The McCain Strategy Is Vintage Karl Rove, the Media Loves It, and the Obama Camp Is Not Taking It Seriously Enough
There is a plausible argument that no one has so negatively impacted the lives of the American people and the world as has Karl Rove. Not only did he elect an incompetent, not only did he misuse the White House to further his goal of a permanent Republican majority, but he has destroyed the American political dialogue.
The mainstream media, interested only in ratings, has lapped it up. What simpler and inexpensive way to cover a contest whose outcome has profound stakes for the entire world than to treat the nonsense as important. Fox "News," interested only in electing Republicans, has presented it as, to quote Rove himself about the outing of Valerie Plame, "fair game."
The Obama Camp seems not to grasp fully what is going on. Responding in logical, measured terms that rationally pushes back on McCain's ads, they are missing the emotional side of the attacks that is the determining factor in 98% of decisionmaking, and, thus, voting.
Using mockery McCain is trying to undermine, at the level of emotions, Obama's charisma and the passions his candidacy stirs both in the US and around the world. Obama ought to begin by reminding people, "these are the same people, using the same tactics, that brought us George W Bush, and look what a disaster he is."
In the Democratic primaries Obama used one very successful strategy of calling out the tactic, thus bringing it to peoples' consciousness, rather than leaving it buried in the emotional side of the brain. Hillary's "the sky is going to open" attempted mockery did not take hold, and she did not pursue it, in part because much of the primary electorate would not have tolerated it.
But, the McCain people do not care about much of the Democratic primary electorate. They want to undermine Obama, so their guy does not appear to be as lame as he actually is. Early in his career Rove and his people promoted death in the form of cigarettes. Then it was Bush. Now, it's McCain. They do not stop on their own, you have to stop them by making the price they pay too painful to continue.
Remember the Rove tactic: find your opponent's strength, and attack it. The Rove protégés running the McCain campaign (doubtless with help from Karl Rove) have analyzed Obama's major strength to be his ability to create a movement with passion. Not only can such passion become infectious, it also has the ability to change politics post-election by going over the heads of lobbyists and the DC-insiders to apply enormous people pressure on Members of Congress. The first Earth Day was a good example: 20 million people participated, 7 of the first 'dirty-dozen' pro-polluters were then defeated, and then the new Congress passed, and Richard Nixon (!) signed, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Environmental Protection Act, just to name-drop a few.
Barack Obama can do the same for healthcare, for energy, and for a host of other important endeavors to clean up the mess created by Karl Rove's marionette. That, and a new Justice Department exposing the lies and crimes of this un-American regime, represent an enormous threat to the radical rightwing movement that, incidentally, was spawned as a reaction to the success of Earth Day.
What the McCain campaign is doing is vintage Rove. It is difficult to attack directly for being charismatic, and so they have taken to mockery, Hillary's "sky is going to open" taken to new heights. The same John McCain who kowtowed to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell -- different from the John McCain who called them agents of intolerance -- has signed onto this strategy -- different from the John McCain who promised a respectful campaign (the respectful folks were dishonorably discharged).
McCain's mother's characterization of the ads as "stupid" notwithstanding, it will be a terrible mistake for the Obama Campaign to treat it as such, about as "stupid" as the Kerry Campaign strategists deciding they had "answered" the swiftboats in the spring of '04, and thus did not need to respond when they were resurrected in the fall campaign.
Although we would all prefer talking about more substantive matters, most Americans agree with the Democratic Party's positions anyhow. Only by smearing the policy issues (e.g., if you want universal healthcare, you must be for socialism), or undermining the messenger, has the rightwing been able to overcome the natural affinity for Democratic policies.
Successfully parrying the Rovian tactic of undermining Obama's charisma, therefore, needs to be an important point of Obama's campaign strategy. Using the opening provided to counterattack, to make them pay for their tactic, is part of the strategy.
The key is to take it seriously, and that means, REPEAT. And, when the McCain campaign shuts up, keep REPEATING it.
Parry: This is easy. Use themes such as "for the last 8 years, Bush -- with McCain's support -- have lost the respect of our allies. Won't it be great, and powerful, to regain that respect, so the US does not have to go it alone?" (footage of Obama in Europe, speaking to crowds, huddling with leaders). "For the last 8 years, Americans have been ashamed of its leaders. Won't it be great to have a leader again, that has won the respect of both world leaders and the people they represent?" (similar footage). End with more footage of Obama speaking to large crowds: "This is the support we had after 9/11, and then Bush -- with McCain's support--squandered it. To John McCain, it is a big joke, something to mock, and he's spending millions of dollars to belittle me. This time, when you vote, vote as if your whole world depended on it. Because it does."
Counterattack #1: "There's a good reason John McCain does not draw large, enthusiastic crowds...he has nothing to say that George Bush has not been saying, and he does not know what he is talking about when he does".....Show an empty stadium; trot out some of the DNC footage of McCain praising the economic situation. Add to it his gaffes (including Joe Lieberman whispering in his ear), and his statement about the Iraq-Pakistan border..... and his vote for the Iraq War....and then, hit him on his experience, "John McCain claims to have experience, but has it been useful: he didn't know you were hurting economically, he didn't even understand who the enemy is in Iraq, he still has not apologized to the American people for promoting and voting for the war in Iraq"....."why listen to someone who has nothing to say" (still of empty stadium)..
Counterattack #2: Call out Karl Rove, and the McCain people who are Rove's disciples, by calling them, "the people who brought us George W Bush"...talk directly about how their brand of politics has crippled the country from addressing real problems that real people need addressed. End with a picture of McCain along with Rove and the disciples, and the phrase, "John McCain, brought to you by the same people who brought you George Bush".
And, REPEAT.
If the stupidity of McCain's ads lulls Obama's campaign into believing they need not take them seriously, there is a Massachusetts Senator who may have some experience to suggest otherwise.
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Obama should counter-attack with the truth about McCain. He and his handlers need to be put back on their heels. That is easy to do if you point out his Know Nothing campaign. Use empty stadiums, empty promises, empty heads, empty memory, and illustrate them. Those things are the truth about McCain. Attack his weakness, because he has a lot of them.
I think Obama is aware of the danger of these ads, but I do agree that it needs to be more forceful encountering these attacks. I assume the strategy is for Obama to air positive biographical ads during the Olympics, then start hitting hard especially after the convention. I'd like to see him doing it sooner, but then again we still have three months.
Positive isn't going to work - not on its own, at least. I'm not saying to stoop to their level, but make hard-hitting, FAIR criticism. The one about the billions lost in Iraq by the guy running in Florida is the kind of thing they should be doing
And does anyone REALLY think that an Obama Justice Dept. is going to go after the Bushies? Ha! It'll all be, well, we have to move forward now and think about the future, we have more important things to do, blah blah blah, just like Nancy Pelosi with impeachment. And in the meantime, the loaded gun of all that precedent will be sitting there, waiting for the next guy, who may be smarter and more competent than this one.
We had to know this kind of negative attack stuff was coming. It has become their signature. And it has won elections time after time. I hope you are wrong that the O camp is unprepared. Great post, and I hope your ideas will be utilized. To let these insane, desparate attacks go by or to assume it won't do enourmous damage would be a huge mistake.
Nice ad suggestion...
On elitism - this is a code word for "smart" - basically how the jocks and "underachievers" razed the smart kids by calling them "nerds". Counterpunch: "Is it elite to be a good student?" (Dan Qualye was a better student than John McCain). Also, who's the real elitist - which candidate is worth over $100MM, has 7 homes, wears $520 shoes, etc...
On 'celebrity' (again) - is McCain jealous? No other Senator has coveted celebrity as much as McCain - who hosted SNL, been a regular guest on talk shows, guest star in major movies (Wedding Crashers), etc....
You're 100% right & I really hope that Team O is listening.
Otherwise, all is lost.
Prosecute Rove . Deliver Cheney and Bush. http://www.light-to-dark.com/yellowcake_tango_0.html
As a reminder, we all knew this negative, Rovian-style campaigning was coming. Hillary even talked about it during the primaries. No one should be surprised--especially Obama and his advisors / handlers.
As I said in an earlier post, if O isn't an attack dog he needs to pick one as his vp. Otherwise, he's toast.
These are great suggestions. Someone from the Obama camp needs to take a look at this. Hopefully they will use these suggestions.
Well, let's just hope someone in Obama's apparently clueless response-team LISTENS to you.
Otherwise, it's bye-bye Barry.
I like your ideas, but the media has to do its job, too.
Don't hold your breath on that one.
The counterattack would be the best ad of this campaign season and it would be the candidate in his own words.
very true, the Wright commercials haven't even started yet and I am guessing they will be the Sept lead in to something even more radical. What I wonder is why the MSM is allowing the lies and half truths to be allowed to fester without really going after them.
I am devastated by the corporate media's complicity in the subversive political machinations of Karl Rove and his disciples. It is a scandal and a tragedy.
Obama's team needs to be more aggressive in their responses to Rove's attacks. American politics is all about getting down and dirty. If Obama's camp expects to stay clean, they will lose the game.
But, do it with class and intelligence - something that the other team does not seem to have much of.
Scary - we cannot afford to become complacent.
Excellent summation. How do we make sure the Obama campaign sees this post???
I will email copies to every email address i can find.. perhaps others who see Rove as the Devil and the media his stooges, will do the same.
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