1. Stay humble.
The principal problem for Barack Obama’s general election effort so far has been a susceptibility to hubris and vanity.
The campaign overplayed its hand with grandiose moves like making up its own presidential seal and a European tour that was more Rolling Stones than Ronald Reagan.
Republican attacks on those points have clearly drawn blood, and Obama must avoid looking more like a celebrity than a prospective commander-in-chief this week. His campaign chose the 75,000-seat Invesco Field for his nomination speech before Obama was linked to Paris and Britney in the public mind. Obama was emulating JFK’s speech at the LA Coliseum in 1960 but there was no downside to adoring crowds for Obama’s role model.
Now Obama’s stage managers must find a way to make a venue built for rock concerts and NFL games feel intimate and serious. Obama must act with humility throughout the week and demand that his handlers accommodate that aim.
2. Keep the celebrities behind the velvet rope.
One of the reasons Obama has to keep his own ego in check is because his many famous supporters need an example to follow.
Scores of pop-culture VIPs who fancy themselves political pundits will be descending on Denver this week.
To many of them, Obama is a transformative figure and, is, in fact, “a symbol of America returning to its best traditions.” When you’ve got Obamanauts like Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey, Ben Affleck and Sean Penn roaming around town with thousands of journalists looking for the next Internet kerfuffle, gaffes are bound to happen.
To minimize the damage, Obama must make sure that his celebrity supporters do their partying away from the media, avoid pronouncements on policy, race, or Republicans, and do not talk about Obama in messianic terms.
3. Be prepared to play hardball with the Clintons.
Hillary Clinton and her supporters have wrung unprecedented concessions from Obama in regard to the Democratic convention. A state-by-state, roll-call vote will highlight Obama’s weakness in swing states like Ohio and Indiana and his inability to finish off Clinton after his strong run through February. She and her husband have been given prime spots on the convention schedule and Obama has even raised money for her. Whatever the junior senator from New York or her supporters ask for now would be an abuse of Obama’s goodwill. To avoid appearing weak, he should hold the line no matter what the Clinton supporters threaten. If he caves, it will only embolden his detractors in the party.
4. Embrace a doctrine of pre-emptive strikes (at least when it comes to protesters).
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has made it clear that regardless of the city’s pure-granola reputation, he is taking a tough line with all of the protesters who will be packing the city this week.
Determined to avoid the fate Chicago met in 1968 when police underprepared and overreacted to the Yippies, Hickenlooper is rolling out the riot squads, locking down the protest areas and even setting up a warehouse jail — aka “Mile High Gitmo.” Obama ought to encourage this approach in public and private, making sure to avoid the temptation many liberals will feel to appear sympathetic to the protesters whipping up mayhem outside. Any images of a Democratic city overrun by hooligans will evoke bad memories and play on voter’s basic fears about Obama’s readiness to lead.
5. Pray for dry weather.
A rainout of Obama’s outdoor acceptance speech on Thursday would mean not only depressing, soggy visuals, but tens of thousands of supporters holding tickets with nowhere to go. That’s a logistical problem for which neither Denver nor the Democratic Party can prepare.
