Short of an horrific pratfall by Obama tomorrow night, it looks like the stretch run is going to be a stretch stagger by the McCain campaign.
Unless. . . .
First of all, he MUST reject the filter of the professional journalism class. I'm sure Bob Scheiffer is very nice and all, but the media is killing McCain, and he has to find a way to get past them. Scheiffer, given the power the moderator traditionally has, will run interference for Obama and run the most uninspiring, milquetoast debate in history. So he should take his opening statement and challenge Obama to a one-on-one discussion--"since you ducked the ten town hall debates I invited you to take part in during the summer"--directly with the American people. Lose the moderator, lose the podium, create an event . ..
Which, second of all, he can use to FINALLY bring up the character issue. "In the past ten months, you've had to apologize for your pastor, for your grandmother, you've never quite answered questions about your ties to terrorist Bill Ayers, your friend and business associate Tony Rezko is behind bars for corruption, and a group you once trained, ACORN, is now implicated in widespread and egregious election fraud activities. My question is: if these are the people you've surrounded yourself with your entire life, why should the American people have any reason to think that your White House wouldn't be populated with some of the most corrupt, anti-American political operatives they've seen this side of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela?"
And then, third of all, he can take a one-term pledge. "I will serve for four years, to steward this great nation through this crisis. Therefore, I will be beholden to no one, no interest, no party, no consideration save the needs and the welfare of the United States. I think it's remarkable that Senator Obama pledges to be "non-partisan" when the Washington Post analysis concluded that he votes with his Party 96% of the time--do you suppose that there's any chance it would be different when he is in the White House. Do you suppose that a President Obama, with designs on a second term, would suddenly show a willingness to buck his party in the interest of the nation? And consider for a moment the agenda that his party leadership in Congress has proposed: repeal the Bush tax cuts, which amount to an enormous tax increase for every American; immediate and unconditional surrender and retreat from Iraq; and the most ambitious redistribution of wealth from hard-working Americans to others in the history of this great Republic. I'm telling you that I will set the clock for four years once I take the oath of office, and I will recover prosperity, freedom and strength for the American people before that clock runs out."
It would be a game-changer. Any doubts that linger about Obama can be used to rationalize a four-year delay while he seasons a bit; and I think Americans implicitly trust a man who would be willing to walk away from power of his own volition.
Just my two cents. | |
