Throw the right, Obama!

Senator Obama infuriates me at times. He is like a boxer with a knock-out right punch who round after round, allows his opponent to rain a barrage of unanswered blows on him, without response. At the democratic convention he came out swinging and the ‘bounce’ in the polls was nine points. The voters, both democratic and independent, loved it. The Republicans were terrified and unsure of themselves. Since Palin’s appointment he has retreated into his usual polite sparing with John McCain and the Republicans.

This is war, my friend. There can be no let up in your attacks on John McCain, between now and election day, if you hope to win. No apologies. Take no prisoners. This is not a scholarly debate with your law faculty colleagues, at the university.

I can understand the approach taken with the Clintons in the primaries, of not burning any bridges. They were needed later to unite the party. But now the sole aim has to be ‘winning’. After victory, Obama can make those changes that will bring about more civility in politics and presidential campaigns.

In any event, Americans like to see their political leaders show some fight. They want to see their leader draw the line in the sand and say to their opponent with steel in their veins and blood in their eyes: “if you cross that line I will punch you in the nose”. That’s what President Kennedy did to the Russians in the Cuban missile crises. That’s what Senator Clinton did during the Ohio-Texas primaries.

Did Senator Obama have to be so superlative in his praise of the ‘surge’? Couldn’t his answer be simply, “yes it was a success”. Did he have to say it was a “spectacular success”? Did he have to be so glowing in his praise of small town mayors? Couldn’t he have just said that they do an important job, but there is a vast leap to move from small town mayor to leader of the largest economy and most powerful military in the world, in 18 months.

Senator Obama has reserved some of his most stinging comments for his own base. After it was revealed that that pillar of Christian and right-wing values, Sarah Palin, had a teenage daughter who was pregnant, the verbal assault by Obama, on those who were questioning Palin’s family values, was scathing. (Just try and imagine what the reaction of Rush Limbaugh and the Republicans would have been like if it was Obama's unmarried teenage daughter that was pregnant.) The fact that his mom had him when she was a teenager is irrelevant. Neither his mom nor grandmother was running for public office, nor did they try to pass themselves off as the embodiment of “American values”.

The Republican talk show pundits have been displaying a sort of cock-sure smugness with regard to the upcoming presidential debates. Some have gone so far as to suggest that that will be the defining moment in the race. Do they know something, like they did at that forum at the Saddleback church? There are no honourable men in politics. The stakes are much too high.

To fall into a Republican trap once, could be considered carelessness. For it to happen a second time would be – well- darn dumb.