Is this guy a friend of MT's?
This ten point essay describes in detail the failings of the Obama campaign as Dr. Western sees them , the gist is in favor of greater aggression , emotional appeals , sticking to issues that Obama is strong on or McCain is weak on, I bet Obama does get this kind of advice pretty often , of course if he follows it- the advisor is not out anything when the result is negative.
"... they tend to knuckle under for fear of being accused of being weak on whatever bogeyman the Republicans are deploying. Once again, that's playing checkers. The irony is that when Democrats knuckle under, they only reinforce the stereotype that they are weak and spineless.
You can take almost any position you want on vital issues of the day as long as it isn't the fetal position. Voters will forgive mistakes, but they won't forgive cowardice.
An instructive case was Obama's response to media stories on Palin's pregnant teenage daughter. When Obama spoke out in no uncertain terms against anyone using Palin's daughter's pregnancy as a political issue against her, he showed genuine anger and resolve in his voice, and he showed the public a side of him they too rarely see. Regardless of the merits of his position (Palin in fact conspicuously flew her sudden son-in-law-to-be to the Republican Convention to sit next to his bride-to-be to demonstrate their "family values" and turn a liability into yet another sign of her ideological purity to score political points), he projected strength and conviction, something Americans want and expect from their leaders.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/drew-westen/what-obama-needs-to-do-in_b_125051.html
