"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," Obama said in Philadelphia last night. "Because from what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans."
- Politico
With that quote, Barack Obama signaled to many that his campaign wouldn't be pushed around like the last two Democratic Presidential Campaigns. He was going to fight for the change we need, and hell, he wasn't going to fight fairly.
So where has that Barack Obama gone?
Not every hand wringer is stupid, naive, and clueless. The polls are a symptom, not a cause. This feeling of impending doom does not stem simply from the polls. For some of us, it stems from the campaign itself. It stems from soft sunday morning sessions by Obama and Biden. The eloquent but loquacious answers. The pure reason devoid of emotion. It stems from issue polls showing McCain with a 14+ point advantage on the Iraq War. Or the GOP having an 11+ advantage on environmental issues(!). It stems from The GOP having a media trump card in being able to roll out Palin at their will. It stems from the drumbeat of "economy" from the Obama campaign, with a dangerous disdain for the lies that the McCain camp is spreading about them.
We were promised a gun in a knife fight, and Obama has not delivered.
The Obama campaign released a statement today in response to a McCain ad touting Palin's rejection of the Bridge to Nowhere:
"Despite being discredited over and over again by numerous news organizations, the McCain campaign continues to repeat the lie that Sarah Palin stopped the Bridge to Nowhere. John McCain has voted with George Bush 90% of the time and he and Sarah Palin will continue Bush's economic policies, his health care policy, his education policy, his energy policy, and his foreign policy. McCain and Palin will say or do anything to make people believe that they will change something besides the person sitting in the Oval Office. That's the kind of politics people are tired of, and it's anything but change."
- Talking Points Memo
While it is great to see the word "Lie" actually used for once, this is not a gun in a knife fight. This is gum, in a knife fight. It is long and stale. It does not explain what Palin's position actually is. Instead of leading with the action, e.g. "this is a lie," he leads with reason, and fact: "clinical research shows this to be false." There is no action or power in that statement. Reason, for all her virtues, has no left hook.
Another quote, from David Axelrod, regarding Palin's acceptance speech:
"She is deft at going on the attack. For someone who makes the point that she is not from Washington, she looks like she would fit in very well there," Axelrod told reporters on the campaign plane in Pittsburgh, Pa. "These attacks all felt very familiar to Americans who are used to this kind of thing from Washington."
Axelrod said her speech was riddled with distortions.
"Right down the line," he said. "She tried to attack Obama by saying he had no significant legislative accomplishments -- maybe that's what she was told -- but she should talk to Sen. Lugar, talk to Sen. Coburn, talk to people across the aisle in Illinois where he passed dozens of major laws to expand health care reform welfare, reduce taxes on working families. So I think she had an assignment and she went out and she discharged it."
- Talking Points Memo
What legistlation, David? Can you cite specific examples? Or do we need to get into a semantic war on what defines "major?" This is my reaction when I read their releases. I question their validity. Me, an Obama fanatic.
My background is as a video editor. I've done countless ads, from national to local. My bread and butter, however, were made up of two main types: local car dealers, and what we called "Sunday Sunday Sundays!" They are the cheap, garish, loud, blunt ads you see during local news and syndicated sit-coms. When I first started, I tried to get all high-concept with the clients, and say "we can really do something great with these." Their response was always "no way, loud and obnoxious works, it's been proven." Sure enough, the clients I kept were the clients who insisted I make loud, garish, blunt ads. High concept? It didn't move merchandise.
Messaging matters, not just what you say, but how you say it. Sophisitcation is not always the answer, either. Sometimes you need rapier, sometimes the 2x4. Right now, Obama needs more 2x4.
Every time McCain says Obama wants to raise our taxes, or Palin was against the Bridge to Nowhere, and Obama doesn't refute it, harshly, it becomes a little more true. Surely you know some low information voters. Talk to them. Ask them their perception. Definitely try to convince them of their wrongs. But realize that the GOP machine is working, and to some of us, it DOES feel like 2004 all over again. It does feel like Obama thinks the attacks are below him, and not worth his time. And some of us, yes, some of us die-hard supporters, want to see him fight back, not because we hate McCain, but because we want a leader who will fight.
I'm not here to see Obama kick McCain. I'm not looking for a fistfight. I'm looking for a candidate who believes so strongly in what we're all trying to do, that he gets insulted when the Republicans try to resort to their repeated lies. I don't have shallow contempt for these tactics, I have raging, seething anger for them. When I see my candidate not have a similar response, I am let down. It's not just about fighting against McCain and the Republicans, it's about fighting for me.
This election is really the end of the line for some of us, and we want a candidate who acknowledges that, not just in words, but in temperment. Many of the hand-wringers are utterly passionate about this race. I've donated, I've called, I've gotten others to do the same. I've got my sister, a lawyer in North Carolina, looking in to how she can be involved in voter protection services on election day. I will go into election day knowing I did everything I could for Barack Obama's candidacy, and our cause. I just ask that Barack Obama and his campaign do the same.
Show us the guns, Obama.
UPDATE: I wanted to add a post from HuffPost that pretty much sums up everything I've said here.
Obama / Biden go back to a losing message.