This morning, I woke up thinking about why the Obama campaign has not had the same message discipline that McCain's campaign has driven. I agree with others who believe there is no overriding message that is easily captured in few words.
The closest they have is the Same Old Politics, and the Low Road Express. The first was used against Dole and consultants dragged in back out, and the second is corny. They both are also problems because reporters will be unlikely to frame narratives and interviews around them in the same way they have created entire segments on celebrity, and Obama's patriotism.
Obama must immediately create a message on par with Rove's infamous flip flop meme. My suggestion for the new surrogate campaign message:
John McCain: All Talk, No Action
Josh Marshall has been discussing this issue over the past few days and I agree with him.
So I want to set that all aside and take stock of where the campaign seems to be in terms of each campaign's message. On this front, McCain's message is pretty clear and essentially twofold: 1) Obama is, in so many words, a frivolous phony, someone who really doesn't have any business running for president. 2) McCain is a strong leader who can defend the country. There are all sorts of sub- and secondary themes -- Obama's an outsider, questionably American, etc. But all the nitty gritty points are subservient to those two interlocking messages.
From Obama, honestly, I don't sense a really clear message. There are attacks on McCain, some of which are quite good. There are positive uplifting commercials. And there are ads/messages targeted to particular states -- like Yucca Mountain in Nevada and the DHL layoffs in Ohio. But it's hard for me to come up with a clear cut Obama message in way that it's pretty simple for me to do with McCain. Even the 'change' message, which is the basis of Obama's campaign, seems much more diffuse to me than it was during the primaries.
It is time to up the ante. The following 4 words should be inexorably linked to John McCain:
All Talk, No Action.
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat...And I would start at the convention...and every single message that anyone speaker has at the Republican Convention, the oppo/DNC press release should reinforce the meme, because inevitably anything McCain talks about will go deeply against something he previously made statements about, but voted in the opposite manner. And goodness gracious, if he picked a pro-choice VP, I would hammer away.
Iraq - All Talk, No Action.
John McCain says he complained about the Adminstration strategy, but never called for Rumsfeld to be fired, or voted to force the Administration to change strategy.
Torture - All Talk, No Action
McCain never voted against the Administration's case
Energy Policy - All Talk, No Action.
Thirty years of never taking action to decrease America's dependence on oil
Immigration Reform - All Talk, No Action.
McCain says he would vote against his own bill!!!
Agents of Intolerance - All Talk, No Action.
Tax Cuts for the wealthy - All Talk, No Action.
We're all Georgians now - All Talk, No Action
The list goes on and on. You can't fight the old war, and use other people's slogans. The words flip flop should never come out of surrogates mouth. The campaign needs message discipline. And the message needs to be something that can be interwoven into every campaign ad on the negative side, and can be added easily to Obama's change message. It needs to be on every voter's mind when they go into the voter's booth.
Don't get me wrong. Obama needs a countervailing positive theme. (See McCain - Negative: Is He Ready To Lead, Positive: Country First). But first things first, define your opponent. This also innoculates Obama from "just words" "he just gives speeches meme". Classic campaign, take your perceived weakness and accuse your opponent of it.
No Democrat should get anywhere near a microphone without repeating these words.
John McCain: All Talk, No Action
That is a campaign message change that I can believe in.