Will Obama Continue to Miss the Target?

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post reported on a conference call held by the Obama campaign on Friday. The intent was to roll out the latest attempt by the Obama campaign to say that they were going to “retake the offensive” in this campaign. Cillizza wondered if Obama’s “aggressive new tone” will work?

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There is no doubt among politics watchers that the McCain campaign has led repeated news cycles and the campaign narrative has been under his control since just before the Republican National Convention. And the announcement of Governor Sarah Palin as the VP nominee has had the full attention of every politico in the country. McCain is driving the news and the debate. It’s just that simple. Cillizza reports on the Obama campaign’s various “new” strategies all intended to assuage the ire in Democratic circles that Obama is “letting the race slip away.” But, one thing in particular in the Cilllizza piece drew my attention.

The liberal base of the Democratic party detests Palin in a visceral way and wants to destroy her, regardless of whether it is a sound political strategy or not. Several of the questions asked on today’s conference call were centered not on the idea that McCain is out of touch on the economy but rather on why the Obama campaign wasn’t hitting Palin more aggressively on some of her perceived weaknesses. … The question is whether anything other than a full frontal assault on Palin will energize the base in the way that can help Obama carry the fight to McCain.

If the Obama campaign joins the media in the quest to destroy Governor Sarah Palin it will prove that his vaunted “judgment” is not what it should be for a president of the United States of America. Does Obama really want to spend his political capital attacking the number two on the ticket? If so, he will, it must be realized, be spending his ammunition on a secondary, less important target, after all. It will show that he hasn’t any idea what to prioritize, what should be the proper focus, or what is important. Can you imagine a president Obama facing a rogue nation in a time of crisis and his focus becoming that rogue nation’s second in command instead of its leader? Will Obama prove to be the poor marksman always missing his target? Worse, if he focuses his guns on Palin, won’t Obama be showing that all he will do is try to kow tow to the worst whiners in his own party, placating his most shrill supporters? Instead of acting presidential, will Obama bow to pressure of his most extremist, fringe compatriots and act like a puppet as they pull his strings? And what about his self-acclaimed “new tone”? Won’t an all out Palin attack prove this so-called “new tone” to be just another lie joining the false claim that he’ll “reach across the aisle” to “get things done” even though he has never in his entire career made such a gesture? Let’s see what sort of leader Obama is. Let’s see if he can command respect among his own people and not simply buckle to the pressure of his most wild-eyed acolytes.