Begala and Marshall: Attack!

TalkingPointsMemo posts an interview with former Clinton staffer and current CNN talking head Paul Begala from the DNC. Begala's seven-point plan for Obama is "attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, and attack." He says these attacks should highlight the ruinous effects of Bush-McCain policies of pre-emptive war, tax cuts for the wealthy and ignoring health care while casting Obama-Biden as the needed agents of change.

Josh Marshall agrees:

The real weapon the Republicans have on the table right now is simply burying Obama in so much sleaze, xenophobia and slurs that he becomes unelectable. In that sense, humanizing Obama, discrediting the attacks through an affirmative message, is the key to sealing the deal for Obama. I see that argument. To a significant degree I agree with it. And if this just wasn't the night for attack, attack, attack, that'd be fine. I just need to know it's coming and that -- even if mainly in the hands of surrogates -- it won't stop until election day. Listen to Begala. It's not about responding quickly to the attacks. It's about making McCain respond to Democrats' attacks.

But I also need to make clear what 'attack' means. I end up having to write some version of this explanation every election cycle. Attack is not synonymous with primal scream. It doesn't mean frothing at the mouth screaming. In fact, the best attacks undermine with ridicule and humor. But being on the attack means taking the fight to the opponent, making him or her respond -- in so many words, taking and holding the initiative. In the context of a political campaign that means not responding to attacks but taking and holding the initiative by defining both your opponent and the question at the heart of the campaign Of course, attack can mean slashing attacks on the opponent's character too. But that's only one approach -- and not the one everyone, especially the presidential candidate himself, should take.

--Ballard Burgher