I'm already war-gaming the general, because I think Obama is Gary Hart with warmth and substance. But not so much warmth that he's hugging underdressed models who are not his wife on a yacht in Bimini. Not that much warmth. But enough warmth and heart to get through the primaries and become America's sweetheart, at least for the 90 seconds after his keynote concludes and before low-level GOP associates and foot soldiers start feeding each discrete part of BHO's personal history through their wood chipper.
I mention Hart because he was the last real challenge to the Democratic establishment and the first time I had my heart broken by an insurgent Dem. Hart was (and is) a man of considerable talent and even a bit of gravitas, but one who never seemed entirely comfortable in his own skin. Too cerebral and too chilly to win over lunch pail Dems and unable to muster more than a calculated smile in small settings, he lacked Obama's gut-level connection to the core constituencies of the party but held great appeal to independents and new voters unschooled in party orthodoxies. Obama's got something that Hart lacked and, if the numbers are right, pulls off one of the rarest feats in Democratic party politics--he manages to appeal simultaneously to young, unafiliated voters and some core party constituencies, principally black voters.
Anyway, while I think Obama's vulnerabilities are less than you might think at first blush, the sowing of general unease about a candidate through a thousand tiny nicks is a time-honored GOP tactic. To innoculate our guy, I would pre-empt their efforts and run my own negative ad in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Tennessee--that's right, a negative ad about my own guy using all the techniques and stylistic flourishes in their arsenal.
To wit:
Ad opens with grainy black and white footage of Obama at the 2004 convention and the obligatory stentorian, slightly menacing voice-over--
"In 2004, Senate candidate Barak Obama told the Democratic National convention that he didn't see red states and blue states, only the United States of America. Don't we need someone who's ready on day one to carry on the divisive policies of the past? Is Barak Obama Too Hopeful for America?
"In 2007, Obama led a bi-partisan effort to ban Senators from accepting meals paid for by lobbyists. No free meals for some of our most senior elected officials? Is Barak Obama too reform-minded?
"Barak Obama: Too Reform-Minded for the Senate, Too Hopeful for America."
And a slightly amused Barak Obama: I'm Barak Obama and I paid for this ad.
Ok, I'm only partly serious here. But why not pilot one satirical ad designed to destroy the genre (at least for this cycle) and emasculate GOP efforts in battleground states to get traction with negative ads? Don't some cancer treatments use proteins that mimic the cancers themselves in order to kill them? Or something like that. You get the point. Create enough white noise and distraction, and the casual observer won't immediately be able to distinguish a pro-Obama ad from an anti-Obama ad. And that only accrues to the guy with the funny name, big ears, and cafe au lait skin this go round.
