Like it or not, if people see Obama being savaged and not really hitting back forcefully, some are going to see shades of 2004, that is, the Republican-concocted and media-reinforced image of the Democratic nominee as weak and afraid to stand up for himself. And like it or not, weeks of unanswered attacks are not a good thing - the hated polls bear this out as I type this diary. Much more below.
Probably everyone that reads and posts at dKos knows what a pathetic and bankrupt creature John McCain is, but there are probably many, many more than that not insignificant number that will see McCain shamelessly attacking Obama, look to see Obama's campaign's response, observe...less-than-forcefulness, and doubts will start to creep. The only proof that I need to see that this phenomenon is possible is the 2004 election. Don't get me wrong, I love John Kerry, but his campaign brought a squirt gun to do battle with a bazooka. We all know how that particular fight turned out. I think most of us thought (and sincerely hoped) that Obama wouldn't repeat this mistake.
I know that there are risks to Sen. Obama attacking McCain forcefully - not least of which is the apoplexy likely to be exhibited by the traditional media resulting from seeing the 'man who promised to change politics wallowing in the mud', or some other such garbage. Of course we all know McCain promised to run a civil campaign, and let's just say the media (excluding the NYT editorial board) has been a tad hesitant in calling him on his gross hypocrisy and blatant lie. They'll say the shine is off, Obama's tarnished, and he's not living up to his transformational message; newsflash - they're already saying this and it's already come to pass. I think most of us knew that the only way McCain was going to be able to energize the (absolutely despicable) Republican base was to make them loathe Obama; he's doing a fabulous job of making these fuckfaces forget the mess that their votes got us in right now and focus instead on how much they hate that 'uppity' Obama. Sen. Obama needs to be reminding them, but more importantly independents and moderates, why McCain simply cannot be trusted, as we absolutely cannot afford another four years of near-criminal Republican misgovernance. The way to do this, ladies and gentlemen, is to attack. Attack now. Attack tomorrow. Weekdays. Saturdays during afternoon baseball games and (soon-to-return) college football games. On the radio. On the teevee. Bush=Disaster=McCain=You can't afford to gamble on him being president. Rinse. Repeat. EVERY. FUCKING. HOUR. OF. EVERY. FUCKING. DAY.
I don't care if feeling this way makes me a concern troll or a doubter or whatever. I can't afford for John McCain to be president, and neither can you. For all of the well-oiled machine talk about Obama's campaign, they've yet to really try to define that old liar in an overwhelmingly negative way (which is simply a reflection of reality). I'm not suggesting copying the McCain camp's childish and untrue collection of garbage littering the airwaves - I'm talking about using that crusty prick's words and unfortunate associations (BUSH BUSH BUSH) against him. The time to start is today. We can't afford to wait.