Marc Ambinder outlines the Republican strategy for the next 28 days. They're Ayers, Crime, and Taxes. What do they all have in common? They've got nothing to do with McCain. The problem with that? There are two people running for President. This association game we've been over before. It's now entered meta territory. It no longer is about Obama's associations. It's about the McCain campaign's need to to distract. None of these associations, none of them, have any meat on them. And if you bring up Obama's skeletons, you bring up McCain and Palin's. And the sense I get is Obama is happy to have McCain do that.
(this is a cross-post from my site The Daily Shocker.)
I've mentioned that I don't think Palin's problems are any more substantial than Obama's (aside, maybe, from her anti-Semitic church), but Charles Keating is tailored made for today's environment. In fact, you're already seeing the McCain campaign trying to diffuse this issue from multiple angles. They're holding a press call with their lawyer today to put to rest what happened with McCain and Keating. They're trying to associate three of the other Keating Five members with Obama. They're desperate.
The McCain campaign is saying "McCain broke no laws, or Senate rules." But that's just proof that they don't get it. They're trying to create an Ayers link where this is none, but there is material evidence that McCain took payment for influence from Keating. Hell, Keating himself said:
McCain still attributes the attention to nothing more than Keating’s "great respect for military people" and the duo’s "political and personal affinity." But Keating, for his part, made no bones about the purpose of his giving. When asked by reporters if the investments he made in politicians bought their loyalty and influence on his behalf, Keating replied, "I want to say in the most forceful way I can, I certainly hope so."
You have the criminal himself saying "yeah, I was trying to buy politicians," to get regulators off his back. And you have McCain taking the bribes. This isn't some "he shook hands with a 60's radical," this is payola.
It's at this point that you see the absolute beauty in the Obama campaign. First, they discredited McCain on the economy. To be fair, McCain had a helping hand in that. Second, you paint his chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, as the architect of the financial mess we are in. Bonus points to Gramm for calling people "whiners." Then, you show McCain's campaign is run by nothing but lobbyists, who have a vested, corporate interest in his winning. Finally, you hit him with the Keating Five—with the brutal KeatingEconomics.com—showing how McCain, in a similar situation in the past, allowed himself to be influenced by a lobbyist at the cost of billions to Americans. That's how you build a case. That's how you take someone down. Conventional Wisdom has us thinking Obama went with Keating Five as a reaction to Ayers. Nah. I've been both a website developer, and a video editor in my days, and I can tell you, the KeatingEconomics.com site isn't a reaction. It's part of a plan. The documentary they're putting together has been in the works. Simple issues of production dictate that. What we're seeing now isn't the quick reaction to McCain attack ads. It's the systematic disarming of McCain, and the culmination of the assault on his character, his judgment, and his ability to run this country. My God, it's beautiful.
So McCain has their new three talking points. (1) Ayers and Rezko. Thanks, McCain, for opening the door to Keating. (2) Obama's record on crime? He's not running for mayor, and this issue isn't going to all the sudden be something people care about. As for the (3) tax issue, again, Obama riposted that beautifully, painting McCain's health care plan as an unprecedented tax hike. Obama has repeatedly said that only the rich will get a tax increase. Then, he turned it back around on McCain and said "McCain will tax everyone." Again, Obama has a solid defense on that front.
Watching both campaigns, you don't even have to consider the issues to know which one is winning, and which one is up the creek. The simple way in which these campaigns are playing out should tell us everything we need to know.
The Obama campaign knew this was coming. It seriously didn't think it'd be smooth sailing and economy failing all the way to the White House. They clearly have a plan, and because they're winning, they can execute that plan, and continue winning more. McCain has to work from behind, and take all previously prepared plans: Maverick, POW, Honor, Truth, all of it, and toss it. It doesn't work. McCain is a failed candidate. Every step of the way from here to November will be McCain winging it. And they'll be winging it against the Unstoppable Force that is the Obama campaign.