Railing against the evil rich has never been a winning Democratic strategy. Obama should go back to the script.
That's Obama's MO too... "I honor his service. I cannot honor his policy." I meant what I said. I'm not running for anything. In fact I had the WhiteWater scandal in the back of my mind...
It isn't railing against the evil rich it's responding to the attacks that Obama is an out of touch elitist.
Only partially. In this very forum we've seen post about how much his house cost, and how he wasn't really working class when in Hawaii etc. It wasn't just about the comments he made.
Failing to respond agressively to Republican attacks has not been a winning Democratic strategy. Obama needs to beat McCain over the head with this, his 5 million dollar comment, and the Bush's third term attack.
Non-concur. Obama is very vulnerable with his own "house ethics" problem vis-a-vis the Rezko scandal. True, McCain should have said "one home but we own a number of houses." However, that's hindsight. The important fact to remember is that Obama, who is running on being "the change" in politics, opens himself to ethics questions and to being susceptible to bribes (million dollar house) by the politically corrupt. The attack on McCain indicates that he will be quick to shed his high ideals to wallow in mud-slinging. I just don't think this is a successful path for him.
Details about the properties the McCain family owns. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12700.html Summary: 2 Condos in same building in Phoenix, which is their primary residence 1 Condo for daughter Meghan 1 Scenic Ranch in Arizona 1 three-bedroom Arlington condo where McCain lives while in DC. 1 Lo Jolla California home for Cindy McCain's elderly aunt 2 Condos in California purchased through a family corporation "for investment and are available for personal use by the McCain family." So, he has a home in Phoenix comprised of two condos, bought their daughter a condo, have a getaway home, have a condo for when McCain is in DC, a home for an elderly family member, and two investment condos. No doubt that's a lot of money, and yes they are rich, but is this unreasonable? It's not like he's living in 8 different homes, has a Park avenue condo, a mansion in Beverly Hills, etc. The article even goes on to say he didn't agree with the Family Corporation purchasing the California condos. Five of the seven locations he barely visits or doesn't even visit at all.
Again, if anyone has proof that Obama has done anything wrong regarding his house purchase, please bring it forward. If not, drop the insinuations.
The insinuations are there and can't be swept under the rug just because they may or may not be fair or unfair. The house thing was in the past, but gigging McCain on his "house" memory just opens Obama to criticism on his "house" issue. That's just being realistic. You can't have it as a one-way street.
Okay, but only if you can tell me what McCain has done wrong by purchasing real estate. If not, drop the insinuations that he's...rich? Wait...what's the insinuation again?
Republicans are not going to fail to pursue any line of attack that they think will be effective, because Obama holds his punches. Democrats (and Republicans) are successful when they are aggressive. Right now Obama is defining McCain as an out of touch, really, really rich guy. Just as the Republicans defined Kerry as a treasonous, half-french, fop and have tried to define Obama as an elitist "celebrity", whatever that means. If the Obama campaign did not take advantage of this huge opening McCain has given them, out of some fealty to being the "change" candidate, they would be committing political malpractice.
You're being disingenuous. There is nothing wrong with owning real estate. We all know that. But when one candidate (who doesn't know how many homes he owns) makes an issue of being out of touch with the American people and accuses his opponent of elitism (that's some trick when wearing $500 shoes), he really has no legs to stand on.
anyway, i don't think obama's attack is going to work. it lacks the emotion power that the rovian attacks on him have. obama should show that mccain is a bit reckless and out of control - an then tie that to bush's mission accomplished and cowboy style. "McCain is a maverick - he'll get us into trouble just like bush did" Bush, "Bring them on!" And they came on.... McCain, "Kick Russia out of the G8" Do we really want to start another cold war? Right now? When we need to fix our economy? McCain, "I don't know much about the economy, I need to be educated about it" That is what Obama should be running.
If I were advising the Obama campaign I would avoid the the petty finger pointing and keep the high ground ... like he has stated he was going to do. You don't have to attack McCain personally, in fact I would go out of my way to be conciliatory to the man who was known as The Maverick. I would focus my attacks on the Republican party, their failed policies, compromised ethics and the incompetence of corporate cronyism. I would beat people over the head with the fact that, unlike a maverick senator, a president does not govern alone. That the nominee of the Republican Party in inherits the same party hierarchy, the same government bureaucracy, the same congressional delegation , and is beholden to the same lobbyist as the previous administration. Those things don't change if the same party is re-elected. So as much as John McCain is an honorable man, the Republican Party is failed institution and we need to throw the scoundrels out. How powerful would it be for Obama to stand at the podium and do a 'Call And Response' speech listing the 10 or so greatest failures of the Rpeublican Party over the last 8 years and the crowd responds back "throw the scoundrels out!" 'The Republican Party failed the people of New Orleans' "throw the scoundrels out!" 'The Republican Party failed to protect the integrity of our credit sysytem so that their Banking cronies could make obscene amounts of money" "throw the scoundrels out!" 'The Republican Party was either fooled by false information or knowingly presented false information in leading this nation to war' "throw the scoundrels out!" 'The Republican Part failed to understand anything about running the war in Iraq. We were told, we would be greeted as liberators, we were told 5 years ago that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we were told the war would cost 700 million and that would the war would pay for itself we are now at 70 billion' "throw the scoundrels out!" You could go on all night, you could whip up a fervor like a tent revival on a hot summer night. Simple repeatable sound bites, an irrefutable indictment and you never have to even mention much less vilify John MCCain.
As already stated, McCain didn't jump on the elitism issue until Obama's elitist comments, which he later apologized for. I agree that maybe some Republicans have since mis-characterized Obama as an elitist simply because he has a "big house," but the comments were where it started. Now the Obama campaign is attempting to turn that criticism around simply by showing how much wealth the McCain's have, rather than pointing to actual comments McCain may have made that are condescending to the lower class or demonstrate an elitist mentality. Do you see the difference?
They should get Robin Leach to do a voiceover for a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous type spoof on McCain. Maybe just have it as a viral video.
I think the Obama campaign is focusing on comments by McCain saying he has no idea how many houses he own, which shows that he's not quite like the normal, average, everyday American. If they were just focused on his wealth, they could have done that at any time.
Well I think it's condescending to tell Americans who are losing homes that the economy is fundamentally strong, have an advisor call the nation a bunch of whiners and that their problems are all in their head and then not even know how many houses he has. I'm glad Obama's hitting back on this. The Democrats have tried to take the high road for too long. Kerry (a decorated war veteran) was attacked for his service to our country and for marrying a rich woman, now that the shoe's on the other foot, the Republicans are whining and whining and whining. I think it's both hilarious and disgusting at the same time. The Republicans sure like to dish it out, but are first to complain when it's dished right back to them. Waaaaaaa.
The problem here is the people already agree with "throw the Republicans out". McCain has effectively branded himself as a non-Republican. Saying McCain is a good guy, but the Republicans aren't just reinforces that image that he's building for himself. I'm not sure that's a winning strategy. McCain can just keep repeating "I'm a maverick - throw the rest out, but i'm great!" and Obama will be reinforcing that image.
