At this point, I think we all know that Obama is not going to hit back in kind at McCain, not only because he has repeatedly stated this, but whenever Obama has tried to stoop to McCain's level (the email ad) it has just come off as awkward and ineffective. Obama has promised to highlight policy differences between the two candidates, but the problem is, even though his policies blow the McCain ones out of the water, he hasn't packaged them into attractive sound bites that appeal to voters. Here is how I think he should package them:
Tax Cuts: Call them 'MASSIVE Middle Class Tax Cuts', don't start with the '95% of Americans blah blah blah', start of by saying 'MASSIVE middle-class tax cuts' and repeat it over and over and over again.
Energy Policy: Relabel it, 'RESPONSIBLE Energy Policy', highlight the fact that we can't drill our way out of the problem to justify this name. Keep repeating that McCain's Drill Baby Drill plan just puts Americans back under the thrall of Opec. Mention how even Saudi Arabia has left Opec.
Foreign Policy: Call it, 'REASLISTIC, not Idealistic, Foreign Policy', Obama's foreign policy actually hearkens back to the classical conservative, realistic foreign policy of the first Bush Administration, as exemplified by Brent Scowcroft. One that puts America's interests first, not a President's Machismo
Obama needs to hammer the above phrases over and over and over again in the next two months. Start with the catch-phrases first, and the policy details second. What McCain is doing is catch-phrases but no detail. By adopting this strategy Obama can really highlight policy differences between him and McCain while still keeping to the high road.
Update 1: Kinda funny, diaries trashing McCain or Palin get comments and recs, but diaries with a positive strategy for Obama get none...