In retrospect, at least at this point in time, it looks to me like picking Biden was a huge mistake for Obama. His message of "change" rings hollow. Biden is an old hack, he supported the war in the beginning and he personifies the pandering of the Democratic Party to the "duty, honour, country" bullshit of the hard right. Not that there's anything wrong with "duty, honour, country" per se, but it's been appropriated by the Party of the Rich to obscure their denial of all benefits, entitlements and social welfare to the bottom 80% of the population in such key areas as education, health care and housing.
But what's done is done. The first step in repairing the damage is to put Biden to work, selling Obama in the white-trash communities where he isn't doing well despite representing their best interests. Biden has to persuade the morons that Obama is on their side and McCain isn't, despite the cultural contra-indications. Biden's one of them, and he stands as good a chance as anyone of getting them to look past the cultural divide and correctly analyze the fundamentals, the basic underlying economics. The class war issues, if you will, although to those Neanderthals, any mention of "class war" would probably send them fleeing in panic right into the arms of their class enemies.
But the main problem, as I see it, is that the MSM has pretty much allowed McCain (and Palin) to define themselves. This has got to stop immediately, as the current definition of both of these characters is dangerous and misleading. The key target in any of this re-branding effort has to be McCain, who is by far the most vulnerable. Attacks on Palin, unless done by women, tend to appear as unchivalrous or misogynistic and garner a false sympathy for the woman.
Although, if the Republican defenders of Palin are as upset by "misogyny" and attacking the "children" as they claim to be, it would be interesting to look back for any signs of outrage at McCain's joke a few years back that Chelsea was so "ugly" because she was conceived in a love match between Janet Reno and Hillary. Or his earlier laughter in THIS campaign, when one of his lady supporters asked, on camera, "How do we beat the bitch?" [Hillary] and further general hilarity when one of his male staffers remarked, "I thought she was talking about my ex-wife." As a matter of fact, I think those earlier McCain moments ought to be given prominent replay, they're just as relevant now as when they were made, and they serve to inoculate critics of Sarah Barracuda from fake outrage over their so-called "misogyny."
So I think Hillary and other Democratic women ought to go after Palin for her anti-woman stance on the essentials (choice, Roe v. Wade, minimum wage, etc.) and maybe (just to tease out the "misogyny" protests) some male critics like Biden also to slam her hard. And as soon as the "misogyny" cry is raised, give' em a double blast from both barrels of MCCAIN'S misogyny, which is the real thing, unadulterated, crude and cruel.
But the main thrust of the campaign ought to concentrate on two things - - first, the definition of the real McCain. This guy is a "maverick?" He's been in Congress 35 years and he's a Republican Party stalwart and now he's the one to fix the mess? What kinda maverick? How long did he put up with and contribute to the mess? What lasting difference did he make? The whole "maverick" thing has got to be fully exploded. He stood with his party on every wrong thing they did (and everything they did was a wrong thing) and where he "reached across the aisle," what difference did ANY of his efforts make in the lives of the working people? This guy is no maverick.
The second thrust of the campaign should be the sheer awfulness of Barracuda to serve in any capacity. A bird-brained right-wing puppet who can't even run her own family, a failed mom, a corrupt politician masquerading as a "reformer" (hit hard on her stonewalling the Troopergate inquiry she promised full cooperation to, her unexplained associations with indicted Senator Ted Stevenson, her support for the Bridge to Nowhere) and her positions on abortion, minimum wage, etc. Hit on McCain's mortality, the Supreme Court seats coming up for grabs, and the tragedy of her (or McCain) selecting the replacements.
This is a terribly weak Republican ticket, and for it to run neck and neck with Obama is outrageous. Something is really wrong with Obama's campaign and it can't all be blamed on racism.
Obama needs more attack surrogates and needs 'em NOW. McCain's vulnerable on his insider status, his phony "maverick" claims and even the phony torture claims, although these have to be attacked not as phony claims but as ancient history. The guy has to be ridiculed for how many times he mentions his POW status in a single speech, but only in a non-confrontational way, basically he's always looking backward, we need someone focused on TODAY and TOMORROW, not yesterday. Obama's got to get his ass in gear. So far he's been great at mobilizing new voters and young voters, now he's got to get out the attack dogs.
