Kerryfication of Obama

4 Comments

1. 

   idredit on August 2, 2008 at 12:03 pm

   John Cole at Balloon Juice, citing a Billmon rip of The Great White Hope sees no surprise in the McCain strategy

   Juxtaposed to Billmon is Ezra Klein who reminds us of late 2007/early 2008

   -Ezra Klein

   “Jonathan Chait, Theda Skocpol on TPM, and Eugene Robinson are all calling for Obama to go after McCain with some attack ads of his own…Why not hammer McCain with his many goofy Bush-like policy proposals, verbal gaffes and lies?”

   This question has been around a lot lately, so it’s probably worth reminding folks of late-2007/early-2008, when Obama was still a bit behind in Iowa and everyone — myself included — was constantly asking why he wouldn’t go on the attack. Mike Crowley analogized his “pacifist style” to Bill Bradley and reported that “a key question is whether Obama will finally launch a caustic television ad–perhaps aimed at Hillary’s war vote.” Noam Scheiber warned that “just because a group of voters values bipartisanship doesn’t mean they respect weakness. In this respect, Obama has been eclipsed by the warrior Clinton for much of the race.”

   Throughout all this, the Obama campaign kept telling everyone the same thing: We have a plan. And it turned out they did have a plan. I was told, later, that David Plouffe was inside the campaign, telling everyone that they would be trailing until the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, at which point they’d use Obama’s speech to surge into the lead and kick their campaign into high gear. That’s exactly what happened. My sense of thing is that they’re running a similar strategy now: They’re using these months to look presidential, raise lots of money, and build their ground game. Then, after the conventions, they’ll use that money, and that ground game, and that prestige, to try and crush McCain.[.]

   …{.] Hold back, focus on fundamentals, let your opponent sully their own image by attacking you, and ready yourself to engage on your own terms when it suits your strategy. That McCain has gone so negative, so early, is a sign of his campaign’s glaring weaknesses. That doesn’t mean it won’t work. But if it does show up in the polls, it’s pretty likely that the Obama campaign will respond. And they’re going to have quite a bit of money with which to do it.

2. 

   Oui on August 2, 2008 at 12:16 pm

   .

   ‘Sgt. Schmidt’ Gives New Orders: Hammer, Then Repeat

   (WSJ) – Mr. Schmidt specializes in the combat that dominates today’s political culture — the minute-by-minute, talking point-vs.-talking point battles that fill a 24-hour news cycle. His formula: a tightly controlled message delivered repeatedly and with almost military-like precision.

   
   Steve Schmidt, left, now running Sen. John McCain's day-to-day campaign. (AP)

   At 37 years old, Mr. Schmidt, a 6-foot-tall, 225-pound New Jersey native, is already a veteran operative. He sharpened his skills running President Bush’s 2004 campaign war room, and managing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign two years later.

   After Mr. Bush’s re-election, he went to work for Vice President Cheney and helped steer the Supreme Court confirmations for John Roberts and Samuel Alito, finding ways to win tough news cycles. When some Senate Democrats accused Mr. Alito of being racist, his wife left the hearing room in tears. Mr. Schmidt turned the story into one about Democrats on the attack, rather than Mr. Alito’s past.

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

3. 

   idredit on August 2, 2008 at 12:23 pm

   Dataguy, take heart…

   A must read article read the whole thing…

   The Low-Road Warrior

   Mudslinging will damage McCain’s brand–but it may be the only way he can win.

   [.]

   Many of McCain’s advisers from 2000, such as John Weaver and Mike Murphy, express qualms about the campaign’s newly nasty tone. (One can only imagine the sigh of relief emanating from Mark McKinnon, the heralded adman who helped McCain win the nomination but whose aversion to taking a cleaver to Obama caused him to sit out the general.) “In this kind of year–a change election, with big issues at stake–that sort of campaign is not gonna be in a voice the American people can understand,” Weaver tells me. “And at some point, John will need the goodwill that he spent years achieving.” And you think he’s in danger of losing that? “This is not a cost-free exercise,” he says.

   [.]

   And who knows, even if Obama stays above the fray, he might still pull this thing off. Because as unwilling as he is to get down and dirty, McCain may simply be unable to drive a consistent negative message. “John is uncomfortable doing this stuff,” says Weaver. “And it isn’t in his skill-set. It’s like adopting the West Coast offense and making Dick Butkus your quarterback.” Butkus, it should be noted, was a linebacker–which actually makes the metaphor more apt.

   [.]

   • 

     on August 3, 2008 at 9:41 am

     But with the “black man lusting after white women” ad, I am reminded of the Swift Boaters.  Yes, it was scummy and disgusting.  Yes, it was false.

     And, yes, it worked somewhat.

     Are we seeing something here?