Chait Urges Obama to Attack McCain

Jonathan Chait argues in The Los Angeles Times that the Obama campaign should mix in more attacks on John McCain.

To go on the attack, Obama doesn't need to engage in character assassination and baseless charges, as his opponent has done. All he needs to do is stop letting McCain paint a wildly distorted self-portrait. The Arizona senator wants voters to see him as a maverick who never changes positions for political reasons. One ad touts the way he bucked Bush on the environment. It doesn't mention that McCain has abandoned the climate-change bill he co-sponsored, demanded wider drilling and a gas-tax holiday that would undermine the goal of burning less fossil fuel, and started raking in huge sums from oil companies. McCain has de-emphasized or reversed nearly every position that set him apart from Bush, most notably the tax cuts for the rich that are the heart of Bush's economic program.

Obama's strategy seems predicated on convincing voters that they really, really like the inexperienced black guy with the foreign-sounding name. Convincing them not to vote for the other guy, the one who embraces the least popular president in modern history, sounds like a better bet to me.

I agree that hitting back at McCain would not only be politically effective but could be done in an honest and honorable manner. Obama would merely point out the numerous false statements, verbal gaffes and policy reversals by McCain as well as his embrace of failed Bush administration policies on key issues. If he were to go this route, Obama would find what another Naval aviator called Maverick (the one played by Tom Cruise in "Top Gun") might call "a target-rich environment."