Senate Democrats to Barack Obama: Hit John McCain harder! Stop being a wuss!

[Grimmlok]

One of the Democratic Party's leading electoral street fighters, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, said that Barack Obama should respond to John McCain's personal attacks with an equally personal slap.

"I would not be afraid to attack back," said Schumer, who chairs the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, in an interview with Politico. "When they say, 'He's not one of us,' you don't say, 'Here's our plan on health care,"' he said.

"I thought the Britney Spears commercial was powerful," Schumer said, referring to McCain's television ad casting Obama as a vapid "celebrity."

Currently promoting the paperback edition of his book "Positively American," which argues for a Democratic agenda pitched around a new set of bread-and-butter issues and government activism on behalf of middle class voters, Schumer didn't directly criticize Obama's strategy. Rather, he argued for a higher-velocity response.

"I would answer back hard. What do you mean he's not one of us? It's John McCain who wears $500 shoes, has six houses, and comes from one of the richest families in his state," Schumer said. "It's Barack Obama who climbed up the hard way, and that's why he wants middle-class tax cuts and better schools for our kids."

Obama's campaign responded to McCain's barrage by accusing him in television ads and press releases of taking the "low road," while casting Obama as above such attacks on his opponent's character.

The strategy has produced some questions in Democratic circles as to whether Obama shouldn't be hitting back more personally - but Obama's aides argue that the perception that McCain is running a traditional, negative campaign is damaging McCain's reputation for high-minded independence.

Schumer argued that Obama will best be able to make his case on issues if he's also willing to slap back on matters of character.

"McCain's an unappealing candidate," Schumer said. "McCain's done great things for our country, but he doesn't particularly empathize with the plight of the average person."

Schumer argues in a new preface to his book that Americans' economic insecurity could make 2008 a realigning landslide.

"This election has the potential to effect the kind of paradigm-shifting change that occurs once in a generation," he writes, comparing the vote to Franklin Roosevelt's rise in 1932 and Ronald Reagan's in 1980. "If it's decided by issue and policy offerings, this election might just be the one that creates a political majority for a generation."

Schumer, who supported his junior New York senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the primary, said he never underestimated Obama's strength.

"He's an amazingly capable person, and I think everyone in the Senate knew that," he said.

"It was a close race, a hard-fought contest, I think either one of these candidates would have made a great president and would beat McCain," he said.

Though Schumer seemed to be urging Obama to hit back harder, he said Americans' general unhappiness at the state of affairs would dampen the effect of Republican attacks on his character and readiness to lead.

"I think there's a real chance that Obama gets 300 electoral votes," he said. "This is a change election and the more people get to know him and see him the better it will be."

Schumer: 'Hit McCain Harder' - Yahoo! News

This better not go John Kerry for fucks sake.

[kingcap72]

Now, Schumer would have a point if Obama was just pulling a John Kerry and taking the high road. But Obama does strike back at McCain, but he stays focused on the issues while he does it. Unlike McCain.

[Grimmlok]

Obama has hit back about as hard as a little girl. Schumer is right. He's not hitting hard enough.

McTard's dumbfuck ads are working.

[kingcap72]

Obama can't take the mud-slinging too far, because it'll backfire on him because McCain is old and a war veteran. And the Republicans will use that against him. Besides, Obama got down in the mud with Hillary and all it did was make people think less of both of them.

And McCain's ads are only working on the people who didn't like Obama to begin with. The ad with Paris & Britney backfired on him.

[greysfang]

Obama has hit back about as hard as a little girl. Schumer is right. He's not hitting hard enough.

McTard's dumbfuck ads are working.

I think that the majority of Obama's appeal is his refusal to wallow in the mud. I wouldn't listen to any Dem trying to tell me how to campaign...they've done so well themselves after all.

[Grimmlok]

HE doesn't have to wallow in the mud. the mud = slinging shit that isn't true.

He doesn't need to do that.. he has a ton of truthful stuff he can sling back much harder than he has been.

The problem is, like with Kohn Kerry, is that if Obama does not start hitting back hard people view him as weak, and that does not sit well.

[AliceInWonderland]

yeah thats why i like him so much; he's a classy smart 'good' decent guy! he is so freakin' refreshing, its unbelievable! thats why i could never fully put my vote to hilary b/c in all honesty she's a clinton and the clintons are crooked.

[kingcap72]

Grim, the problem with John Kerry was that he said right from the start he was taking the high road. Which is why he was able to get swift boated. Plus, Kerry was about as interesting as a prostate exam, so that worked against him, too. Now, with Obama, he calls McCain out on his bullshit attacks, but he balances it out with the issues.

But McCain can do whatever he wants when it comes to the ads, because once he and Obama face off in the debates McCain is toast. And he won't be able to hide behind ads and feeble attacks, and he knows that.

[Grimmlok]

Yeah, the people don't give a damn about the issues really. If that were the case, Rove's stupid tricks wouldn't work and Obama's 9 point lead wouldn't have evaporated as a result.

For gods sake, Paris Hilton's stupid ass commercial had more of an impact than Obamas at making McSame look like an idiot.

That says something.

It says the electorate is still as dense as they were before. You don't respond to an attack by talking about the economy, you slap back harder.

[kingcap72]

I look at it like this. During the primaries, Hillary did the same thing with the ads and the personal attacks, and they gave her a bump, intially. But once they had to debate each other, those tricks didn't work for her anymore and her tactics blew up in her face. The same thing will happen with McCain. And Hillary was more formidable than McCain will ever be.

[Grimmlok]

Yeah, but Hillary was nothing compared to Rove, and Rove has only really kicked in in the last little while and look how effective he's been.

You don't wait until debates to define your opponent, you slap him as hard as you can early on to define him then, and then you destroy him in debates.

[kingcap72]

I see your point about Rove. But I still think Obama's walking a fine line here. Because McCain can get away with all of the cheap tricks, to an extent, since he's Republican and that's what expected of him. If Obama tries those tricks, Rove will just spin it into Obama's attacking a war vet. And people keep trying to paint Obama as unAmerican and unpatriotic as it is.

But, on the other hand, I can see where you're coming from about putting some form of smackdown on McCain before the debates. So, in other words, I'm flip-flopping.

[Valley Doll]

Obama has to walk a very fine line. If he doesn't fight back, he's seen as weak. But if attacks McCain--even in self-defense--then some White voters will see him as the so-called 'angry black man.' Sad, but sadly true.

I think Obama does get his digs in on McCain, but they're subtle. If you see some of his comments in print, they become more obvious.

I'll try not to worry too much about Obama. He's going to rock the Democratic National Convention and McCain will likely look like the miserly coot that he is. Plus, Obama is likely to put a JFK-style smackdown on Johnny Mac during the debates. And don't forget: Obama is a long-time Chicago community leader/politician. Chicago pols can take care of themselves. Obama can bring the heat if need be.

[bychance]

[kingcap72]

McCain's energy plan. Snore power.