Obama Does NOT Need To Fire Bill Burton

I am taking issue with a diary that was on the Rec List by an author with whom I have always agreed in the past. Obama does not need to fire Bill Burton or anyone else.

These are the dog days of the summer. Presidential campaigns are in that lull before the conventions. It is easy to lose one's nerve. In many ways the most difficult period of a contest is  this time of  maneuvering. The difficulty is to turn  implicit  into the direct, and misfortune into gain. This is the time each side is framing the other in its own terms.

It may not appear so, but Obama is doing what he needs to do. Look away from the day to day polls, most of which reflect statstical fluctuations from  which the chattering class is trying to learn some grand trends. Obama was down  yesterday, up today, tomorrow who knows? It really does not matter.

Are they framing the issues in terms advantageous to us? Are they responding to attacks immediately? Are they planning ahead to neutralize vulnerabilities? The Obama campaign is doing the right thing, I  argue after the jump.

Obama's biggest asset in this  contest is that his opponents (and even some of his supporters) cannot figure him out. He keeps his opponents of balance. Just when they think they have grabbed hold of him, he shifts his rhetoric ever so slightly and they have lost him.

During the primary, Sen. Clinton threw the kitchen sink and much more at Obama. He did not respond in kind. He kept to his own game, and Sen. Clinton eventually lost her nerve and said what should never be said. Out aloud anyways. About the RFK assassination. Obama did not need to jump all over her for it. The rest of the world did it for him.

Just last week, Obama just kept to his stump speech on the economy, adding a small twist to connect the bad economy to the cost of war. It was the McCain campaign that lost its balance, when Dr. Phil Gramm said that people are whining and that the recession is mental. Obama did not have to go on the attack against Gramm. McCain did it for him, incurring the wrath of the Right Wing in the process.

And then there was the  gift from Jesse Jackson. He threatened to cut off Obama's nuts for saying that Black fathers need to show more responsibility. Instead of jumping all over Jackson, Obama quitely accepted his apology. Then reinforced the need for responsibility  this week at a speech to the NAACP, of all places. That is how you show you are a different kind of black leader to the white voters who are wary of him. And the largely black audience cheered him when he said what are clearly tough words.

Obama is like the pool player who knows just how hard to hit the ball. He not only makes his shot he sets up the next one. If he hit any harder, he would still make the shot, but would be out of position for the next one. This is very hard to accomplish in politics and the last person who could do that was Ronald Reagan. Contrast the awkwardness of Clinton's Sister Souljah moment with the  Obama's Jesse Jackson moment. The point is, Obama had no Jesse Jackson moment. He did not say a word about that whole affair in public.

The greatest victories are not won by spilling blood in the battle field. They are won by maneuvering your opponents into making mistakes, and you profit from them by not even being present at the battle field.

Obama sticks to a theme and pounds it genially and systematically. This not only unnerves his opponents but also some of his supporters. Have Faith in your leader. In   addition to Hope. He is not wasting your support or your contributions. Not going on the attack does not mean you are on the defensive. It means that you out-maneuver the other side, by changing the terms of the debate.

McCain is a one issue candidate. Sadly for him, that issue is war. As much as people respect his heroism, the people are tired of war. McCain , by his own admission, is clueless about the economy. The economy did not start out as Obama's issue. He started his campaign as the anti-war candidate who promised change and hope. As the Iraq receded from view, and the economy became the top issue, Obama kept pace. Now not a day goes by that Obama does not mention the economy. Even in  his speech on war on the eve of his trip abroad, he connected it to the economy.

Obama is transforming himself into the economy candidate.

That is what he needs to do. He does not to attack McCain on the economy: he and Gramm did it to themselves. Obama does not need to fire his communications director because Obama is the chief communicator of his campaigner. He is the Great Communicator of our time. Obama has acquired Reagan's mantle not Clinton's. That is one of the reasons why Bill Clinton is miffed at Obama.

Symmetry with the McCain campaign is not the aim. Because McCain is a weak candidate, running against the wind in a year when people want change he  needs to be always  on the attack, take the risk that some of the attacks will backfire. An example was the ham handed way that McCain tried to cut into Obama's victory speech at the close of the Primary. Not only was it bad delivery, he refrain

Now that is not change you can believe in

followed by the awkward grin just backfired on McCain. You won't find a similar moment when Obama attacked McCain. He does not repeat McCain's campaign theme ( what exactly is his theme, anyway) and put a not in front of it.

Let us get to the specific charge against Bill Burton. Obama's spokesman gave a wordy response to  a complicated issue. It touches all the basic points.

If offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks.

Acknowledge that if this were a solution, we would be for it.  We are not just against it because the other side came up with it. Now explain why it is not a solution right now.

But most experts, even within the Bush Administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years.

Concede that it might work eventually. Don't get dragged into an unnecessary  argument.

Senator Obama believes Americans need real short-term relief, which is why he has proposed a second round of stimulus with energy rebates for working families.

The point is, people are hurting now. And the McCain-Bush plan (notice Obama's spokesman ties the pan directly to  Bush) is not going to help right now. Let them argue that they are thinking long term and see how far they get with people hurting now.

Senator Obama understands that our national security and the survival of the planet demand a real strategy to break our dependence on foreign oil by developing clean, new sources of energy and by vastly improving the energy efficiency of our cars, trucks and our economy. He is ready to lead such a transformation

Again acknowledge that there is a real long term problem. And that it is a priority.

Thus, to take a long and circuitous route,
   after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting
   after him, to contrive to reach the goal before him,
   shows knowledge of the artifice of DEVIATION.

Guess where this is from?

The suggested response reduces to  a partisan attack  an important issue on which Obama is winning. That is what you do when you are not right on the merits of an issue. You must then try to distract by throwing out the chaff of partisanship. Obama does not need to do that. Not on this issue anyway.

Obama is running a smooth well organized campaign machine. Part of the reason it functions so well is that people are not thrown overboard. Often. Obama has cut loose people who screwed up (Samantha Powers, Rev. Wright, the Chair of his VP selection committee.) But the core campaign staff has remained solid through the long primary and this preparatory phase of the GE. If there are changes of responsibilities due to additional staff hirings (like the Clinton people) we are not hearing about it. And we don't need to.

What a contrast with the McCain campaign! Every two weeks he re-re-re-launches his campaign. The latest changes were supposed to take hold when Gramm and Fiorina lost their marbles. Expect more of the same.

Stay calm. It is a long four months to the elections. Don't read too much  into daily polls. Register voters  as if we are ten points behind. Raise money if you can. Project confidence as if we are ten points ahead. We are on track. We will change this nation. Hope is on its way.

NOTE ON POLL: I should have added the option: IT IS NOT OUR DECISION. h/t ceebee7