He secured at least the VP spot months ago and until Hillary hit back hard he was poised for total victory and is still the odds-on favorite. The 3am spot has gotten way too much ink and didn't run in Ohio at all. Obama's media team handled it brilliantly, almost instantly counterpunching. Unlike other Obama supporters, his media team didn't whine about how unfair it was they just fought back.
Fight is the operative word here.
The country is in a recession, not teetering or flirting with one but in one and one of some significance. Abroad we do have many enemies who do nothing but plot ways to do us harm. Americans need to be assured that their Commander-in-Chief will not only be wise and measured but will, when the need comes, kick some ass.
Campaigns, especially extraordinarily long ones like this one, give the voters such a long, long time to test drive their prospective POTUSes. For John Kerry the crucial test was the Swift Boaters. As Josh Marshall so aptly pointed out, his wimpiness so demoralized Democrats and alienated independents because it was intuited that if he couldn't defend himself against the Republican attack machine how could we expect him to defend us against al Qaeda?
Obama's message of changing the way Washington works, of making it more civilized and tolerant is smacking right into Hillary's old-fashioned street brawling. The Republicans, of course, will fight even dirtier. The question Obama needs to answer and answer now is how he plans on dealing with adversaries who are not intent on being agreeable.
Bobby Kennedy not only embodied hope but when he embraced Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers he personified the struggle for what is right, the fearless will to battle entrenched interests.
That is what we need to see from Obama right now. Now anger, not kneecapping, but strength and the will to fight.
If he had asked for my advice I wouldn't have fired Samantha Power. That was old-politicking. Your lieutenant makes a gaffes and they're immediately kicked off the bus. The silly slip of the tongue would have been a perfect time to show an unusal toughness, a rewriting of the rule book. Ms. Powers would apologize profusely, as she did, and then Obama would have said this:
"Trash talk is a staple of pro sports and has unfortunately infected politics. Nevertheless, it's not a capital offense. This isn't grade school, this is a battle for the future of this nation. Ms. Powers has apologized. I have apologized. Now if Howard Wolfson or Mark Penn want to call me a 'snot-nosed upstart' or 'Dumbo ears' then let's just call it even. Come on, people, we are all too busy for this childishness."
And then he wouldn't say another word about it and let the Clinton camp keep whining and acting pissy about it.
That would have shown the "Obama Doctrine" of new politicking in action. Unfortunately, instead Obama surrogate Tom Daschle did the typical Washington tit for tat and whined that Wolfson should resign because he likened Obama to Ken Starr.
Clinton isn't on the pedestal, Obama is, so he has so much farther to fall if he's proved to be ordinary.
Trey Ellis is the author of Bedtime Stories: Adventures in the Land of Single-Fatherhood.