A very thought-provoking email from a Talking Points Memo reader:
I’ve noticed something about both your recent, frequent campaign posts and most of what the Obama campaign itself has had to say recently. Both talk about Sen. McCain — sometimes mentioning Sen. Obama as well, sometimes not — and neither mentions President Bush very much at all.
Now, of course as a blogger you can write whatever you feel like — though I have to say your bitter comment a couple of days ago about McCain having married into his money sounded pretty strange coming from a guy who supported John Kerry four years ago and who had until fairly recently many nice things to say about Hillary Clinton. As far as Obama’s people are concerned, though, doesn’t it seem to you that they are doing things the hard way?
After all, it is President Bush whose approval ratings are in the mid-20s, not McCain’s. Obama is trying to promote himself as the candidate of change, but from what? Obviously, from Bush and Bush’s administration. The biggest question voters have about Obama is, what kind of President would this guy be? This isn’t just about what he would do (or try to do) but about how he would operate and the kinds of things that are important to him. He can’t answer that question very well by contrasting himself to McCain — not because McCain is a phony maverick or gives lousy prepared speeches, but simply because McCain has never been President.Bush has, and so far it seems to me that Obama’s campaign has rather taken for granted Bush’s unpopularity and its usefulness in helping Obama overcome voters’ uncertainty toward his candidacy. Moreover, Obama’s rote linkages of McCain to “Bush’s failed policies” are delivered in a way that demands nothing of McCain. Specifically, they don’t put McCain in the position of having to either defend Bush or agree with Obama’s criticism: the former identifying him further with the unpopular President, the latter antagonizing Bush’s admirers in the GOP base, most of whom don’t like McCain to begin with. Finally, Bush will never be provoked into answering attacks from Obama if all Obama’s attacks are aimed at McCain, and provoking Bush should be an Obama campaign objective.
I wouldn’t call this campaign advice for Obama’s camp, not really. This is because I don’t know exactly what they are trying to accomplish (it is, of course, possible that with so much time left until the election they are merely pacing themselves). It looks as if his people are running a fairly conventional “base-plus” campaign that will emphasize maximizing turnout among likely Democratic voters and doing just enough otherwise to make it across the finish line first. I think they can do this for Obama doing what they are doing now — again, simply because the dead weight of Bush’s unpopularity is not something any Republican candidate this year could shed. This strategy worked for Nixon in 1968, and should work for Obama this year.
I can’t help thinking, though, that such a strategy doesn’t aim very high. In no meaningful sense is the Republican Party today John McCain’s party. It is George Bush’s party. Its elected officials and political consultants (including some on McCain’s campaign payroll) owe their primary loyalties to Bush, not McCain; its platform this year will be written mostly by people who would nominate Bush for a third term if they could. A candidate promising a clean break from Bush can quote chapter and verse from too many policies and people to list here, better defining himself while making it difficult for McCain to respond as his own man (and incidentally presenting the same difficulty for Republican candidates for the House and Senate).
I suppose it might be possible to so “expose” a candidate far more popular personally than either the incumbent President of that candidate’s party or the party itself that the candidate would become unpopular. That seems to be what Obama and his supporters are trying to do at the moment — as I suggest above, really doing things the hard way.
Obama absolutely needs to do a better job of tying John McCain to George W. Bush. The reader could be right in that they’re waiting until the climax of the campaign, after the conventions, to ramp things up. But, whether that’s the case or not, it needs to happen, and so far — it hasn’t.
willpen
Aug 10, 2008 @ 22:33:52
Thank you so much for posting this extremely thought provoking reader email. From personal experiences discussing Obama with friends or acquaintances who are not necessarily in his corner, I have found alot of resistance about Obama’s message. There is no logical reason that Obama should not be whipping the pants off of McCain, yet there are still people out there that find him either too vague or too sure. His detractors always see him as either or, but never right in the middle. Maybe the reader’s suggestion of bringing Bush’s lack of public support down on McCain’s head a bit more would be exactly what Obama needs to make that next big jump ahead of McCain.
Obama in 08
Craig Berger
Aug 10, 2008 @ 22:40:34
Sure thing. I feel like Obama’s message to this point is rather vague. McCain does have quite a few things Obama could use, but the media’s in McCain’s lap and won’t report on those. Obama needs to force George W. Bush as the issue, and craft a new message around their connection — this should have been the strategy all along.
leapsecond
Aug 10, 2008 @ 23:13:19
Good email, and I agree wholeheartedly with a lot of it. I mean, all the Obama information you could want, like specifics on policies, is on his website, but the fact that you have to go to his website just to see his stance on education, or energy, or foreign policy isn’t a good sign. He should be more specific about his desired changes in his speeches instead of just saying, “I’ll change things,” in an inspiring tone.
The best thing he can do, though, is tell the American public that he will not abuse his executive privileges like Bush did. That will definitely help his image.
Craig Berger
Aug 10, 2008 @ 23:26:45
This is true. His intellectual approach — policy this, policy that — annoys me. I want more emotion and passion reflected in his campaign, especially ads.
leapsecond
Aug 10, 2008 @ 23:29:23
Obama can’t help but have to debunk the lies of other campaigns (once Clinton, now McCain) due to the sheer volume of them being spread about his character. I don’t think any candidate has had as much hate and misperception cast upon him than Obama — which makes me antsy if he gets elected. Will there be riots in the streets?
Craig Berger
Aug 10, 2008 @ 23:41:02
Hmm I’m an optimistic person.. I don’t think there will be. But people like “suppose” from the other post seem to think the country will collapse, so who knows?
leapsecond
Aug 10, 2008 @ 23:46:47
His vision of the collapse and my vision of the collapse are very different. He thinks the workers are going to rise up and take control of the country while Obama takes away private property and such. I think the intolerant (see my blog post We, the Islamophobes) will go crazy if we have a “closet muslim”/biracial man in the White House.
Craig Berger
Aug 10, 2008 @ 23:55:18
I guess the million dollar question is whether “going crazy” means daily rants from Rush Limbaugh and other right wing bloviators, or if it really means civil unrest.
leapsecond
Aug 11, 2008 @ 00:01:27
Well, in my apocalyptic vision of the future, it will mean civil unrest. If I apply reason, it will probably just be edgy (read:lambastic) commentary from those right wing talk radio show propagandists.
But I covered that in an earlier blog post, as stated above (shameless plug).
Craig Berger
Aug 11, 2008 @ 00:04:41
haha, I promise to read and comment on some more of your posts at your blog soon!
I’m off to bed — thanks for your thoughts!