We're coming down the home stretch of the 2008 presidential campaign. The attacks are increasing in frequency and in many cases, it's getting personal. Who is attacking more effectively? According to an NBC report, it's Obama.
Here's the most recent headline: “Race Unchanged by 2nd McCain, Obama debate: Americans increasingly disinclined to put a Republican in the White House”. Wow. This is making a statement that we've now heard for months: we can't have “George Bush policies” for another 4 years. We've had them for 8 years already. This sounds exactly like something that Obama would say and Obama won this most recent debate by a margin of 54-30 according to a poll jointly conducted by CNN and Opinion Research Corp and40-26 in favor of Obama among undecided voters according to a CBS poll. Why did Obama win by such a large margin (i.e. 24 points according to CNN & Opinion Research Corp and 14 points among undecided voters according to CBS)? Obama had solutions in addition to his attacks on McCain while McCain only attacked.
Specifically, of course Obama attacked. Naturally, when someone attacks you, you hit back and that's what Obama did: “I've got to correct some of Senator McCain's history, not surprisingly,… In fact, Senator McCain's campaign chairman's firm was a lobbyist on behalf of Fannie Mae, not me”. In addition, McCain was labeled as “an angry man, lurching from one position to another”.
However, unlike McCain, Obama also had some of his own proposals: “This isn't a time for fear and panic. This is a time for resolve and leadership”. In his opening statement, Obama has already hit the nail on the head as far as the GOP's tactics are concerned. Republicans love to play the fear factor.
“I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. Because that's who we are. This is a nation that has faced down war and depression, great challenges and great threats”. There's a sense of hope in Obama's speech.
So, what does McCain have to say? “They're the ones that, with the encouragement of Senator Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people who could never pay back”. So, now McCain is painting Obama as a Washington insider (“Senator Obama and his friends and his cronies in Washington”). Hang on. Didn't McCain say earlier during this campaign that Obama wasn't experienced enough to lead us? Why is he calling Obama a Washington insider now? Not only is this a flip-flop, this also shows that McCain is out of touch and desperate.
Campaigning in Florida, Obama's running mate, Joe Biden said that “This is beyond disappointing. This is wrong”. Surely, Biden is talking about McCain instead of Obama here.
