Where McCain's Following Penn's Strategy -- And Where He's Not

ABC's Jake Tapper argued on last night's World News that John McCain had adopted many of the tactics that Mark Penn urged Hillary Clinton to use in trying to disqualify and delegitimize John McCain.

True?

Penn's advice can be reduced to three main points:

1. Go negative on Obama, subtly and explicitly, and early. Disqualify him as a strong leader.
2. Emphasize Obama's otherness. In Penn's version, some darker arts were mentioned, including Obama's extra-territorial sojourns as a youth.
3. Be tough, not nice.

Here how John McCain has spent his summer.

1. Go negative on Obama, subtly and explicitly, and early. Work to disqualify him as a strong leader.
2. Emphasize Obama's otherness. In McCain's version, it's Obama's celebrity status, his embrace by the world (Obama was OVERSEAS and McCain was AT HOME) and by Hollywood, his status striving and lack of American humility. (Credit to McCain: despite the contentions of some critics, I don't think the McCain campaign has dipped into the cesspool of racial prejudice.)
3. Be tough. Not nice. No more happy warrior McCain; his campaign doesn't seem to care that the elite disapproves of his tactics. Being tough is more important than being nice.