Like so many others watching the campaign unfold, I've been going a little nuts hearing All Palin All the Time; getting frustrated by the stupid media distractions; worrrying about the polls pulling altogether too close; hoping that the Obama campaign is smarter than me and is rope-a-doping until they roll out a full-barrel barrage of response.
I cannot stand to think of going through another nail-biter of an election, another three-day post-election depression, and another four years of the decline of American civilization.
So here's my idea. Free to the Obama campaign.
By my calculation this coming Monday will be T-minus 50 days until election day November 4.
I propose that the Obama campaign begin on Monday to roll out one-a-day Top 50 Reasons to Vote for Obama-Biden. Make that at least part of the focus for the day's appearances by the candidates and their surrogates. The main idea here is not just to highlight issues but to SIEZE BACK CONTROL OF THE NARRATIVE AND THE ENERGY.
It's clear the Palin choice thing has caught the campaign by surprise. And it has shifted the momentum and attention off the Obama insurgency. I do trust that smart thinkers in the Obama/Biden campaign are focused on this and are forumulating a plan. But meanwhile, the clock is ticking away, and there's not a day to lose.
WE NEED TO GRAB THE STORY BACK AND NOT LET GO.
So: one theme per day. It's an easy concept to understand and digest. It will be there in the paper ("Oh, what is today's reason?!") It would have built-in media interest and build-up ("Today the Obama campaign announced its Reason #38 to vote for Obama/Biden over McCain/Palin: McCain's flip-flop on the torturing of foreign detainees and his failure to uphold and support the Geneva Conventions....") It would put McCain on defense every single day and highlight at least 50 of Palin's infinite number of weaknesses and inadequencies.
The only hard part would be deciding how to prioritize the 50 themes. But even that would serve a purpose. And #1, rolled out on November 3, would be easy: CHANGE!