How should the Obama campaign respond to the Palin phenom?
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They should focus on McCain and his issue positions and should also talk about Palin's issue positions and what she did in Alaska. As they have already pledged to do and have done, they should leave the personal aspects behind. Don't bother with ads but use surrogates, particularly women and former Clinton supporters. Most of all, they should keep their eyes on the ball and draw issue contrasts, argue that this election matters a great deal for what government will do and whether it helps or hurts people and keep doing the fabulous field work. 
Don't give her any more attention than she deserves. If she says something about policy (which doesn't look likely at the moment), respond on policy. Otherwise, ignore her and go after McCain, McCain, Bush-McCain. Pretty much what Ross said.
Bush, McCain, Palin: peas in a pod
Ignore it. Focus on Obama's agenda. Attack McCain's policies. What amazes me is that (1) Obama didn't tap HRC for the ticket and (2) the campaign was so stunned that McCain would pick a woman. It seemed entirely predictable that McCain would do that when Obama chose Biden. It stuns me that Obama's people didn't even consider the possibility.
They should continue to campaign they way they have been. Focus on the issues that make a difference in peoples lives and let the GOP live out their little soap opera. I firmly belive that Pork Barrel Sarah will take herself down. I think it is absurd that the McCain campaign wants us to have confidence that Palin is qualified and prepared enough to be VP or President yet they don't have enough confidence in her to let her talk to reporters. If she can't face Brian Williams how are we suppose to believe that she could face world leaders from say Iran, Russia or Pakistan?
Sparkle and fade. Sparkle and fade.
There is no need to make this about Sarah Palin. Her inexperience will shine through and really make people sick to their stomachs. Just a year after reading about 'the surge' 'in the news' she is now acting like an authority. It's sickening to think that she could be leading the country. She was a scandal-plagued mayor, a scandal-plagued governor, and has never even thought about foreign policy. She is Bush in shinier packaging.
Obama seems to have a hard time ignoring her the way "sources" say he wants to and if he keeps getting caught up in these experiences debates with McCain's #2, it's no good for him. It's obvious the campaign is confused at the moment and taken aback.
Attack McCain... No one votes for VP anyway. Every attack on Biden or Palin is a wasted attack.
BTW, will you be releasing the tracking polls daily or should we look for them at another web site?
Keep the focus on Bush/McCain, and ground game, ground game, ground game. Don't get caught up in trying to win the news cycle. Palin is an exciting candidate for the GOP, but she's not going to win this election for them and she's not the top of the ticket.
Ditto. I posted Ross' advice on my Obama blog. Send out the female Governor's, surrogates and especially Hillary to put the heat to Palin -- and then unleash Biden on her at the debate (can't wait!). Obama can just keep plugging McCain about the economy, etc.
I concur. Ignore her. Let surrogates paint Palin as unqualified and a mean-spirited extremist. As has been repeated thousands of times since the beginning of the race, if the race turns around anything other than Obama himself, he will win. And from the way she is being handled (avoiding interviews and giving the same speeches over and over) I suspect she is not even that good.
easy. ignore her and focus on the guy at the top of the ticket. which is what they are doing.
Four-pronged attack: 1. Investigate! 2. Use less-prominent surrogates to shame the press into vetting her, interviewing her, asking hard questions about her. 3. Obama, Biden, and high-profile surrogates should absolutely, 100% avoid her and assume she's teflon, make the campaign about McCain. 4. At some point, if she remains the celebrity of the day, attack her (through surrogates) as a petty small-town politician whose claim to executive experience is censoring the town-library's books and firing a police commissioner, and then who lies -- about firing, about the bridge to nowhere, etc. She's all hat and no . . . moose . . . or something like that. I doubt using Hillary Clinton will have any effect whatsoever contra Palin.
Ignore her... This is a contest against McCain. You didn't hear many at the RNC taking shots at Joe Biden -- they are focused at the top of the ticket, as we should be. Of course, I am assuming that if we leave her the rope she will hang herself, which is I am guessing that we have the luxury of ignoring her.
Ignore her for the most part, let the media deal with her. Focus less energy and ad money on states like Colorado with big evangelical populations, where it may now be difficult to win.
"She's experienced enough to be president. So let's move on from this whole experience debate and focus on the issues -- and we look forward to her take on them." Rather than call into question McCain's judgment in selecting such an inexperienced candidate, use the pick to argue that McCain has admitted Obama is prepared to be president. Also, investigate the National Inquirer adultery charge (quietly). Can't rely on the press to do it now -- they're somewhat cowed.
Focus on McCain and middle class issues and treat the Palin phenomenon as a mildly amusing side issue. If that doesn't work, later in the month they can tag her as a former Ted Stevens fundraiser who loves earmarks.
Avoid commenting on her at least until the dust settles and the deluge of scandals subsides. Probably best to avoid discussing (and especially attacking) her for the remainder of the season and let the media eat her alive. If she gets in a good jab, have Obama laugh it off or maybe even let Joe make a "gaffe" by riffing on it in a friendly and inoffensive way. The most important thing is to give her the rope to hang herself, let her do all the attacking and fight the culture war while you're across the stage chuckling and shrugging to the American people. Let people figure out that they don't like her for themselves.
What phenom? Just another far right doctrinaire idealogue who is out of touch on issues. And, phenoms rarelyl have staying power. let her fade and flace out on hre own. If the drip drip doesn't do it, time will.
I have confidence in the Obama campaign's long-term planning, AND in their ability to respond to the ever-changing ground game. They have done almost everything well so far, in spite of all the naysaying. Obama should take every opportunity (as he is - do you see McCain on Countdown?) to get out there, show his mettle, talk about the issues, and RUN AGAINST MCCAIN, who is his opponent, after all. Palin will self-destruct. She is the Stepford pick, and the chip implanted in her brain by the campaign will malfunction at some point. And I still think that Biden can.......dissect her politely in the debate.
As others have said, keep the focus on Bush and McCain. To the extent that Palin is worth mentioning, portray her as a conservative that, for all of her biography and personality, will still support and further entrench the policies of the last eight years. Under the table, keep the various Palin controversies stoked, and release campaign statements suggesting that the campaign has not comment, but that Gov. Palin should answer questions before the media. Build up the pressure for her to Meet the Press. Above all, do not let the Republicans lower expectations for the debate; say that her convention speech was a big success and that more of the same is to be expected in the debate against Biden.
I think they are doing exactly what they need to do. Ignore her. Engaging her extends her credibility at a time when stories like 6 colleges in 6 years are coming off the presses each day. If she's still around a few weeks from now they may need adjust.
I'm not even quite sure Obama/Biden are as "confused" as many make them out to be. In response to an earlier comment, I think a lot of people may have "expected" a woman VP pick from McCain, but certainly Palin wasn't even in the top three of even that expectation. Careful not to get caught in the hindsight. Obama/Biden did exactly what they needed to do at the Convention. And Obama kept a fairly low profile during the RNC, just as McCain did during the DNC. Palin and associated stories are completely dominating the news, and will for the next few days. Let it. Obama/Biden need to keep plugging away at McCain. And realize that dispite this new enthusiasm from Conservatives, they're in a great spot. Up any amount after the RNC going into the debates is nothing to scoff at.
The Obama camp should question her "reform" credentials as a bridge-to-nowhere flip-flopper and a corrupt "troopergate" governor, and portray her as a far right social conservative, which is what she is. I would also say they should seriously question her readiness to be president in an emergency; for goodness sake, this woman has no stated position on any major foreign OR domestic policy issue. Granted, she did deliver a vitriolic, substanceless, brutish, nasty and long speech, written by a political hack, for a right-wing choir, with poise. Bravo. Of course, the Obama camp can't question her readiness, because it will immediately open up the Obama-Palin comparisons, which is a very, very bad idea. But the notion that Barack Obama--who had written his own speech convention speeches, and was seriously addressing issues like nuclear proliferation as a state senator, is in any way, similar to Sarah Palin--in terms of eloquence, knowledge of policy, or sheer political skill is absurd. Perhaps Sarah Palin will wow the country when she sits down for a number of interviews with people who ask, ya know, real questions. But until then, I will view her speech, and subsequent emergence as a GOP "star" as nothing more than the political hack job that it first was when Matthew Scully began composing it.
Compare McCain's "maverick who cares" speech to Bush's "conservative who cares" speech from the 2000 convention. In detail. And often. The same vague talking points on social issues then were there in McCain's speech last night. Let's not get fooled again.
marc: i think the republican conventions got joe biden riled up, he had a pretty good response in his pa town hall remarks - the link of the vid is below http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=1845
Nothing. The media is furious with McCain for not giving access to her, and going to war with them. so now I notice how the MSM always likes to point out that they aren't giving interviews, answering questions because she is studying up. They are freely reinforcing the "She's not ready to be a heartbeat away from Presidency". so what is the Obama camp doing? they are hitting and hitting hard on the economy which is what people want, and McCain can't really answer back 1) because his plan is too much like Bush's and he doesn't want to talk details 2) he is stuck on the defensive in his war with the media over Palin. The election will be won on the ground, and on the ground people see Palin as a gimmick who is not ready. fighting with the media and hiding her away doesn't help.
Barack and Biden -- be respectful and ignore her. HRC/ and others attack her lies and ethics: Also, call her out.. she can't be a "pit bull" yet not do interviews. She'll implode shortly ... there are so many stories AIP They can't avoide the press forever.
Exactly what they're doing now - ignore her. The media is doing a great job of dripping all the juicy tidbits of her nasty little shenanigans up in the snow, and slowly but surely the memory of her speech will give way to the harsh reality of a newbie that no one knows who's cowering up in Alaska while the media defines her. If she needs any kind of responding, I'd leash Hillary and Wasserman Schultz on her, but otherwise Obama and Biden should just ignore her as they've been doing.
I think Chicago is like a deer-in-headlights. When I talk to non-political friends, their attraction to McCain-Palin is similar to the attraction to Obama in early 07: just something refreshingly new about the personality, appearence and presentation. I'd press her and McCain to detail their change from Bush. Getting caught up in records is looking in the rearview mirror. Look to the horizon and mockingly and relentlessly ask what they'll do different, hoping to drive a wedge between the base-beloved Bush and Indie's. I'd also advise Obama to have a sister-suljha moment soon, to show his independence. McCain is scared to highlight any of his for fear of depressing an excited base, hence no mention of anything in his Acceptance speech.
Keep doing exactly what they're doing--remind people every day that the election is about McCain, and that McCain represents four more years of Bush. The Obama campaign has done everything right so far, and I don't think they're about to stop now.
Sarah Palin -- Untested Celebrity
I have a very counter-intuitive take on this... Ignore her.
Ignore her? No. She is further proof that McCain's tied himself to Bush. She is a Bush Republican. Somehow the punditry was saying how the pick beefs up his maverick credentials in the same breath as saying she was a play for the base. Those two things don't go together. The more people hear about her far-right outlook, the better. McCain/Palin should be an easier sell that this is Bush/Cheney redux.
Honestly, There isn't much he should do. She's new and the extremist right is in love with her but she really offers nothing to independents. This election will be close so keep to the game plan and continue doing the hard work of registering voters and developing the GOTV for election day. She will get ALOT of attention but ride the storm. It's good to have the spotlight off to do the nessessary work without the distraction. She will be tought and she will be rude and cynical but after hearing that over and over again people will get sick of her. We live in a polorized country so keep your base intact and try to win over independents.
Take a back seat for a while, while letting the media take some of the heat off of them. However, I think they need to work Palin into their meta-narrative that Bush and McCain are synonomous with one another, and despite McCain's "Maverick" image, he chose just another Bush ideologue despite her gender. I think once the debates begin, we're going to see the Obama team unload a lot of the opposition research against Palin, and perhaps try and tie McCain's "Keating-Five" scandal, Palin's "Trooper-Gate" scandal, and the 8 scandal-filled years of the Bush administration to argue that we can't simply exchange one incompetent group for another.
I'm very suspicious of the "ignore her" tactic. Kerry tried this with the swift boaters and we know how that turned out...
When this campaign is about Obama personally, that's when his numbers suffer. Under any other condition, he has decent leads in the polls. If anything this is a pleasant distraction. There's not much oxygen right now for attack ads, for questioning Barack's character. Palin is the be-all and end-all of coverage this week. Use this respite to campaign and talk issues and keep on keepin' on. In the long term, she polarizes the bases and our base is bigger this year. Convention bounces fade, and we're examining Palin at the zenith of her convention bounce. She's not the lights-out wild card that she appears to be at this moment.
Stop talking about experience and her personal life. Focus on the issues and take the questions to her, so she is forced to answer. Ask her why she is going back on her promise to cooperate with the troopergate Ask her if she really believes it is god will's to build another oil pipeline in alaska? Ask her how she left her small town with a budget deficit despite getting $27M in earmarks? Ask her what books she wanted removed from the public library? Ask her how being geographically close to Russia gives her foreign policy experience? Ask her how she was commander in chief of the national guard when Bush took away that power in 2006? What decisions did she make as commander? Ask her why she doesn't believe in global warming? Ask her why she hates community organizers? Who is she fighting for? She's against choice, pro-abstinence only education, and anti-funding teen pregnancy programs. So what exactly will she do to help? Ask her the tough questions through the press, and force her to respond. She can't hide behind the smoke and mirrors forever. Draw attention to the fact that she hasn't clarified her policy on any major issues and draw her out into the open.
i would pin palins lies (bridge, ebay plane, reform) and her refusal to testify to gonzo and the bushies. tailor the same attack you have been using to her. she's just more of the same. deficits, lobbyists, lies.
I'd also add that waiting for the media to take her down or thinking she'll fizzle is not realistic. She made an initial "gut-level" connection with a lot of regular folks, which in politics is gold. This connection, which Obama too has made (with about 47% of America) is why he survived Wright, and the thin resume himself. Some gotcha moment with Palin will not likely break that connection. And McCain won't *likely* put her in situation where she can really screw-up.
Play the race card.
Of course ignoring her is a good idea. But why is everyone so certain the media will do their job and report on Palin? It took a lot longer than 60 days for Obamamania to die down, and for the media--and voters--to take a sharper look. Just sayin'...
Starting with the 'This Week' appearance, attack McCain hard on the economy as often as you can. Focus on the ground game and voter registration on the youth/minority voters. Ignore Palin, leave that to the minor surrogates traveling in Florida (hit on the housing numbers here). Press the media to cover the various, legitimate scandals that Palin has in Alaska. Basically, keep on doin' what you've been doin'.
I think it is smart not to have Hillary go after Palin. The media would just play it as a "cat fight." Obama and Biden should ignore her officially while getting surragates to hit her hard on abortion, crazy evangelical positions, etc...
Hey Norm~
I agree with the conventional wisdom expressed above. After watching the video of her addressing her church in Wassila (sp?) and the video of her addressing the press about troopergate, I feel she's much less of a "star" than folks realize. In both instances, she didn't appear to be making much sense -- whatever she was trying to communicate at the church came across in a confused jumble and her denials about pressuring Monegan to fire Wooten were weakly delivered. The post-speech jibes by the dems and the blue pundits about her only proving that she can read a teleprompter felt sort of pro forma, but my feeling after watching those clips is that she's lost without one. I'm very curious to see how she presents after her crash course in media management, ie how good are those Rove proteges at transforming regular human beings into effective political products. If they don't do a great job, she, along with the messes she left behind in Alaska, could do her in quite easily.
I think the choice stunned everyone because no one thought McCain would make such a reckless decision and make a highly political choice vs choose someone who will be ready to be president on day 1. What should obama campaign do? 2. As I think Josh Marshall had said, they need to mock the whole concept of change coming from the republican party which is...wait...in power! I'm not creative enough to come up with a script or ad but I am sure there are others who can come up with something. I liked the huffpost headline last night which said " Me too: I want change" 3. They need at least one high profile event at some point in teh next 2 weeks with Bill Clinton in a small town in Ohio where Bill skewers the republicans and their ideas and reiterates his support for Barack. 4. Barack and Hillary need to campaign together more and more in PA, MI, and OH. If we win those 3, we are good to go. It's great that Hillary is going to Florida but they will get more media attention if they campaigned together. 5. Conduct daily conf call with media/reporters where they go on the offensive EVERY SINGLE DAY regarding both McCain and Palin. Question whether Mccain really is a maverick given how he's falling in line behind the extremist conservatives (yes extremist is a good word, they should use that often). They should also use the word dangerous a lot. McCain is dangerous for the country. His rhetoric against Russia is dangerous etc. Also challenge Sarah during these calls. Is she really a reformer? highlight her extremist views. Use these words in attack ads also which they need to release with greater frequency than they have. They also need to make their ads more punchy and to the point.
Every day Obama spends talking about Palin is a day spent not talking about McCain/Bush and his own agenda. Let the MSM and blogs investigate and the truth will out. Right now, she's the shiny new kid in town. Her popularity exceeds Obama or McCain's according to Rasmussen. As the results from Troopergate, the support of the bridge to nowhere, the book banning efforts, the extreme position on abortion, and who knows what other revelations, are fully aired, she'll come back down to earth. Right now, Obama should not mention her, concentrate on making this a referendum on the Bush presidency and hope the media does its job.
Put Hillary on the trail non-stop.
1) Let the National Enquirer do its job and the mainstream media theirs.
Use Biden to appeal to seniors with saving Soc. Sec. Target economy and healthcare. Use HRC and WJC (to the extent possible) to hammer away on the economy. WJC especially could sell the economy this if he wanted to and HRC could sell health care reform. Must do a better job highlighting differences in tax plan. Deprive Palin of oxygen as best possible but hit contradictions hard where possible . . . Palin on earmarks vs. McCain on earmarks. Try to drive a wedge between Palin and security hawks like Krauthammer.
I think it's a twofold response. The campaign should let some of her luster wear off by focusing on McCain. Make this campaign about McCain and attack his proposals, or lack-there-of, and diminish the number of times that they bring Palin's name up. Focus on the issues, because even if it is a campaign talking point, it works On the other hand, they also have to push back, not necessarily against Palin herself, but against the McCain campaign narrative that has been created about her. Arguing that she's more experienced than Obama politically? A complete fabrication and should be pointed out. On the national stage, how well do 6 years as mayor of a town of 9,000 really prepare someone for the second highest office in the land? Is being mayor inherently better for some reason than 7 years in a state senate? Make the argument that she has more executive experience? She's not on the top of the ticket and the guy on the top has as much as Obama. A reformer? Point out her annual trips to Washington to lobby for pork on the behalf of Wasillia. And that whole "Bridge to Nowhere"? . . . Ready to be commander in chief? A fairly delicate issue (as are all that have similar Obama backlashes) and be careful to approach without a hint of sexism. However, in needs to be more widely known that she's been out of the country once and unless Cindy McCain is an expert, living close to Russia only means that you probably know how much Putin freezes his ass off. A person with small town values? Sure, she's been the head of a small town and that's commendable. But point out that her stance on a number of issues puts her at odds with many small town independents. The luster and glow of Gov. Palin WILL wear off, it's only a matter of time. The debate with Biden will be essential and will define her more than anything she said in front of her base.
Echoing comments above...Ignore Palin, focus on McCain and his similarity to Bush. The Palin Phenom actually takes care of itself, as more and more comes out about her and the press, blogs & tabloids continue to dig up dirt. That doesn't mean they shouldn't take her seriously. She'll be well-prepped for the debates, and will come off well. Biden's got to be prepared to deal with her stylistically, though substantively he should be fine.
If McCain is going to campaign as a maverick, create TV ads that show McCain the former maverick vs. McCain the Republican lapdog (during the primaries). Show how he consistently compromised his "principled maverick" position to win the Republican nomination, and now he is trying to pretend that never happened. Who better to attack McCain than McCain?
Ignore her petty attacks. If she talks about policy, smack her down hard. Have Biden grind her into hamburger in the debate. Her various scandals should do the rest, provided the media doesn't totally become McCain's lickspittle.
Sorry for reposting- hit the refresh without clearing these fields.
Aggressively riffing on the pittbull with lipstick meme with a lipstick on a pig meme, would be a good start.
To follow up on my comments above, I think the Obama camp must be extremely frustrated right now because they have lost a their rhetorical bearings. (Marc, you took Engell's class, you agree with me that some of Obama's speeches could be used as case studies in Farrell's book, no? But more than that, the Obama campaign is a study in the art of "Rhetoric" insofar as the campaign represents one big normative argument about the nature of politics and governance.) Obama has up to now been in nearly complete control of the rhetorical bearings of this campaign *and of the political conversation.* Palin, who comes out of the blue, threatens to undermine that mastery because (1) Obama was completely unprepared, having not thought through what she would mean, and (2) Palin has forced the country back to questions of cultural identification as opposed to questions of policy and governance. And this is the real problem for Obama; there are all sorts of ways to "go after" Palin and McCain, but I don't see how you regain the rhetorical command of the campaign at this point. How does Obama not go from controlling the entire narrative of the campaign and, for the most part, the political conversation in the country to being almost completely reactive? The key to "going after" Palin (aside from going for the jugular -- that is, unearthing the silver bullet scandal) is to figure out a way to wrest the argument away from her control. I don't know how you do that. Maybe a big speech on the culture wars.
bring clinton and let her do all the talking vs palin. have the female democrats attack her (and wait for palin to attack back, which she's not gonna do for the next week! she's not even holding press conferences) obama/biden should just ignore her attacks and attack mccain. remind people how the republicans keep recycling all these stupid rumors. i dont know why obama/ biden cant be more sarcastic when they attack mccain. americans have such trouble with ADD and i think visual aids perot-style are extremely important. american's are bored of hearing from politicians because theyre either lies or half true or true. why cant obama just give these people datas and let them see for themselves? if i were to run for presidency, i'd rather have visual aids with me than just talking to them. most americans dont have time to look up for facts considering the tv doesnt serve them that all the time.
keep the focus on McCain, he's the one running for Prez. The Palin coverage will begin to decrease. I can't help but think that by the time we have 3 presidential debates, the focus will be on McCain\Obama, not on Palin. I think it's a stretch to say that Palin is a "phenom"..
Turn the McCain/Palin "maverick" theme against them. They are unpredictable loose cannons. They half nuts. They can't be trusted with the affairs of state. If we can't trust them to stick by the party that elected them, how can we trust them to stick by American voters? Also (more covertly) their bizarre, soap-opera families are not like those of decent suburban Americans. See by contrast Barack with his first and only wife Michelle and their beautiful 2.5 non-pregnant daughters. So nice.
In an Eagle forum she said the "in God we trust" in the pledge was good enough for the founding fathers so its good enough for us. This could reflect a knowledge deficit. Biden could try getting into a discussion about the constitution and its amendments referring to them by the numbers . . . I think past the bill or rights this might be difficult for any but seasoned polls.
Obliterate her.
Point out that Palin was flat-out lying on what is supposed to be her signature accomplishment: See Bob Somerby for details:
Hammer McCain and his refusal to talk shop.
Palin needs to be demythologized sooner rather than later. The McCain campaign can attempt to blur the distinction between personal attacks and legitimate, substantive criticism of Palin's record, but that approach will become increasingly transparent the more indiscriminately it's used. This isn't the time for the Obama campaign to drop the ball. Palin is precisely the reverse of McCain's packaging of her, and the Obama camp needs to put out ads focused particularly on her abuse of the earmarks system as mayor and her pro-Bridge to Nowhere gubernatorial campaign. The reformist veneer adopted by McCain/Palin needs to be stripped before it has time to set, so to speak. This will have the collateral benefit of highlighting the McCain campaign's refusal to let Palin anywhere near the media, outside of tightly scripted and controlled environments. She'll be forced to defend her record, or look weak for failing to do so. If Obama's intention is to take a hands-off approach and let the hype run its course, it could prove to be a huge miscalculation.
They should definitely continue to focus on McCain. Palin is a distraction and should be regarded as one. But the Obama camp should also be pressing the media to demand access to Palin. The McCain team wants to media to show the handshaking and the baby-kissing and the photo ops, but they don't want to shield their own candidate for Vice President from questions. That's intolerable. The media should be telling McCain "No questions, no coverage". And the Obama camp ought to be working the ref on this.
I don't think the Obama camp should do anything to respond. I think they are campaigning against McCain, and talking about Palin invariable creates what I think may have been one of the core benefits of her selection; she's new and hot and interesting, which was one of the thing going for Obama. Talking negatively about her experience always results in comparisons to Obama's experience. Questions are always framed as “You say Obama doesn’t have enough experience, but she’s the same.” This does three things, I think:
Employ "folksy" but powerful surrogates like Brian Schweitzer and Jim Webb to go after McCain/Palin on their energy "policy", pro-life stances, elitism charges
It's the economy, stupid. Unemployment up to 6.1% I didn't hear Palin or McCain talk much about jobs. Focus on issues; ignore Palin.
Conventional wisdom seems to be saying that Obama should ignore Palin and go after McCain. But it's pretty obvious that Palin is going to go after Obama quite frontally. And while that may be standard fare for a VP candidate, Palin isn't a typical VP candidate and the media's fascination with her will draw attention to every word she says (especially since she won't be giving extemporaneous interviews). I think if Obama tries to ignore her attacks completely he'll risk coming off as weak, like he did in August with the "celebrity" charges. So his campaign - not Obama himself - needs to find some way to fend off her attacks without directly engaging her and "lowering" himself to fighting with a VP candidate. I think there are a few ways to do this. First, make Palin an extension of Bush/McCain; she's on the McCain ticket, so she too is endorsing the failed policies of Bush/McCain. For all the hype surrounding her, she's just another conventional Republican. (To some degree, Obama is already doing this...David Axelrod made this point yesterday.) Second, hammer home the issue of McCain's judgment for rushing and not adequately vetting his VP pick. The key here is to make this about McCain, not about Palin. This undermines Palin's legitimacy but the charge engages McCain, not Palin. Third, point out that the selection of Palin completely undermines McCain's efforts to reach out toward independents. Obama's surrogates (not Obama or Biden) need to mention over and over and over the multiple scandals surrounding her back home. Obama/Biden need to point out that the Palin pick is evidence that McCain, like GWB, is campaigning as a moderate and will govern to the hard right - and we all saw how that turned out.
Obama Campaign, needs to get it out to the media and the people the fact checking of Palin and McCain's statements about Palin. Things like the Bridge stance, how the Jet didn't sell on Ebay and infact sold for a loss of 500,000 dollars to a private broker. How the Jet was used 58% of the time to take Convicts to Arizona for jail time. How she is stalling the Trooper investigation (Dick Cheney style). How the "Fiscal Conservative" gave the town a 18 million $ debt. How she is anti-abortion even in case of Rape/Incest. How she said on tape that the War in Iraq is God's doing, that a 30 billion $ piple is god's wish. Sure, that could energize the Christian Base, but that base is already behind them. How she doesn't beleive in Global Warming being man-made, which even the McCain campaign beleives in. How she vetoed funding for Teen Pregnancies as governor, same with Mental Health funding. And the Media needs to fact check Palin, because her speech and her persona is full of hyperbole and lies. There is no need to talk about her Pregnant Daughter, but if the MSM can't fact check her, they have failed miserably. Never before has a Politician running for such a high office, lied to the face of the American people and got away with it the way Palin is.
Yep. Stick to economy, concrete change, and enough repetition on national security that there's no opening there. Depend on the obvious contrast between a VP nominee who can hold his own with any journalist in the world and one who has to be kept out of sight. The next big events are the debates: I hope everyone's getting in lots of practice. I see no harm getting a negative ad or two ready re Palin's lying and wacko views should push really come to shove in October, but right now she has a lot of sympathy and it would look like piling on.
Also, rather than questioning the anti-earmark thing they should turn it to their advantage. "McCain/Palin want to spend more on tax cuts for the rich, more on handouts for big oil, more on Iraq - but less on roads, bridges, levees, faith-based programs and job-creating research."
Recast their ticket as PALIN/McCain and then run McCain's celeb ads he ran against Obama. Get Palin to provoke a "back and forth" with Hilary.
IGNORE her - he is running against McCain.
For the next two to three weeks: no attacks. Focus all attention on McCain, who is weak. Try to provoke him into an outburst. Allow the media to continue investigating Palin's past. Any attack on her right now would be thin on facts, and wouldn't stick anyway. Let the Republicans dig their own grave by building her up as much as possible. Don't fall for the trap of attacking her at the height of her popularity. Wait to see if anything comes of this affair investigation and the ethics investigation, and wait for the post-speech polls to settle down to decide the best course. At four through six weeks, if nothing comes of the investigations and she remains popular, use surrogates to float the idea that she is a female version of G.W.B. in 2000. The comparison is apt -culture warrior, evangelical, inexperienced governor, tied to big oil, personable, no substance, all style, look where that got us, etc. You can't beat her on policy because people don't care about her policies, they care about her character. Don't attack her character, just draw the unfavorable comparison and remind people that this is the party of G.W.B. Keep steady pressure on McCain. At six through eight weeks, if the GWB comparison has gotten any traction, ratchet it up. If nothing has worked and her favorables are still flying high, tell surrogates to pull out all the stops and attack, attack, attack. Obama and Biden should stay above the fray, only commenting on lines of attack that have proven resonation. Hillary should... well... be herself. Create an indelible impression in the voters' minds of Palin as not a serious person ready for a serious position. She's all pre-written zingers and babies. Coming from Hillary this line of attack isn't as risky, and potentially very damaging.
Attack! Come on. They should attack her record and lack of experience. They should continue to attack McCain as well. They should portray her as a poor decision by a poor opponent. Don't let her off the hook.
If the media can actually be browbeaten into submisssion by the Rovians (she's sequestered from answering any questions?), I guess the blogs will have to do the work, esp. TPM. As a creationist/ radical pro-lifer/ book burner/ lobbyist / small time corrupt political hack /windfall profits taxer / pork hound / Stevens acolyte / parental hypocrite / possible adulteress / foreign policy nincompoop / Jews for Jesus freak, I can't imagine they'll find anything damaging.
One thing Obama and Biden SHOULD do is emphasize how McCain, Palin, and their surrogates default to playground name-calling on a day-to-day basis. Check out their quotes in the news everyday, including Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis!
I think the DNC ought to start a Palin Press Watch countdown until she grants a major interview to someone other than Fox News or The View (Oh God, I wish Russert was still alive, there's no way they'd try this kind of stunt with him on duty!). There is simply no way she can be allowed to hide from the nat'l press just because McCain is in a fit of pique at his former base. I do think Obama needs to ignore her, but I think Biden needs to be asking "What does she really think about the war? What does she really know about the economy? Why does she keep lying about the bridge to nowhere? How did she manage to drive her 7000 person town $20 mil into debt in 6 years?" Don't question her on experience, question her knowledge & competence. Make light of the fact that the McCain camp now apparently has to hide her in a cave for a month to learn foreign policy "at the foot of the master" (somebody just HAS to run with that quote, I don't care who does it). I agree that sending Hillary after her to attack would kick-start a distracting "catfight" narrative. It would also inflame the culture war/abortion element of the debate, not likely something Obama is too comfortable focusing on in the nat'l media (targeted ads are another matter - the numbers are simply on the side of the pro-choice candidate). I notice they're sending Hillary straight to Florida - more likely this is about the Jewish vote, not the "working-class whites" media narrative BS. I wouldn't be surprised if their internals all of a sudden show Florida is back in play with a vengeance. I'd also like to see a much more concerted effort to go after Latino voters (not just GOTV, serious attention & effort). Play nonstop ads on Telemundo & Univision with footage of McCain disavowing his own immigration bill. I think there's a big opening; Latino voters sense the racial resentment that boils just under the surface of the Republican party (especially evident this year, needless to say, no matter what they say about everyone being "God's children"). Also, Palin hails from a state with, um, pretty much all white people, which means she has nobody to vouch for her yet - so I'm guessing generic "minority" voters don't trust her very much at this early date. This presents a big opening for Obama if he can go for it without getting pegged as a "minority candidate" in the nat'l press (not much chance of that if they stay as pissed at McCain as they are right now). The Obama camp should also start working up some devastating attack ads calling her social views extreme (banning books, no abortion even for rape/incest, teach creationism in schools, legalized aerial hunting of wolves (!), her personal war on polar bears, doesn't believe in global warming, etc etc). It's not time to hit her too hard yet, but practically all of her trademark issues really ought to hurt McCain among his old base, moderates and foreign policy/fiscal conservatives.
Hi Marc, McCain and Palin failed to offer anything to voters in the way of how their policies would differ from the Bush Administration. In 3 full days of convention, I failed to hear anything that John McCain would do that George Bush hasn't already tried to do. On energy, health care, Iraq, Afghanistan, taxes, infrastructure, education and housing, I heard zero ideas that differ from the Bush agenda (Cue "zero" chants). How can McCain/Palin claim "change" or "reform" if they offer absolutely nothing different from George Bush? The only things either of them has offered the American people so far this election are ad hominem attacks. That's the line that I would take if I were Obama. |
Ignore it. Attack McCain's policies, keep talking about Obama's agenda.
Posted by musa | September 5, 2008 3:57 PM