This is an updated diary to respond to the negative attacks already begun as part of the McCain/Rove general election strategy:
The negative attacks on Obama have begun. They've attacked his patriotism, his lack of military experience, his willingness to deal directly with friends and foes alike, etc. Here are possible Obama answers to these attacks:
- on not having served on the military: "That's skirting the issue! This all has to do with the GI bill that Sen. McCain has joined with Pres. Bush to refuse to endorse. Jim Webb, a decorated veteran and former secretary of the navy authored this bill. So Sen. McCain should stop skirting the issue: why doesn't Sen. McCain support the troops in Sen. Webb's bill? Soldiers who've been hurt by this dumb war deserve a future--they can't stay for 8 more years just to receive college education benefits as Sen. McCain insists because most have been hurt physically and more especially, psychologically. Is Sen. McCain going to side with the President rather than the troops in this issue just to gain some campaign money? Because the troops need a future after being so damaged and incapacitated by this war! He just brings up this military service issue because he can't answer why he refuses to support the troops with Sen. Webb's bill."
- on health care: "My goal is universal health care for every American; I've looked at the ways and means to achieve this, and have come up with what I think to be the most viable way--to first provide public health care, the same as congress gets, to anyone: no one gets turned away because of a prior condition or any other reason. And if they are unable to pay, they will be subsidized. And when the circumstances comes that there is a better idea or a better prescription, I will be open to it--as long as the goal is to provide health care to anyone who wants or needs it."
- on funding the war: "I was against the war, I am still against the war. I think it is based on lies. But I am not against the troops. I want them to get their pay, to get their medical benefits, I want them to be armored to be protected from the harm of this unjust war. If the only way to do this is to vote for funding, then this is an evil I'll have to live with. Because not funding the troops will not end this war until there is a change in the leadership of this country. Our current administration will continue this war through hell or high water, funded or not, sacrificing our troops for purely polical gain."
- on having direct talk with friends and foes alike: "Doing it the old way of forcing what we want on other people through guns and tough talk hasn't worked. The smart thing to do is to find out what are the parameters that will help us achieve our goals. We want a non-nuclear Iran, we want Cuba's political prisoners to be freed, we want the military junta in Burma to free Aung San Suu Kyi, we want Tibet to have greater religious and political autonomy...These goals can't be achived by pure saber rattling and refusing to dialogue. As President, I choose to do the strong and smart way to do things. I refuse to continue with a dumb strategy that has just made us less secure and lowered our standing in the world."
- on side issues of flag lapel pins, rumors that he is a muslim, that he somehow espouses the views of people he's been in contact with: "The American people have all heard these distractions, these dirty tricks, these false ads and rumors before. It's the only thing Karl Rove and his toilet politics have left because it's been revealed to the American people in more than seven years of being in power how terrible they are in dealing with our security, our economy, our rights, our infrastructure, our people. They have nothing left to show because they've failed or broken all their promises of being good leaders. But their tactics won't work this time. The American people know that if they want their lives to improve, they are not going to stay with this group who has brought so much shame, debt, insecurity, and destruction to our country. No matter how many times they employ these dirty campaign tricks, people are just absolutely fed up because they know it doesn't solve how they'll get health care, how they'll pay for gasoline, how they'll feel more secure about their future. They know the Obama campaign offers them that. We offer hope. We offer change. We offer a better future."