I have found enormous comfort today in the "gloom and doom" diaries. People are bemoaning that Democrats aren't wielding the bat, and I would have agreed. Yet, in reading the specific criticisms, I find myself heartened by the brilliance of the Obama Team. I find myself making comments and realizing that the Democratic Party is reviving rhetorical forms we've nearly forgotten in the decades since the 1980s. We're so used to the techniques that have worked for the Republican Party since the days of Reagan that we don't understand that there are other effective ways of attacking the opponent that have worked for millenia.
First up, Obama. If anything, he's been hitting harder than anyone, but always with the theme of "they think you're stupid." This is something along the elitist theme that the GOP tries to throw at him, but he throws it right back in this phrase. He constantly repeats that the GOP thinks the American voter is stupid. This is both true and effective rhetoric. It makes people think, "Hmm, maybe they do." And it makes them think maybe they should prove it otherwise.
Biden is very much on message with saying what a great friend and guy McCain is and how Palin deserves respect due to her position. This is the great, old-fashioned "Brutus is an honorable man" approach. He praises their service and then rips to shreds what their actual actions have been. It emphasizes that he is honorable. It emphasizes that he understands people are people. It emphasizes that regardless of that what these people have done their current conduct is absolutely unforgivable and would lead to the absolute destruction of what we hold dear. I know some think it's over the top, but note when Shakespeare wrote the speech, he used the word honourable five times in just the first 268 words of Antony's speech. It's important to be sure people know what you're saying. Then you twist the knife, after you've recognized the service and blah, blah, blah.
And now, people are criticizing the use of Hillary, because she refused to start a catfight. Instead, she completely ignored the question of Palin by saying that any Republican is the same is any other. This might be the best of all. That Palin woman isn't worth Hillary's time to address. There are real issues to worry about, and McCain, what's her name and any other Republican they choose to bring forward won't do anything. It's brilliant rhetoric. As I said in a comment, Hillary just said that VP choice is "beneath contempt." She won't even waste breath on her.
This is a coordinated strategy, I think. This is using various forms of rhetoric from convincing speakers who have a common goal. And this is using something other than a hammer for every job. The more I see it (and I really put it together from the hand-wringing of everyone expecting them all to pull out the baseball bat, so thanks), the more I think it matches the old Rovian tricks without needing to resort to the old Rovian tricks.
It's a new, old kind of politics based on the finest in the democratic/republican (both uncapitalized, yes) traditions. Obama is going back to rhetoric that didn't see every problem as a nail. And his team doesn't always use a hammer.