August 20, 2008
Wake Up, Obama Camp
By Theda Skocpol
Theda Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology and former Dean of the Graduate School at Harvard University.
The last month has been excruciating for Obama supporters, watching him and his campaign squander so many hopes and resources on an utterly wimpy campaign. For me, the last straw was yesterday -- in the VFW speech when supposedly Obama was gettting tough against McCain's character assassination strategy -- to watch him speak like a soporific college professor, repeating McCain's charges at length, flattering McCain as honorable and patriotic, and then, finally, sort of begging McCain to take it back! Josh Marshall is totally right to call Obama out on this.
What are they thinking in Chicago? Why would they ever imagine that Americans will vote to make President a candidate who evades and begs? This is like football. If you are hit hard in the pile, you hit back, you don't run to the refs. If the refs (media in this context) make a bad or missed call, you just get up and play harder, hit back harder, throw passes. You never expect the other side to play nice, you never beg for that; and you take for granted that the refs will overlook a lot of stuff.
On evasion: A national, turning-point campaign is not an academic discussion of the issues! You don't go into Saddleback and give a ridiculous, distanced, abstract, evasive, talmudic answer to the abortion question you knew was coming! You look the television camera/voters in the eye and crisply explain your own personal moral perspective in clear, plain language -- acknowledging AFTER you state your views that other moral people can have different views and underlining that you will always respect them, listen to them, and look for common ground. This is not rocket science!
On fighting back: For weeks, Obama has ignored or wheedled when McCain and Lieberman attacked his patriotism and judgement. He has repeatedly begged them to stop because, supposedly, they are more honorable than that. He has asked them to discuss the issues dispassionately. What an insipid approach! McCain has NOT been honorable or honest, and Obama and his surrogates need to hammer on that incessantly. Use words like "lying" and "losing himself" or " (better) "forgetting what he is supposed to stand for." Stop focusing on decades ago in the POW camp. Talk about now, about the last years and months. Make the really obvious point that no candidate for President at this time can really be putting country first if he runs a dirty, lying campaign of false smears. That betrays the public trust. Tell it like it is, Obama!
Please read the entire article at:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/20/wake_up_obama_camp/Theda Skocpol
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