Folks... Obama is trying to craft a strategy where McCain's "temperment" becomes an issue...

[scheming daemons]

In order for that strategy to work, Obama himself must have a cool, calm, and collected temperment.


Which means... the campaign should call McCain and Palin liars at every opportunity... every surrogate, every staffer within earshot of a media microphone.


But not Obama himself.


Get it?


Use your heads, folks.

[cliffordu]

1. DING DING DING WE have a winner!!!

Except that I believe that O has that temperment all the time.

[pdxmom]

2. I agree completely. And the dishonesty/liar thing will have the extra

added bonus of tweaking his "honor" button. Could see a sign of that famed McCain temperament soon.

[elocs]

3. You may have trouble selling that to some here who believe they know best

what Obama should do since he has screwed it up so badly so far. :sarcasm:

[jpertello]

4. Yes

And get that old guy Dr Philip Butler who was in the POW camp with McCain and wrote that great article saying McCain is temperamentally unfit to be President. Get the guy to make a commercial saying that. Then play it over and over.
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/08/25/why-i-won%E2%80%99t-vote-for-john-mccain/

[dav1goku]

9. John McCain just may have the Mad Cow

War Hero...POW...4-5 years beaten and locked in a small room...that does a lot to you mentally, physically and spiritually.

His temper should definately be brought to light.

http://www.zazzle.com/dav1goku - McCain has the Mad Cow

[OneGrassRoot]

5. CONTRAST, people...he's providing brilliant CONTRAST. yep, yep. n/t

[Coexist]

6. thank you for getting it.

[johnnydrama]

7. i get your point

But I think you can calmly call somebody a liar.

[TheKentuckian]

8. and he is.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. Interesting take

Chris Matthews and others I have heard have said that the Republicans have tried to transform this campaign into one on the issues to one focused on personality. To paraphrase Matthews today, he said something like this: "McCain wants it to be about who he is and not what he will do". And the same idea applies to Palin. She's being sold as the maverick, moose-hunting, hockey mom reformer. Matthews also said that the campaign has been transformed by the Republicans into "who do you like?" instead of "who will solve our problems?".

So from your post, I take it that you think Obama is using a tactic that Rove might use, hitting the opponent on their strong point and reducing it. If McCain has transformed his campaign into one of competing personalities in terms of their likability (the maverick war hero and hockey mom against the community organizer and Washington insider), that Obama is meeting that strategy head on and intends to bring down McCain's likability factor while himself remaining likable. In that way, Obama is shifting gears and is trying to 'one-up' the McCain campaign.

If that's what you are proposing, that McCain has shifted and now Obama is shifting with him, I find that interesting.

[speedoo]

11. BINGO.

Thanks!

[stolivodka]

12. A WINNER IS YOU!

Obama is the responsible, reasoned leader. McCain is the angry, old gambler. While McCain plays craps with America's future by nominating a gimmick as his running mate, Obama selected a seasoned deal-maker who knows how to get things done in Washington.

[dav1goku]

13. Call it what it is ....MAD COW

John McCain has the Mad Cow..Patient Zero
He's had it tough. What he's gone through is TRAGIC to the extreme...it takes it's toll on you mentally, physically and spiritually...clearly 2 out of three are public record.

http://www.zazzle.com/dav1goku - McCain has the Mad Cow

[RagAss]

14. It's all about Dementia in a 72 year old man..Dementia !!!!!

[renate]

15. when Keith asked Obama whether he should get angry about the lies

Obama should have answered something like "When people cheat by telling lies, I might get angry, but I don't show it... I just work even harder" or something like that.

If the tactic is to create a contrast to McCain and his temper, he needs to explicitly say something like that. I don't think the average voter is going to see him answer questions about the McCain campaign's lies this calmly, even dismissively, and think "wow, he's mellow." They're just going to assume that the lies aren't outrageous enough to get him worked up.

I think it'd be great to have McCain's temper be an issue... nobody likes a grumpy old man who had to stop himself from hitting a woman in a wheelchair, or who called his wife a filthy name. But Obama--or somebody--needs to specifically draw attention to the difference between the two, not just show it by example and hope people notice it by themselves.

[scheming daemons]

16. The McCain campaign and the RW are lying in wait, just waiting for Obama to have an "angry" moment

That will be game/set/match.


Think!

[renate]

20. I wasn't clear

I'm not saying Obama should get angry, I'm saying that if he's going to be laid-back, he needs to explain that this is his style, and doesn't mean he's not taking the lies seriously. Otherwise, with that calm demeanor, some people watching him might think the lies just aren't a big deal.

[Parker CA]

18. Any question of the contrast will be answered in the debates,

and Obama understands this clearly. If they keep pressing with the liar attack, McCain will be primed for a classic, angry gaffe during the debates.

[Sensitivity]

17. One can talk straight without appearing unhinged. By being "politically correct"

Obama is defeating his purpose of presenting himself as a man of the people.

[scheming daemons]

19. He's acting like a President. I know it has been almost a decade since we've seen such a thing...

...but he'll get more votes by acting like a President than he will by acting like Carville or Begala.


They have jobs to do... they'll do them.


Let them do them.