So I was just reading some findings from a study of independents. I noticed this little nugget:
Obama is seen as a candidate of the future; an agent of change; the positive words they associate with him are "change" "future" and "reform." McCain is seen as the more competent candidate; the positive words associated with him are "experience" and "integrity." (emphasis mine)
Really? McCain is the more "competent candidate?" This is a meme that needs to die a quick and painful death, and needs to be aided along by Obama surrogates. NOW is the perfect time, I'll explain why:
McCain's campaign is a mess. On both the overall strategic level (such as it is), to the tactical execution level, the guy simply doesn't have his act together. No amount of re-boots can fix that.
This is something that frustrated me in the primaries as well: Clinton kept trying to knock Obama as the incompetent newbie while she was claiming to be the experienced hand, and yet it was his campaign that was the well-oiled machine. To be fair, after some drama, Clinton was at least able to correct her course somewhat, only then it was too late, so she has proven herself a much better leader than McCain.
As a friend keeps reminding me, Bush ran two good campaigns, and has been a completely incompetent executive, so you can't necessarily say that the person who runs the better campaign will be the more competent President. But competence has been the hallmark of Obama's career, and he could not have come so far so quickly without being an excellent leader - and politically, at least, the campaigns are as good an example as any.
So my advice, for what it's worth, to Obama and his surrogates: NOW is the time to attack McCain for incompetence. This is a week during which almost every MSM outlet finally acknowledged that his campaign has been less than optimal, so send some top surrogates to the media with this talking point:
You in the media keep talking about John McCain as the safe choice. Watching these two campaigns I'd feel a hell of a lot better about Barack Obama as my chief executive. His campaign has been as well-run as any we've ever seen. John McCain's campaign is a mess. You keep talking about his advisers, but he's the boss of his campaign. I'm comparing these two and I see only one that is competent: Obama's. We don't need another four years of an incompetent chief executive. Obama is a natural leader, and it shows.
Think about it: Obama just took a trip abroad to close the perceived gap on foreign affairs.
Events have conspired to create the perfect opportunity for the Obama campaign, by taking the offense, to close the (inexplicable) "competence" gap.
NOW is the time to do.
CROSS-POSTED AT STRATEGY '08