McCain Campaign: Sitzkrieg?
An underlying assumption about tempered expectations is that the Republican campaign will, at some point, launch into high gear in a nasty but effective manner we've come to expect. Certainly, Obama's current bump in the poll numbers and all the dizzy expectations within the echosphere are partly an artifact of McCain's campaign not making any significant demonstration of force. It can certainly be argued that McCain has squandered-in terms of time, money, and message-the advantage he's had since clinching the Republican nomination.
So outside the echosphere we're waiting for reality to hit and expectations to become a bit more sober but it's a fair question to ask: when and how will McCain and the various 527 allies start hitting back effectively? So far, they aren't. The shots at Obama have been almost desultory, ill-coordinated, and with little effect. McCain also hasn't set a grueling pace as a campaigner.
Cross-posted from http://outsidetheechosphere.wordpress.co m/
After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, which took about a month to wrap up with the Russian back-stab from the East, the War in the West was one of Sitzkrieg, just sitting behind fortified lines, until April of 1940. Only then did the Blitzkrieg (with a full out assault of the right wing!, to extend the metaphor) carve up Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France in short order.
So ordinarily one would expect to see signs of the gathering storm from the Republicans. Charlie Black, one of McCain's chief campaign consiglieri is a nasty piece of work but he's a pretty effective nasty piece of work. And then there's the RNC, which is the only regular party organization that's raising more money than its Democratic counterpart and has all its Rovian micro-targeting tools at its disposal. But there, too, it's pretty quiet so far.
It's still fair to expect that the Republicans are going to get their act together and mount a determined, focused assault on Obama. But right now he has a lull that he can take advantage of, defining himself and campaigning against weak opposition. I'm glad to see him doing so. (And does anyone else still get steamed at Michael Dukakis for going on vacation in the middle of the 1988 campaign? Or Mondale taking a week off after the Democratic convention? And, speaking of Dukakis, does anyone else recall that he led in the polls by 17 points over Bush senior?)
The way to bet, the way to plan, is that the usual Republican assault will come. But I find myself occasionally wondering, what if it doesn't? Someone remind me of this in October, would you?
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