I don't agree with Obama about everything, but one thing I do like about him as a campaigner is that he projects an incredible sense of not being afraid of these guys.
John Kerry, like a lot of Democrats, treated every smear that someone sent his way, no matter how ridiculous, as an unexploded bomb, to be handled gingerly and defensively or left untouched lest it destroy him. Hillary Clinton's a tough person but even she does this to some degree.
Obama doesn't. You attack him with something that is substantively stupid and mendacious, and he will jam it right back down your throat, often within hours of its appearance in the infosphere and without appearing the least bit rattled. This is why I never believed the people who thought he'd melt in a presidential campaign because he seemed like such a nice guy—he and his campaign already had this rapid, cool, precisely targeted response down pat when the "madrassa" lies first surfaced over a year ago (and it didn't hurt that one of the targets was a personal nemesis of mine (http://mmcirvin.livejournal.com/367943.html)). I don't know if he can keep it up all the way to November or if something will actually manage to get under his skin, but he's been really good at it so far.
Back in 2004 (I think), Josh Marshall proposed what he called the "bitch-slap theory" of campaign politics in the post-9/11 world, that much of the purpose of ridiculous and unbelievable campaign smears was not to tarnish the candidate's reputation directly but to create the appearance of weakness in response. If Kerry can't handle these morons, how will he handle The Terrorists? etc. I think Obama's internalized this.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-02-29 03:59 am (UTC)John Kerry, like a lot of Democrats, treated every smear that someone sent his way, no matter how ridiculous, as an unexploded bomb, to be handled gingerly and defensively or left untouched lest it destroy him. Hillary Clinton's a tough person but even she does this to some degree.
Obama doesn't. You attack him with something that is substantively stupid and mendacious, and he will jam it right back down your throat, often within hours of its appearance in the infosphere and without appearing the least bit rattled. This is why I never believed the people who thought he'd melt in a presidential campaign because he seemed like such a nice guy—he and his campaign already had this rapid, cool, precisely targeted response down pat when the "madrassa" lies first surfaced over a year ago (and it didn't hurt that one of the targets was a personal nemesis of mine (http://mmcirvin.livejournal.com/367943.html)). I don't know if he can keep it up all the way to November or if something will actually manage to get under his skin, but he's been really good at it so far.
Back in 2004 (I think), Josh Marshall proposed what he called the "bitch-slap theory" of campaign politics in the post-9/11 world, that much of the purpose of ridiculous and unbelievable campaign smears was not to tarnish the candidate's reputation directly but to create the appearance of weakness in response. If Kerry can't handle these morons, how will he handle The Terrorists? etc. I think Obama's internalized this.