Required Reading: The Existential Confusion of the Obama Campaign

The Obama campaign’s decision to attack is a risky one. Negative campaigns are always tricky, but this one is especially so. To some degree, Palin has been treated unfairly since her debut as McCain’s vice-president. What the McCain campaign wants to do is tie all criticisms of Palin to the unfair ones, and ultimately remind people of how Hillary Clinton was treated. Team McCain is especially eager to do this for anything that comes out of Obama’s mouth – hence the “lipstick on a pig” spot, which in turn induced a response from Obama. We can assign winners and losers in this little skirmish; we can decide who has truth on his side and who does not. But that misses the point. Here we have yet another day when the focus is on the GOP’s youthful, smiling, attractive, witty, female vice-presidential nominee. And for yet another day our ears are filled with the sounds of the Democratic nominee decrying how unfair the Republicans are – as if only one side hits below the belt. Ultimately, I’m not a huge believer in the importance of “winning” news cycles. I do think, however, that the battle for the news cycle is an exhibition of a campaign’s ability to move its message. And it has become clear that the McCain campaign is better at this. This “lipstick on a pig” incident will probably not affect a single vote – but it shows that the McCain campaign is ready and able to defend any real gains it might have made among white women. Once again, it’s doing a better job getting its message across. Nobody would have predicted this on June 3rd. That was the day Obama boldly stood in the Excel Energy Center and proclaimed an exciting new moment in American politics. Meanwhile McCain, sweating profusely, stood in front of a green screen and gave a rambling, disjointed speech. The contrast in messages was stark. Three months later, it’s just as stark – but now it’s Obama that’s sweating and McCain that’s exciting. What a turnaround.