MAMA NINFA, HOUSTON, TX -- The Obama traveling press corps is eating dinner en masse at this wonderful homestyle Mexican restaurant while we wait for the candidate to finish two fundraisers.
One cannot look at the Houston skyline and see the familiar skyscraper that used to house the corporate headquarters of Enron. Enron --> oil --> gas --> energy -->. The mind wanders and transitions don't grow on trees.
While we've been focusing on the race card, the Republican echo chamber has been sounding full tilt about Barack Obama's Jimmy Carter-esque turn as advice columnist to Americans about energy. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity spent part of their broadcast mocking Obama for urging Americans to inflate their tires to help conserve gasoline.
Obama had a point, and the auto industry recommends the same thing as do governors Schwarzenegger and Crist, but nevermind; the ridicule fix is in. An effective GOP shot.
Speaking of oil, Obama's broadside today against McCain and his associations with the industry ought to put in the context of the 2005 energy bill, which contained oodles of tax breaks for the industry. McCain opposed it for that reason. Obama supported it (a flawed bill, he admitted), for other reasons.
John McCain gets a protective body watch pool too....Obama has one, the result of a protest by news network bureau chiefs when the O campaign mislead reporters about his activities in re: that meeting with Hillary Clinton back when.
Obama spends two days in rural Ohio next week on a bus tour...
As we face the fundraising deadline at midnight tonight, I want you to know what we are up against.
Less than 24 hours ago, the McCain campaign launched the latest and lowest in a series of misleading attack ads.
This Karl Rove-style ploy misleads people about Barack's energy plan
and even mocks his ability to inspire voters and bring Americans back
into the political process.
Watchdogs in the media are calling McCain's accusations
"bogus," "desperate," "wrong," "misleading," "ugly," "offensive,"
"reckless," and "a nasty turn into the gutter."
Some of McCain's own supporters agree. One senior Republican
strategist quoted by the Washington Post called the latest ad a "wild
swing at Obama" that reflects his campaign's "increasing bitterness"
and the lack of "any coherent strategy to elect McCain."
Even John Weaver, a strategist who worked for McCain's
presidential campaign in 2000 and on his current campaign last year,
called the ad "childish," adding that this negative strategy
"diminishes John McCain" and "needs to stop."
But we will not let any attack stand. Barack himself responded
quickly and forcefully, and within hours our campaign created a
response ad to take their smear tactics head-on.
With the election less than 100 days away, media pundits and Washington
insiders will be watching our fundraising numbers more closely than
ever.
In the face of these new attacks, you can help demonstrate
that a movement funded by grassroots supporters giving only what they
can afford is ready to take on the Republican fundraising machine and
its onslaught of negativity.
Your support will also give this campaign a crucial boost in momentum as we build our organization to compete in all 50 states.
There are only hours left to make an impact in July.
Obama Taunts McCain: "Is That The Best You Can Come Up With?"
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA -- Here's what Barack Obama said at the top his remarks on energy security:
"We want to have a serious debate. But so far, we've been hearing about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I do have to ask my opponent: is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what the election is about? Is that worthy of the American people? Even the media has pointed out...that McCain has fallen back into ... predictable political attacks and demonstratively false statements... Spending all this time talking about me instead of talking about what he's going to do. That's not going to lower your gas prices. That's's not going...to help you find a job if it's been shipped overseas. It doesn't do a single thing to help the American people. It's the politics of the game. But the time for game-playing is over. That's why I'm running for President."....
ST. LOUIS, MO -- The Varsity Squad heads to Cedar Rapids, Iowa this morning to hear Barack Obama talk about energy policy. Exxon-Mobil's $11 billion profit will certainly show up in Obama's remarks. But will Obama mention, refer to, hint it at the the Britney ad and chatter that he's become a presumptuous celebrity? The vaunted Obama message machine surely wouldn't go off track..not even one teensy spike... . so if Obama mentions it this morning, it means that somewhere, somehow, his advisers worry about the perception gelling. Of course, it is totally true that the press corps (moi) would notice if Obama didn't mention it and would write stories with headlines like "Obama Ignores McCain Jab." Campaigns can't win.
To a point, it's true that the local press tends to cover the message of the day and the national press tends to cover what it wants. To a point. But the Britney ad was so compelling a moment in this campaign that I'd bet that local TV news in Missouri ran parts of the ad. (The network affiliates in St, Louis did last night... in the first block.)
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA -- Really, the press corps should pay attention to Barack Obama's sustained defense of his energy policies, which includes new language on John McCain's ties to the oil industry. But we're not: we're writing about the flashpoint of the day, which is the McCain campaign's contention that Obama is illegally playing the "race card," of bluffing about bias.
"Barack
Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck.
It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."
Here's their evidence, from Obama's town hall meeting in Springfield yesterday:
So nobody really thinks that Bush or
McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face, so what they're going to
try to do is make you scared of me. You know, he's not patriotic enough. He's
got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other Presidents on
those dollar bills, you know. He's risky. That's essentially the argument
they're making
Obama is trying to associate McCain's disputably tasteful but non-racist characterological attacks with the peripheral below-the-line attacks on Obama's race or cultural otherness.
Now, Obama "doesn't have the typical biography that others do," and
he "doesn't come to this the way that others did," says his chief
message maven, Robert Gibbs. And that's what Obama means, Gibbs says,
when he points to the faceplate of currency.
And McCain's campaign is trying to play the aggrieved victim card, trying to generate the type of outrage that legitimately follows when the "race card" is played illegitimately. Also, by putting on their poker face a day after the Britney/Paris ad, McCain's campaign might be trying to associate criticism of McCain's tactics with the allegedly laid down race card. McCain's aides have been waiting to use this "race card" card for a while, saving it up like one of those Uno Draw Fours.
Republicans on the periphery of the party apparatus use "Barack Hussein Obama" as if Obama was a presidential assassin, and more respectable talk radio hosts use a slightly thinner version of the encomium -- that Obama, with all his mysterious radical friends , is a dangerous, unknown commodity.
And this is undeniably true: Obama's name is unconventional. A good number of white folks in Missouri haven't ever seen a black presidential candidate, much less had to contemplate voting for one.
Stipulating that McCain isn't race-baiting doesn't mean that Obama ought to refrain from recognizing that some people who might be inspired by his message might also be a little wary, a little prejudiced in the way that most of us are, a little confused about what this unusual guy is all about.
McCain isn't race baiting. And campaign operations chief Steve Schmidt has told his communications staff that he will fire any campaign operative on sight who even thinks of trying to exploit racial prejudice. Democrats might be skeptical of this, but there's no evidence to say otherwise.
McCain Adjusts Language On Social Security And Taxes
Here is John McCain's full answer on Social Security and taxes. Note my emphasis:
"I am opposed to raising taxes. Senator Obama wants to raise your taxes. He wants to raise your taxes and if any negotiation I might have when I go in my position will be that I am opposed to raising taxes, but we have to work together to save Social Security."
A night's sleep a few thoughts on celebrity, John McCain;'s ad, celebrity, and what voters will make of all of this.
1. John McCain is the Republican least associated with the Bush brand of politics. His appeal is based on his independence, and particularly on his independence from partisan bickering. Eroding his brand could be really dangerous. The political cognoscenti thinks these new Marquess of Schmidtberry rules may work to McCain's benefit in the short term. Longterm: tba.
2. Celebrity? How many movies and TV shows has McCain appeared in? How many SNLs has he hosted? Wasn't a movie made about his life? Wasn't McCain the original politician celebrity? Celebrity?
3. A prominent Republican strategist writes in:
Has
anybody asked the McCain campaign if they considered Michael Deaver's golden rule of
image management -- that the visual images count so much more than the
voiceovers? Deaver famously thanked a network news correspondent (Leslie
Stahl, I think) for a hit piece on Reagan, telling her to watch it with the
sound off -- which showed a bunch of flattering presidential images with
flag-waving supporters.
The
McCain ad seems to violate that idea -- the images of Obama smiling and being
cheered on by hundreds of thousands of American-flag-waving Europeans are
downright inspiring, no matter which side you're on. Hell, I can't
stand Obama at this point and I find those images uplifting. Yet
McCain uses them in his own ad. Has anybody asked them about the wisdom of
that?
Another way of saying this is: will voters associate Barack Obama with Britney Spears? Or will they just see the pictures. Or will they have a meta-reaction along the lines of: "What the heck?"
Beyond the head-to-head (Obama's leading among registered voters by seven points), check out these questions about attributes:
37% think Obama is arrogant (34% think McCain is
arrogant.); 63% do not think Obama is arrogant. 44% think he's acting
as if he's already won the election; 56% don't. 72% think Obama cares
about military veterans. 65% think Obama's overseas trip was
"appropriate."
The poll also found that Barack Obama has an advantage on issue of taxes, broadly defined.
1. Bill Richardson's spokeperson passes along news that Richardson will host two fundraisers in New Mexico to help Sen. Hillary Clinton repay her campaign debt.
2. This is not our beautiful Ludacris! Obama distances himself from the foul-mouthed rapper and the conservative blogs go crazy.
3. John McCain's "Celeb" ad accuses Barack Obama of wanting to raise taxes on electricity concerns. They cited an interview Obama gave to a Texas newspaper in February. (
ยท Barack Obama Told A Texas Newspaper: "What We Ought To Tax Is Dirty
Energy, Like Coal And, To A Lesser Extent, Natural Gas." ("Q&A With
Sen. Barack Obama," San Antonio Express-News, 2/19/08) The context for Obama's words, though, suggest that he was referring to a cap-and-trade emissions credit scheme. Which John McCain also supports. But there's enough wiggle room for McCain's camp to make the charge.
4. Quinnipiac polls of battleground states, including Florida and Ohio, are out tomorrow.
After the jump, see the Republican National Committee's response to Barack Obama's town hall meeting in Springfield, MO today.
"It is not surprising that a candidate as inexperienced as Obama would resort to exaggerations, but it is surprising that he would take as many liberties as he does with his own record, much less Senator McCain's," said Danny Diaz, the RNC's communications chief.
SPRINGFIELD, MO -- "They say that he's arrogant," Sen.
Claire McCaskill said of Barack Obama. "That he's unpatrioptic. "Well --"Blah, blah, blah."
Today,McCaskill's
pitch to this sea of white faces was cultural. "I know this man," she said of
Obama. "He is humble. He is devoutly Christian. He loves his family more than
anything else in the world. He reveres our men and women in uniform and he is
as red white and blue as you can possible get."
Obama is spending the
day rolling through central and south Missouri, visiting cities and towns where
Democrats don't usually go. Rolla, where
Obama traveled later in the day, had not seen a Democrat forever.This part of the state is culturally closer
to the South than to the Midwest.
McCaskill's 2006 victory over incumbent Sen. Jim Talent is a puzzle of sorts. Riding on the tide of Democratic enthusiasm,
she overperformed in the state's urban centers and capitalized on Republican
disaffectionin other parts of the
state.When she ran for governor in 2004,
she lost, managing to win only nine rural counties. (John Kerry won one.)Running for Senate two years later, she ran a
model populist campaign and focused heavily on rural precincts she had earlier
ignored.She was tough on national
security - no "cutting and running," pro-gun, and with the exception of her
support for embryonic stem cell research , steered clear of the cultural
landmines that tend to trip up Democrats.
Weaver, McCain's Former Strategist, Calls "Celeb" Ad "Childish"
John Weaver,for years one of John McCain's closest friends and confidants,has been in exile since his resignation from McCain's presidential campaign last year.With the exception of an occasional interview, he has, by his own account, bit his tongue as McCain's campaign has adopted a strategy that Weaver believes "diminishes John McCain."
With the release today of a McCain television ad blasting Obama for celebrity preening while gas prices rise, and a memo that accuses Obama of putting his own aggrandizement before the country, Weaver said he's had "enough."
The ad's premise, he said, is "childish."
"John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said. "Whatever that means.And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags."
Weaver remains in contact with senior McCain strategists and, for a while early this year, regularly talked to McCain.
The strategy of driving up Obama's negatives "reduces McCain on the stage," Weaver said.
"For McCain to win in such troubled times, he needs to begin telling the American people how he intends to lead us. That McCain exists. He can inspire the country to greatness."
He added: "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's. For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop."
On a conference call with reporters, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the ad "addresses a unique facet in Barack Obama's campaign that is unlikenbsp; any other campaign we've seen in modern history: a campaign that is focused on the development of an enormous image of celebrity status." Davis and Weaver do not get along, and the campaign's operations chief, Steve Schmidt,was reportedly upset that Weaver told the New York Times that the campaign "lost" the week that Obama went overseas.
Obama, speaking to reporters outside a diner in Lebanon, MO, at first did not answer a question about the ad. Then he said,.
"You know, I don't pay attention to John McCain's ads, although I do notice he doesn't seem to have anything to say very positive about himself. He seems to only be talking about me. You need to ask John McCain what he's for and not just what he's against," he said.
This time, it's a memo from campaign manager Rick Davis. Obama is compared to Tom Cruise, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears... the memo drips with the type of patented status/class/cultural warfare that Republican political operatives used to great effect in the 80s and 90s. It mocks Obama's eating preferences -- (are Republicans against protein bars?), his drink of choice (Republicans only love their beer?) and his exercise routine. (Republicans against exercise?)
Linda Douglass, Obama's traveling press secretary, responded by saying that McCain " They release another false ads on a day when he's being attacked for running false ads."
While I'm tweaking the mockery, it's worth noting that this stuff has worked in the past; theoretically, it pigeonholes Obama as a northern liberal with effete tastes. (Karl Rove loves to use the word "effete" against liberals). . It worked against John Kerry in 2004. It worked for Hillary Clinton in the primaries. It worked for Andrew Jackson against John Quincy Adams. (I know, Jackson was a Democrat...) It works not because of the fact of thing -- windsurfing is not an elite sport -- but because it allows partisans to feel superior and allows Republicans to begin to build an entire narrative around their opponents' purported elitism. BTW: you can see the train of thought: Obama --> full of himself --> arrogant --> celebrity --> self-possessed --> doing things for himself, not for the country, BTW: What type of shoes does McCain wear?
To: Interested Parties
From: Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager
Date: July 30, 2008
Re: Barack Obama's Celebrity
Barack Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world, comparable to Tom Cruise, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. As he told Congressional Democrats yesterday, he has become the "symbol" for the world's aspirations for America and that we are now at "the moment ... that the world is waiting for."
Only a celebrity of Barack Obama's magnitude could attract 200,000 fans in Berlin who gathered for the mere opportunity to be in his presence. These are not supporters or even voters, but fans fawning over The One. Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand "MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew -- Black Forest Berry Honest Tea" and worry about the price of arugula
Yet, despite all of the fans, paparazzi and media adoration, the American people still have questions: Is Barack Obama prepared to lead? Is being famous the same as being a credible commander in chief?
Like most worldwide celebrities, this status has fueled a certain arrogance. As The Washington Post reported this morning, Barack Obama has gone from his party's presumptive nominee to "its presumptuous nominee." His advisers are constantly reminded that their candidate is not actually the President of the United States, despite the "presidential" seal. On his plane, his chair reads "President."
Barack Obama's presumptuous arrogance is staggering considering that as a United States Senator he has almost no re
cord of accomplishment. As Richard Cohen wrote yesterday in The Washington Post:
"'Just tell me one thing Barack Obama has done that you admire,' I asked a prominent Democrat. He paused and then said that he admired Obama's speech to the Democratic convention in 2004. I agreed. It was a hell of a speech, but it was just a speech. On the other hand, I continued, I could cite four or five actions -- not speeches -- that John McCain has taken that elicit my admiration, even my awe."
On issues big and small, there is a gap between Barack Obama's soaring rhetoric and celebrity and the facts behind them. What he says and what he does are often two very different things, leaving the American people to wonder what he actually believes, or if he believes in anything beyond himself. He says he will change Washington, but in the U.S. Senate, he has requested nearly $1 billion in pork-barrel spending. He says he will only raise taxes on the rich, but he voted to raise the taxes of those making just $32,000 per year. He says he wants energy independence, but he opposes new drilling at home; opposes nuclear power; and opposes encouraging the invention of an advanced, affordable electric car. On Iraq, he says he wants peace, but even today opposes the surge strategy that has succeeded and will succeed in Afghanistan. Our nation doesn't need another politician in Washington who puts his self-interest and political expediency ahead of problem-solving.
As the world's biggest celebrity, Barack Obama has the entourage and all the trappings of fame. Today, his campaign is more about advancing Barack Obama and less about solving the challenges facing our country.
"Quick Draw" Obama Challenges McCain To "Duel" (Updated with McCain response)
SPRINGFIELD, MO --
"Wild Bill Hickock," Obama said.
"I was reading on the way over here that he had his first duel in the town square here in Springfield.."
"Now, I don't know if people are aware of the fact... and I have not done ... the research... Family legend is that Wild Bill Hickock is a distant cousin of mine."
"I'm serious. I'm serious. I don't know if it's true..."
"We're gonna research that. Because I'm ready to duel
John McCain on taxes."
He pantomimed a quick draw.
"A quick draw...." he said.
Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesperson, responds:
"If Barack Obama wants this so-called 'duel' than why did he
and his entourage run for the hills when John McCain challenged him to ten town
halls? The truth is Barack Obama's bad judgment led him to vote in support
of higher taxes 94 times in just three years in the Senate, and he can't hide
from that."
A new ad from Sen. John McCain mocks Obama's adoring reception overseas but contends that he has no solutions for problems here at home. It will air as part of the campaign rotation in CO, IA, MI, MO, NV, NH, NM, OH, PA, VA and WI.
ANNCR: He's the biggest celebrity in the world.
But, is he ready to lead?
With gas prices soaring, Barack Obama says no to offshore drilling.
And, says he'll raise taxes on electricity.
Higher taxes, more foreign oil, that's the real Obama.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.
McCain manager RIck Davis will host a conference call today to discuss the ad, which the campaign calls "celeb."
"We may be the first generation to pass on an America that is a little
poorer than the one we inherited from our parents and grandparents." (Barack Obama at a fundraiser last night)
Today, Barack Obama kicks off a week of "economic security" town hall meetings across the country. He will use the events to inject what his campaign considers some "realism" into he presidential race. The economy is in considerable peril, and Americans will be called upon to sacrifice.
"We're going to have to work our way out of the pickle we've been
put in."
The town halls will always begin with a real person telling a real story. And Obama will intersperse his policy proposals with a teensy bit of tough love.
The people I've met during this campaign in town
halls and living rooms; on farms and front porches - they know that
government can't solve all their problems, and they don't expect it
to. They're willing to do their part - to work harder and study
more and replace the remote controls and video games with books and homework.
They believe in personal responsibility and self-reliance. They don't
like seeing their tax dollars wasted.
"Economic security" is a phrase that has polled well for Democrats but otherwise doesn't mean much to real voters. Consultants like it. It suggests a certain sobriety that you don't often find at Obama events -- not this one, where the entire crowd seems to be the chorus.
Obama will use his prepared remarks to try and recast the debate about taxes.
If Senator McCain wants a debate about taxes in this
campaign, that's a debate I'm happy to have. Because while
we're both proposing tax cuts, the difference is who we're cutting
taxes for. Senator McCain would cut taxes for those making over $3 million.
I'll cut taxes for middle class families by three times as much as my
opponent. Let me be clear: if you're a family making less than $250,000,
my plan will not raise your taxes - not your income taxes, not your
payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. And unlike
my opponent, I'll pay for my plan - by cutting wasteful spending,
shutting corporate loopholes and tax havens, and rolling back the Bush tax cuts
for the wealthiest Americans.
NB: Heck has no rebuttal like a Time Magazine reporter misinterpreted. Michael Scherer of Time sticks by the context of a quote attributed to McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. His headline: Why Obama Offers A Net Tax Cut
SPRINGFIELD, MO -- The RNC has modified a page from their "Barack Book" mock social networking site because the church they associated Obama with -- the Messiah Lutheran Church -- turned out to be a real denomination affiliated with the Missouri Synod.
The site, styled after Facebook, included a link to a real Facebook page, and next to an entry for "employer," someone sympathetic to McCain -wrote in "Messiah Lutheran Church."
No subtlety there.
But there really are Messianic Lutherans. Most of them live in Missouri. The church has branches in California and Nebraska. (From Get Religion:
Being a member of a Missouri Synod Lutheran
congregation, I was surprised to find out we were in fellowship with a
group I'd never heard of -- Messianic Lutherans. So I went to that link
that Ambinder provides for Messianic Lutherans and realized he'd done a
Google link to congregations named Messiah Lutheran Church. One of my
good friends is a pastor of a Messiah Lutheran Church <http://www.messiahkenosha.org/> in Wisconsin. Naming your church Messiah Lutheran, or Immanuel Lutheran <http://www.immanuelalexandria.org/> , or St. John's Lutheran <http://www.stjohnsmg.org/> , or Martini Lutheran <http://martinilutheran.org/>
doesn't make you part of a denomination called Messianic Lutherans,
Immanuelite Lutherans, Juanite Lutherans or Martini Lutherans! It just
means you've named your congregation. All of these congregations are
Missouri Synod Lutheran congregations. Just like every other Christian
church in the world, they have their own name. Oy vey! So just to recap, there is no "real denomination" of Messianic
Lutherans associated with the Missouri Synod. It doesn't have branches
in California and Nebraska. Most of them aren't in Missouri. And we
tend to self-identify as confessional Lutherans rather than as
evangelical Christians.)
Since disaffiliating from the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, McCain Obama has not formally affiliated with any other denomination.
This is a small point and a small mistake, but it's something that will make some McCain allies cringe. Here in Missouri, the political climate is poor for Republicans and McCain can't afford to alienate any evangelical group. His campaign can't afford the perception that they use evangelicals to mock Obama.
Danny Daiz, an RNC spokesman, said neither he nor anyone at the RNC or the McCain campaign added the line about Obama's religion and he did not know why the page was taken down.
SPRINGFIELD, MO -- Writing a Messiah Watch could get me kicked off the bus here, but onward! Dana Milbank teed this up, quoting Obama's boast to Democratic members of Congress:
"I have become a
symbol of the possibility of America
returning to our best traditions," he said.
Slam dunk, right?
Well, actually...
I asked the Obama campaign about the quote, and they provided some context that makes this particular utterance more digestible.
"It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds,
the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin,
is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a
symbol..." Obama said, according to the campaign.
And here's the thing about that.
He's kind of right. Not universally so, and there's real way to know how Iraqis or Jordanians viewed his visit, but if the European elite even marginally reflects or influences the views of Europeans, then a whole lot of them associate Obama with a restoration of American (a) glory or (b) humility, depending on the country. To put it another way, Europeans see Obama as being on the right side of history. Not all of them. But a lot of them.
A few other points:
The Capitol Police and the Secret Service, not the Obama campaign, closed the halls for Obama to pass yesterday. If you're inclined to think Obama presumptuous for this, then John McCain is also on your list; last week in Columbus, the police department there gave him full intersection control during rush hour. Oh, and that was David Cameron to whom Obama "gave some management advice," not to Gordon Brown, although Brown could probably have used it!
SPRINGFIELD, MO -- The Obama campaign is focused like a quarterback on the economy, and they won't let anything detract from the message. Obama's meeting Tuesday with Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, in Washington was notable for what did not happen: no press pool was allowed in to "spray" the event. Why? A picture of Obama and the PM and the chance to ask him a few questions would detract from the message of the week, which is the economy. The press would surely have baited both men into a debate about Pakistani sovereignty. Not this week. (To be sure, the PM's schedule might not have permitted time for a spray, but Obama's campaign would not have pressed the point.)
Obama has economic two town hall meetings today in Missouri. He picnics in the evening with Sen. Claire McCaskill, who flew with him here last night.
Obama's biggest advantage today is not his historic candidacy or his
ability to give a speech or this efficient campaign organization, but
the fact he has a D on his back. My guess is any other Democrat running
this year would have at least a five point lead if not larger.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, on January 10 2007 predicted (watch HERE) that the surge of troops in Iraq would fail
As Obama meets with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, this headline from the Financial Times:
Pakistan's government yesterday abruptly reversed an order issued on
Saturday placing the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency under
the control of the -interior ministry.
Control of the ISI reverted back to the prime minister's office - an arrangement that has existed for years.
Our modern metaphor for Republicans who wear their frustrations on their sleeve is Bob Dole, as Jonathan Martin points out. Just what about John McCain's past two weeks are so irksome to the political class?
HUCKABEE: Well, I think he missed an opportunity. Instead of having
some fun with it and showing sort of a buoyant 'hey, do what you've got
to do, let Obama go play basketball, I'm solving problems.' Do it with
tongue and cheek.
Frankly, I thought he looked more like Bob Dole in the last days of the
1996 campaign saying 'look at the record, look at the record,' and
there was some anger and sense of frustration there.
To be fair, McCain's campaign tried this, giving their press corps a "junior varsity" pass and joking about the media's captivity. But "anger" and frustration" mean that McCain is letting us see him sweat. He 's wearing his discomfort on his sleeve. The McCain brain trust is reconciled to the fact that the rest of the campaign will be about Obama.
They're encouraged by public and private polling showing a fairly close
race; they're encouraged that the political class is pressing Obama on
the surge; they're convinced that Obama has nowhere to go but down as
more and more voters are exposed to his thin resume and unearned
self-confidence.
There are two main criticisms of the McCain campaign right now. They both follow the premise that McCain will win only if uses the next 98 days to espouse a unified, coherent message that simultaneously lifts McCain above Obama while highlighting Obama's profound inexperience. One line holds that McCain is too reactive and angry, that his campaign's contempt for Obama manfiests itself too obviously, and that McCain seems small. The other is that there is nothing in McCain's portfolio right now that reminds voters of the guy who capitivated millions in 2000. Instead, it seems like every day the campaign is forced to explain for McCain what they think McCain ought to stand for.
Many successful campaigns generally are internally directed. They do not let
outside events determine their strategy. When they screw up, they don't
talk about it. There's a lightness of being... or at least the
apperance of one. They possess the property of aseity --
a sense of self-containment -- that voters pick up on. I use the
theological term because it's apt: good campaigns exist necessarily and
do not require a steady stream of outside events to justify them. Put Obama aside. Why is McCain running? What are his first principles? And why can't he articulate them?
Media Matters for America perceives a pro-McCain bias in the media and is spending about a hundred grand in the megalopolis to shame the media into currying less favor:
Much of the territory has been hashed out, but his indictment on charges stemming from his alleged lies to federal investigators will almost certainly add a Senate seat to the Democratic column. It will almost certainly demoralize Republicans in Alaska and excite Democrats. It means that the Obama campaign will put more resources into flipping the state. It means that any senator who got Vecco money -- Norm Coleman? -- will be called to account.
Reader A "admire[s] that [Obama] had the courage to write frankly (and
lyrically) about his sense of personal racial dislocation and his
youthful drug use..." Ok, I;m making fun of that a little bit, but here is one reader's take on what he admires about Obama.
(1) I admire his beating Hillary Clinton!! Seriously. He is quite
probably the only person in the country who could have saved us from
our unpleasant dynastic tendencies.
(2) I admire what I
understand to be his successful, consensus-building tenure on the
Harvard Law Review. As an ex-law review executive I can tell you this
is not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.
(3) I admire that he had the poise and self-confidence to turn down
a clerkship with Abner Mikva and the near-certainty of a Supreme Court
clerkship. The world of elite law schools is so circumscribed and
echo-chamber-y that it takes a genuine sense of self to reject that
which everyone around you regards as the most desirable achievement
possible. (I am ashamed of how my own personal value system got so
bent out of shape during law school -- in three years I went from being
unable to name a single federal appellate judge to feeling like a
complete failure upon not being hired by one, at least on my first
go-round.)
(4) I admire that he had the courage to write frankly (and
lyrically) about his sense of personal racial dislocation and his
youthful drug use. To me, GWB is at his most personally compelling
when he talks about his struggle with addiction; imagine if he had had
the courage and humility to own up to the complete truth?
Another reader adds:
5.Voting for CAFTA against the trial lawyers
association
6.
Risking his life to run for office (this is rarely
mentioned but the threats he gets are real and he consistently puts
himself in front
of huge crowds because he believes he is best suited to change this
country and he loves this country).
7. His opposition to the war for the right reasons.
The AFL-CIO is on rumor patrol. These cards are being sent to 600,000 union members in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Steve Smith, an AFL-CIO spokesperson, writes that this mailer " is aimed directly at dispelling myths and rumors about Sen.
Obama." A companion piece features standard testimonials about health care and the economy. In August, the AFL-CIO plans to distribute one million flyers on Obama's record at union worksites.
Assuming that Gov. Tim Kaine and Gov. Kathleen Sebilius are both on Obama's short list, I wonder what the tight-lipped Obama world thinks about the leaks coming from Kaine allies as compared to the nada-nothing-bupkis coming from Sebelius's orbit?
In her column last Wednesday, Maureen Dowd wrote
that a Democratic lawmaker privately asked Gen. David Petraeus why
there weren't more Democrats in the military, and he replied, "There
are more than you think." Col. Steven Boylan of the general's public
affairs office in Baghdad, which was not contacted for comment, says
the quotation "is in error as he never made nor would make such a
statement."
I'm curious, because I know a lot of my readers support Barack Obama, how they'd answer the question Richard Cohen poses in today's Post:
"Just tell me one thing Barack Obama
has done that you admire," I asked a prominent Democrat. He paused and
then said that he admired Obama's speech to the Democratic convention
in 2004.
I'm interested in answers to the question, not criticisms of Cohen's motives or of the premise of the question. What has Obama done that you admire? I'll post the more interesting responses.
The Wall Street Journal bashes his signature policy achievement:
The Bay State has long served up coverage-specific
insurance mandates, such as for fertility treatments, which raise
costs. Yet in a just-deserts twist, Massachusetts health planners are
now reviewing ways to trim mandates because the state is footing more
of the bill, even if they didn't care when imposing them on individuals
and small business. A state-sponsored study shows that total spending
on mandates was $1.32 billion in 2005, or 12% of premiums. The study is
devastating despite its pro-mandate slant.
Not that such practical lessons have stopped liberals
from joining the Massachusetts parade. They have to gussy up the
state's model because the extravagant claim that led to its creation --
that health care will be less expensive if everyone is covered -- is
being relentlessly discredited. It's the same claim they want to make
when they try to pass a similar plan for the whole country in next
year's Congress.
And the Washington Times channels worried and angry evangelicals:
Prominent evangelical leaders are warning Sen. John McCain against picking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his running mate, saying their troops will abandon the Republican ticket on Election Day if that happens.
They say Mr. Romney lacks trust on issues such as outlawing abortion
and opposing same-sex marriage and because he is a Mormon. Opposition
is particularly powerful among those who supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Republican presidential primaries earlier this year.
"McCain and Romney would be like oil and water," said evangelical
novelist Tim LaHaye, who supported Mr. Huckabee. "We aren't against
Mormonism, but Romney is not a thoroughgoing evangelical and his
flip-flopping on issues is understandable in a liberal state like
Massachusetts, but our people won't understand that."
Discussion: An Elite Backlash Against McCain's Tone?
LARRY KING: We're back with Senator John McCain. We have an
e-mail question from Scott in Chappaqua, New York. We haven't heard
that city mentioned in a while. I have noticed particularly in the past
few days that you've increased your use of negative ads and personal
statements about Senator Obama. Whatever happened to your assurances
you would not engage in such negativity. What about your calls for a
civil and respectful campaign?
MCCAIN: Well, first of all, I admire and respect Senator Obama. He has
done a great job securing the nomination to his party. He also used his
opposition to the war in Iraq as a way to secure that. Look, there are
just start differences between us and those differences need to be
drawn, whether it be health care or he wants government to basically
run the health care program. Whether it's taxes where he wants to raise
taxes whereas I want to keep them low. ...
A question from "Scott" in New York is just the start of it. USA Today calls a new McCain ad "a marker on
the path toward the kind of simplistic, counterproductive demonizing that many
expect will poison the fall campaign." Andrea Mitchell of NBC News describes the McCain campaign's latest ad, about Obama and injured troops, "literally not true."
The contempt that many McCain aides hold for Barack Obama rivals the contempt that McCain held for Mitt Romney a year ago. McCain's advisers know that McCain is apt to treat those held in contempt contemptuously, but no inside McCain's campaign believes that aggressively negative television ads and McCain's public dismissals will "damage one of the most unique and most popular brands in American politics."
The cadre of McCain allies who aren't part of the campaign are very worried. They believe that McCain's current crop of advisers are playing to his worse instincts, particularly his pride and his ego. When McCain is privately content, he comes across publicly as happy-go-lucky and magnanimous; satisfied; when he is combative, he comes off as combative and reactive. They worry that he is obsessed with Obama's character and willing to attribute motives to Obama that are simply unbelievable outside of an echo chamber filled with those who are predisposed to believe Obama's a phony.
Christopher Hitchens, who supports McCain's view of Iraq and the surge and who has routinely mocked Das Ein writes that "McCain had one particular strength when this campaign began: his
fortitude in respect of Iraq, which entailed (as some people forget)
his willingness to criticize the commander in chief in time of war. Now
he is in real danger of confusing the two things and trying to make
criticism or disagreement appear to be suspect in themselves. If last
week hasn't taught him that this is a doomed tactic--and strategy--then
he is unteachable."
"I will defend every single word in every single ad," a senior McCain campaign adviser
told me last week. "But you can't really blame Obama for gas prices," I
responded. "As they say, if you're not part of the solution," and here
the adviser paused and smiled, "you're part of the problem."
Concerns about whether McCain is coming off too mean, they say, are irrelevant. The media, they believe, has created double standard that allows them to view Obama's contempt for McCain as in-bounds and McCain's attempts to draw contrasts with Obama as out-of-bounds.
MAMA NINFA, HOUSTON, TX -- The Obama traveling press corps is eating dinner en masse at this wonderful homestyle Mexican restaurant while we wait for the candidate to finish two fundraisers.
