BY TAYLOR MARSH
McCain’s team is hitting Obama relentlessly. Anyone questioning what’s happening right now is called a “hand wringer.” Wrong. The fact is simply that Obama is on defense and you cannot win in a crouch.
The New York Observer lays it out pretty well, minus the fact that everyone thinks pushing back against Palin is Clinton’s job.
“My concern is that I see them as totally reactive right now as opposed to getting out there on their own and saying what the hell they are about,” said Leon Panetta, a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton who has advised Mr. Obama. “They seem to be intimidated by the Palin pick. They seem to be intimidated by how the Republicans are coming at them on change. And you cannot win if you are constantly on defense.”
Obama’s team has got to find a strategy to push back on Palin, because right now all they’re doing is reacting.
As for the guy who has to take on Palin, Joe Biden has his debated partner. It’s Jennifer Granholm. But beyond the veep debate, Biden has to hit Palin on issues and her continual lying on the stump.
Right now, Obama and his team are treating Palin like she’s not equal to the boys. They don’t want to gang up and they’re taking the media McCain’s team is launching in the wrong way. Quit complaining about negative advertising or that this is Rove like politics. Seriously, no kidding? What were they expecting? The same adoration they got in the primaries?
Oh, and this won’t work either:
As Mr. Obama’s motorcade passed through the Appalachian countryside on Tuesday night, aides inside his campaign headquarters back in Chicago were fighting back criticism over the lipstick-on-a-pig remark, assertively trying to steer the conversation back to attacking Mr. McCain.
If anything, it’s time for another strike using “lipstick on a pig,” instead of trying to explain it or run from it. It’s a good line. I’d say try equating the surge in Iraq in the same manner, but in the interview with Bill O’Reilly, Obama said the surge was working beyond anyone’s expectations. So, I’m not sure where he goes from here.
If I were advising the Obama camp I’d do the one thing in politics that always works and it’s not react. Attack. Attack. Attack.
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