presidential seat. All the negative ads just make me want to work that much harder.
A young friend of mine in Jolly Old England is so interested in our little colonial election that he's set up a my.bo site of his own, and he and I have been trading missives back and forth across the pond as we haven't in years.
In a recent email, my friend included a link to a marvelous piece of analysis by Andrew Sullivan he'd found in the UK Times online site. I'm not much of a Times reader - it's the UK equivalent of the Wall Street Journal... very conservative, a foil for the more liberal Guardian. But it's often the case that conservatives in other countries see clearly how UNconservative the so-called conservatives in the USA actually are.
Sullivan compares Obama to the Road Runner of cartoon fame - staying calm and cheerful while the Coyote tries to kill him every which way, only to find his violence turned back upon his murderous head. Sullivan notes that this strategy has served Obama since early in the primaries, when the Coyote was played (with mounting frustration) by Hillary Clinton.
I highly recommend the piece for anyone wondering why Barack Obama won't lambaste McCain tonight the way McCain deserves lambasting. Why he'll stay on-message, calm, and respectful, no matter how McCain implodes, explodes, and dares to punch below the belt.
He has played a little class warfare. But nothing too dramatic, nothing too angry, nothing too risky. The polling around the country is now more emphatically Democratic than ever before. Obama is now ahead in every battleground state and, by most estimates, could lose all the currently close states and still win the election.And still he’s calm. Not too cocky. A little aloof, but very professional. He learnt all of this as a black man in a white country: no sudden moves; no anger. That’s how he managed his white mother in adolescence. That’s how he manages a white electorate increasingly at ease with him. And, by a massive stroke of luck, that’s what voters want now. In an economy that is melting down, with two wars still raging, they want calm above everything else. They want to know that the man in charge will not panic, will not be flustered, will not blow up.
He has played a little class warfare. But nothing too dramatic, nothing too angry, nothing too risky. The polling around the country is now more emphatically Democratic than ever before. Obama is now ahead in every battleground state and, by most estimates, could lose all the currently close states and still win the election.
And still he’s calm. Not too cocky. A little aloof, but very professional. He learnt all of this as a black man in a white country: no sudden moves; no anger. That’s how he managed his white mother in adolescence. That’s how he manages a white electorate increasingly at ease with him. And, by a massive stroke of luck, that’s what voters want now. In an economy that is melting down, with two wars still raging, they want calm above everything else. They want to know that the man in charge will not panic, will not be flustered, will not blow up.
Hey Gramps! Beep Beep!
In the next few weeks we are going to hear a lot of propaganda obout Obama. I hope that the rebuttals are just facts and not character assassinations. Most people I talk to are tired of the negative campaigning that has taken over the Presidential campaigns. Yes we need to address the issues when they are presented but can't we do it in a positive way? Like,yes I did that (what ever it is ) this is why I did it or no thats not what I did at all hears proof.
In the last 8 years, there has been little need for Obama (or any other Dem) to buck the party. The evidence that the ideologically driven positions of the GOP has led us to disasterous consequences--in nearly every area--is obvious in healthcare, Iraq, international relations, and on Wall and Main Streets. Contention for contention's sake is not a show of strength. If Obama were to have countered his party, that would imply that he should have agreed with the republicans. On what issue, pray tell, could he have possibly agreed with the GOP? On the other hand, there probably were opportunities for McCain to go against what is now glaringly obvious; the GOP is woefully out of touch with what is best for America's future on the globe.
And, as for "Senator Obama just doesn't get it", an oft asserted charge of McCain, Obama's response should be, "I DON'T get it! Now, let's look at what I don't get. I don't get: (here Obama could string together any of the examples of McCain's positions, performance record, economic disconnection with citizens, etc.)." In short, Obama should leave voters with the understanding that what he doesn't get is McCain's out-of-touch campaign.
Obama should challenge the major underlying flaw in McCain's argument: If you don't agree with John McCain, you don't "get it."
The tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas topic that Barack mentions in his speeches does not hit home like it should because most people do not know or understand that Obama is referring to an actual part of the Bush/McCain tax cuts so it becomes a throw-away line instead of delivering a punch. He says something along the lines of "create incentives for companies that keep jobs here instead of shipping them overseas." Obama misses the mark when he mentions it because people don't know that companies are benefitting from a tax cut because they outsource overseas....they think how could that REALLY be happening? Because of the way it is phrased, it sounds like a fluff argument to them, but its a REAL argument. Some people at the company I work for joke that if Obama is elected we'll have to give up our India-outsourced IT jobs, but still 95% of the people in my company do not even know about it, and I'd say 98% of America does not know. He should change the line to "are you aware that under the McCain/Bush tax plan, companies that outsource actually get a tax break because they outsource? But no such tax breaks occur for companies who keep jobs in the USA. I will change that." None of us should take any part of the McCain/Bush tax plan and the public's knowledge of it for granted. I just went through it with someone who is knowledgeable about most things, but even she was shocked at the outrageousness about some of the loopholes. There are enough loopholes in his crazy tax plan to counter all of McCain's earmark babble!!!
Someone should make a You-Tube commercial highlighting the outrageous aspects of the bush/McCain tax plan!! America just isn't hearing enough details.
Obama should make a connection between McCain's lies and distortions of the truth (about Obama) with all of the problems brought on by the Bush Administration.
For example, Bush's lies about Iraq's role in 9/11 only led to war. His lies about WMD's in Iraq only led to war. Bush's lies about the promise of deregulation only led to financial collapse. Now, McCain is lying or distorting the truth with regard to Obama. When will it end? This tactic only leads to poor results - it is proof of bad judgement.
Obama consistently works with the truth; the results of being truly "straight" should be pointed out. The prerequisite to international diplomacy should be the capacity to not distort your counterpart's record; the results of this are written in young American soldiers' blood.
Here's a blog post that really sticks it to McCain for his 'distraction-of-the-day' tactics regarding suspending his campaign and asking to postpone the debate...
http://ourkarlrove.blogspot.com/2008/09/and-then-there-was-one.html
I think the last line is something we can take to the bank in this campaign!
From the moment Obama wrenched the primary from Bill and Hillary’s cold dead hands, our Obama has been lusting after votes he’s never going to get. Let’s call it the mean and ignorant vote. Isn’t that what it is, the flat earth society? Mostly this part of the great American electorate wonders how a black guy can run for president.
No amount of sticking up for the death penalty, guns, and huging the anti-abortion, anti-peace, greed-is-good-lunatics will put lipstick on him. Look, he’s black, did you notice? Case closed.
However, the tremendous cost of media, polling and campaigning for this effort has made a lot of the Obama team rich. The question is: are you guys now rich enough that you can go back to getting Obama elected? The world hopes so.
Our guy as is - this is the product. And the best salesman for this super product is Obama himself. Once he starts selling again – not pandering - then the rest of us will wake up. And we’ll sell too. And our enthusiasm, our conviction will win over the fence sitters. The fence sitters who haven’t even yet registered, and or might not even vote. Especially if the pandering and parsing continues.
The fence sitters, that’s the part of the electorate that will cancel out the flat earth folks. Let our Obama go!
Addressed to the Obama Ad Guys
I am an avowed Obama supporter and have become disheartened with the McCain Camp's recent activity post the DNC Convention and would like to offer the following strategy suggestion which I picked up on the C and L Blog: the third most read liberal blog with millions of page views a day. Please be assured that I am a real person, despite the pseudonym, and please consider "Anonymous Liberal"'s post as an actual, real thought through strategy. If McCain wants to make this election about personalities and not issues, then the Obama camp needs to find a way to throw that personality frame around him and his VP choice, which in effect will hold a mirror up to their insincerity, once that is done-you then have the best opportunity to press your case and bring the media frame back to you. Thank you for your time and consideration.
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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/13/how-to-brand-mccain-and-palin-as-liars/How to Brand McCain and Palin as LiarsBy: Anonymous Liberal on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 11:04 AM - PDT Over the past two weeks, the lies emanating from the McCain/Palin campaign have become so brazen that even the most cynical campaign reporters are clearly taken aback. While lies are commonplace in politics, you rarely see candidates continue to repeat factual claims that have been widely debunked in the media, especially claims about biographical facts (lying about your opponent’s policy positions is another matter).The fact that McCain and Palin continue to tell these tall tales about Palin’s record in Alaska is aggravating–there’s no question–but it also presents the Obama campaign with a golden opportunity. The key to exploiting that opportunity, however, is not to get angry or to join in the lying game. Neither of those tactics ever work well for Democrats. The key to fighting back is to brand McCain and Palin as liars through the use of mockery. I realize that everyone and their brother is playing the role of armchair political consultant at the moment, but please indulge me for thirty seconds.Here’s how I imagine Obama responding: “You know, I was listening to Governor Palin today and she repeated–for what must be the 20th time–a claim that every news organization has already disproved. She said she “told Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the Bridge to Nowhere.” Then I heard John McCain speak and he repeated that same false claim, along with several others that have been disproved: she didn’t ask for any earmarks, she sold the plane on Ebay, she fired the personal chef, and so on . . . . and while I was listening to all that, something occurred to me. I’ve been doing this all wrong! You see, I’ve been limiting what I say to things that are actually true. But campaigning is so much easier when can just make stuff up. So today I wanted to share with you some things I never have before. For starters, did I ever mention that back in my Chicago days I played professional basketball for the Chicago Bulls? It’s true: when Jordan retired, they wanted me to take over at guard, but I said “thanks but no thanks; I’ve got a job to do in the state Senate.” Oh, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before either, but my running mate, Joe Biden, he once wrestled a live grizzly bear…and he won! He also once sold the entire state of Delaware on Ebay. I kid you not. I don’t know about you, but I feel liberated. This whole “telling the truth” thing was really holding me back. Now I know how John McCain feels when he says that I’m going to raise your taxes, even though every independent organization who’s looked at it says that my plan gives you a bigger tax cut than his. Well, I say to you John McCain: two can play at that game. Did you know that John McCain will raise every American’s taxes by 800,000%? I made that up just now, but it’s as true as anything he’s telling you, so there you go. Oh, and under his plan, if you fall behind on a house payment, Phil Gramm and a team of monkeys show up and take your house away. It’s true. I swear. How do you think he got all those other houses that he doesn’t even know he has?”Okay, that’s enough. Hopefully you get the gist. The goal is to create a narrative, to brand McCain and Palin as borderline pathological liars. If done effectively, the press would absolutely eat this up and would play the soundbite over and over again. They are suckers for good humor and they already believe the basis of the narrative. This tactic would turn McCain and Palin’s lying into an ongoing joke, one that would pay dividends throughout the remainder of the campaign. If, for instance, either McCain or Palin were to repeat a lie during the debates, all Obama and Biden would have to do is say–in classic Reagan fashion–”there you go again” and everyone would instantly know what they meant. This tactic would work. I’m sure of it.
In the last weeks I se and hear complaints about why Barack doesn't do this or say that. I really think we have to remember that this election is about us. we need to stay focused and tell our neighbors and friends the truth about all of the crazy stuff being siad about Obama. we also need to tell them to think about the real issues and how the republicans are trying to draw thier attention away from th economy and healthcare and energy etc.
Please stay on point with how each one of us can make a difference and do not let anyone lead you of track in the work that you can do to help Barack win this election.
Obama needs to show some outrage about what the Bush administration has done to this country, the lies being perpetrated against him by McCain and about the direction a McCain administration would take the country in if elected. He needs to show some righteous anger. People do not respect those who can't get good and mad when it is necessary.
I have had this thought running through my mind for a while now and here it is:
This campaign has done a tremendous job of organizing a great campaign and in bringing our energy for the better of this country. With the tremendous amount of knowledge, ideas, skills out there, how would anyone convey those messages back to campaign.
I realize that there are advisors who know what they are doing and this is nothing against them. But then there are 'foot soldiers' who knock on doors, listen to them, think about these issues themselves and would have a say in what people really want.
I hope the campaign reads these blogs and other blogs around the web as well as channel a mechanism of thoughts from people on the ground to bring Barack Obama to the White House.
Any thoughts, anyone?
Presidents have been white males for so long that a lot of people who don't consider themselves racist have an indefinable uncomfortable resistance to picturing Barack as president, which they then translate as "he's inexperienced" or "he's unpredictable."
We need to see a LOT of pix between now and November of Barack with heads of state, Barack with Generals (preferably shorter ones) and Barack at a really BIG desk signing stuff and making decisions, so that the image of him as President becomes familiar to everyone.
We need to start using the phrase, "President Obama will ..." so those two words can sound right together to a people who are used to "President" being followed by names like Johnson, Harrison, Wilson, Clinton, McKinley, and (heaven forbid) McCain.
If we can make "President Barack Obama" seen and heard in the consciousness of everyone then we can get this extraordinarily gifted and talented man into the White House where we ALL need him--whether we can picture it or not.
I read David Plouffe's email today about John McCain's inability to remember how many houses he has. It raised a concern for me about the shifting tenor of the campaign, enough to start this blog. On the one hand, I'm glad the Obama campaign is not repeating Kerry's mistake of passivity in the face of slander. On the other hand, I'm saddened by what seems to be an inevitability in presidential politics. No matter how much candidates stress their desire to take the high road and focus on the positive, they end up devoting much precious time to defaming their opponent. In the case of McCain's houses, that strategy may backfire.
While I agree that the public must be reminded of McCain's "rich man" world, far removed from most of us ordinary people, it would be a mistake to focus on his wealth for too long. As a society, we Americans are encouraged to seek our fortune, are we not? Isn't that one of the pillars of the "American dream?" Aren't many of our leading, most-admired figures wealthy? Whether or not people feel they haven't shared in the wealth McCain has acquired, many of them will still respect him for having "made it" up the financial ladder.
Sen. Obama would do better to stick to his core issues as delineated on this website rather than attack McCain's financial success. Barack's ability to deconstruct America's problems and offer sensible, thoughtful solutions puts him in another world from McCain. That's the world I want to live in. How about you?
