Faced with an electoral map that is looking worse and worse by the day, John McCain is apparently getting ready to make the the only move left to him at this point:
Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama’s character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat’s judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.
With just a month to go until Election Day, McCain’s team has decided that its emphasis on the senator’s biography as a war hero, experienced lawmaker and straight-talking maverick is insufficient to close a growing gap with Obama. The Arizonan’s campaign is also eager to move the conversation away from the economy, an issue that strongly favors Obama and has helped him to a lead in many recent polls.
“We’re going to get a little tougher,” a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. “We’ve got to question this guy’s associations. Very soon. There’s no question that we have to change the subject here,” said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Which means that McCain will, inevitably, focus on issues like Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and Obama’s pre-political career as a community organizer at the same time that the Obama campaign is talking about the issues.
While negative campaigning has worked in the past, there’s no doubt that this strategy holds significant risk this time:
Being so aggressive has risks for McCain if it angers swing voters, who often say they are looking for candidates who offer a positive message about what they will do. That could be especially true this year, when frustration with Washington politics is acute and a desire for specifics on how to fix the economy and fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is strong.
Robert Gibbs, a top Obama adviser, dismissed the new McCain strategy. “This isn’t 1988,” he said. “I don’t think the country is going to be distracted by the trivial.” He added that Obama will continue to focus on the economy, saying that Americans will remain concerned about the country’s economic troubles even as the Wall Street crisis eases somewhat.
The difference is that this isn’t 1988, or 1992, or 2004 and Barack Obama isn’t Dukakis, Clinton, or Kerry. Already he has shown a willingness to hit back against his opponent — whether it be Hillary Clinton or John McCain — when they go negative against him, and it’s often served to blunt the impact of whatever attack was being directed against him.
Will it work ? Maybe, but I don’t think so.
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