Okay — so here’s my question. Where is the Obama campaign? Lately when I’ve been tuning into CNN, MSNBC, etc. I’ve noticed that McCain’s new slogan is we can’t have “more of the same” mantra.
Sound familiar? Well, it should. This is the campaign motto that the Obama/Biden campaign has had since Biden was named the Democrat’s V.P candidate.
This is the point in the campaign where I want to know — Where the hell is the Obama campaign and why aren’t they calling McCain out for being unoriginal?
Also the Obama campaign is using McCain’s soundbite of how he admitted to voting with Bush more than 90% of the time which is supposed to negate McCain’s claims that he is a maverick. (As sneaky and effective as it may be — it’s also an old quote. That soundbite is from a press junket from ’04.) I’d like to know –again — where is the Obama campaign? After the “90% of the time” campaign ad as I’ll call it, McCain (sans a direct quote from Obama) began using the same motto in regard to Obama.
Once again, Sen. McCain please, please be more original. If you plan to negate your opponent it’d be more powerful if you didn’t steal direct lines from his campaign ads. Also — this habit of your campaign only reinforces that you are unoriginal, boring, and the antithesis of a “maverick.” You spiced it up with Palin as your choice now spice up your ads.
And for Sen. Obama. Don’t follow the paths of Gore or Kerry. Don’t “be nice” or “be the better person.” If someone’s stealing your ad scripts verbatum, call that person out! Also don’t make nice comments about your opponent right before you are about to point out where he’s lacking — you may end up being called a “Flip flopper” … Sound familiar?
-Lainie Frost
Obama has been fighting back. They just came out with an ad the other day showing McCain repeating that “fundamentals of the economy are strong” line just as Wall Street was crashing and using that to show that he was out of touch. But at the same time, by avoiding a smear campaign like McCain has been running, Obama’s got several things working for him as a result of the candidates’ current strategies:
1. The media narrative has changed dramatically recently. AP stories are always leading now with dubious claims by the McCain campaign which they are now debunking. Obama looks like the good guy as a result.
2. McCain looks petty when he’s running ads about lipstick and sex education for kindergartners while the Federal Reserve has had to bail out four insurance companies for a combined $200 billion.
3. 2000 and 2004 were not “change” elections, but this one is. Obama’s image as an agent of change is actually doing much better than McCain’s, despite (because?) of the recent ad blitzes against Obama. Here’s a story from today’s NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/us/politics/19pollcnd.html?ref=politics. The fact that Obama’s pulling punches gives him credibility with the electorate as a change agent.
We Democrats panic well, but that doesn’t mean it’s always warranted. Obama is at the very least tied again in national polls, and he’s very likely ahead. State polling is also starting to come around. If Obama can make the rest of the campaign about economics, he’s got it in the bag.