I've seen some opinion articles lately that run along a certain theme, that is that a purely anti-Barack Obama campaign by the Republicans won't get John McCain elected president.
From the liberal perspective, it's a warning against "smears" or "swiftboating." Any criticism of Obama is seen by the left as a smear. Any pointing out of the Democratic nominee-to-be's flaws is swiftboating, of course. They're not, and neither is criticism of McCain.
While the Democrats obviously want to short-circuit any damage that can be done to their highly vulnerable candidate, there's a larger point here that Republicans -- especially McCain's handlers -- will ignore at their own peril. McCain and the GOP need to come out with their own positive vision of what they will do in office. Merely calling Obama inexperienced, soft on national defense and too radical will not save Republican fortunes this year.
McCain needs to come out with a clear five-point plan that regular people can rally around. Elect me and this is what I will do. Obama is going around promising all kinds of things to all sorts of people. Don't tell me what your opponent can't do, tell me what you WILL do. McCain, other than saying I'll be tough against our enemies, really hasn't done this.
Let's go to energy, an issue that's being demagogued by both political parties. People smell that stuff out in a second now. They don't like the Democratic controlled Congress going after the "windfall profits" of oil companies nor their knee-jerk opposition to offshore drilling. Yet, Republican promises to drill our way out of the energy crisis doesn't score any points, either.
So let's get to a real plan. Drill, sure. Well off-shore. But you have to couple it with other things, such as an end to the disastrous corn-for-ethanol subsidy and re-regulation of the oil futures markets. Add tax incentives for continued efforts to develop fuel cell technology and figure out how to revive nuclear energy. We need everything on the table in order to build our energy supply back to where it should be and remove speculators from the market.
A good starting point that is apparently going to waste was publicized by Robert Novak in a column that you'll find on Monday's list of articles on Realclearpolitics.com. The reform plan by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has been dismissed by GOP House leaders and ignored by McCain campaign staffers, according to Novak. Not a good idea. Republicans need all the help they can get if they're going to win any elections at all in November.
While the campaign remains in its early stages, the spread between Obama and McCain in the polls has hardly budged the past two weeks. McCain needs a push. If he doesn't get one, Obama is going to trounce him and Democrats will dominate Congress.
