Monday, September 8, 2008

Not political Jiu Jitsu

I made a point recently (and a while back) about Obama practicing political jiu jitsu against McSame's clumsy boxing, but I am starting to think i was wrong about that metaphor. It now seems more like Obama is practicing aikido, which is more self-defense than anything, and I would argue strongly that it's a type of self defense that only works against people who don't know how to fight. Obama is looking more and more lately like he is the one who doesn't know how to fight.

Since the pugilist Republiscum advisor Steve Schmidt took over day to day communications for McSame, their campaign has been attacking Obama almost daily, and Obama's responses have been purely defensive, and not entirely effective. Obama has let McSame dictate the narrative every step of the way, and it does not appear that things will change anytime soon. Maybe Obama is worried about his brand, or is being too high-minded and determined to keep his word not to practice the same old politics. That's fine, and I'd agree with that. But as Josh Marshal aptly put it (many times), you don't have to be negative to make an attack successful. The problem is that Obama's famously creative campaign is showing a stunning lack of creativity in their recent marketing and advertising. They may be great on visuals, but they SUCK when it comes to message. Thankfully, the inimitable Nate Silver has some great ideas Obama can be inspired by.

Whatever Obama does next, he needs to do it in a way that shows he has a spine. Hell, Sarah Palin looks and sounds tougher than Obama right now, and that should scare the hell out of the Obama campaign. Because in the end, policy really doesn't matter all that much if the candidate looks weak. Even if the candidate might actually be tough in all the ways that matter in practice, looking and sounding tough is ultimately what matters to the voters.

Simply put, Americans don't vote for sissies. Period.

0 talk back: