The first Rasmussen poll in which the entire sample is called after Maliki’s quasi-endorsement of Obama’s withdrawal plan is out, and it’s clear that Maliki gave Obama a boost. That’s a problem for McCain, but not an unsolveable one.
The biggest mistake McCain can make is to continue battling on the Iraq-surge theme. Maliki basically neutralized that issue (for now), and what we’re seeing is Obama’s advantage on domestic issues. Political campaign consultants usually emphasize going after the opponent’s weaknesses, but in this case, Obama’s move tells me McCain has to go after his strength, namely domestic policy.
Truth be told, Obama’s domestic advantage is really hollow. McCain can whack him on energy policy; the biofuel-subsidy-laden energy bill that Obama himself tries to criticize actually won Obama’s support, not McCain’s. When Obama talks about taxing the rich, he considers folks earning $41,500 “rich” (NRO - The Corner). He has met the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac crisis with eloquent silence, whereas McCain smartly picked apart the government behemoths. Then there’s the earmark issue.
Oh, and Obama opposed the “born alive” bill in the Illinois State Senate (NRO - The Corner).
Sure, it’s a risk, but it’s also unexpected, and I would humbly submit there’s a lot of fertile ground there.
July 28, 2008 at 10:15 am |
[...] Three days ago, I came to the painful conclusion that Barack Obama really had established himself as the favorite in the race, and McCain needed to change tactics in order to close the gap. Over the weekend, my [...]