BY TAYLOR MARSH
What, worry about polling now, in August? There’s so much time left, right?
Oh, and yeah, it’s Zogby:
As Russian tanks rolled into the Republic of Georgia and the presidential
candidates met over the weekend in the first joint issues forum of the fall
campaign, the latest polling includes drama almost as compelling – Republican
John McCain has taken a five-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama in the
race for President, the latest Reuters/Zogby telephone survey shows.McCain leads Obama by a 46% to 41% margin. …
I’m definitely not where
Steve Soto is and I also don’t think the Russian tanks rolling
in was the tipping point either. That’s just the moment where things might have
finally coalesced. Because the moment that everything began shifting was actually when the McCain
team unleashed “Celebrity.” Now, in just about every ad, including
radio, you hear those chants. O-bama. O-bama. It rings like a taunt now, hauntingly
conjuring up the moment after his speech in Germany when the adoring fans…
Well, you know.
Tagging a campaign with visuals and a feeling before they can tag you is the
goal of all political warfare. The one that strikes first and hardest, defining
the candidate in a way that can’t be shaken, is how you win.
With Obama and his surrogates continually complimenting John McCain, it is a different kind of politics, the kind that leads you to lose.
Yeah, it’s Zogby, but it also just might be the moment where it all caught
up with Barack. …at least for now. Can he shake it? Sure. But that he got in this position is the story right now. The Obama campaign sat back, took it easy and let McCain make the first strike. “Celebrity” has taken hold. The “Britney/Paris Hilton” of politics is the image. Saddleback didn’t help either.
Barack can come roaring back. The ad above is another comparison, but he needs to take McCain down on national security, or at the very least challenge him directly. Saber rattling in Georgia? That’s John McCain. Siding with Pakistan’s Musharraf, who had to resign or be impeached? That’s John McCain. Talking about “victory” in Iraq, trying to make up for Vietnam? That’s John McCain. You catch my drift. And it better start in Denver, tearing apart McCain’s image, which was manufactured by an adoring
press a long time ago. Because if anyone beat Barack to the political celebrity
label it was John McCain. It’s long past time to get busy.
Comments are closed.