Barack Obama and Joe Biden wasted 10 days attacking Sarah Palin. Obama questioned her experience, highlighting his lack of experience. Biden called her “good looking,” highlighting his (Biden’s) penchant for sticking foot into mouth. In attacking Palin, they gave McCain a pass, played on the wrong end of the field, offended the very blue collar Wall Mart moms they need to win and squandered precious time they will never get back. Obama also violated a cardinal rule in Presidential politics. The top of the ticket should never “shoot down.” It demeans the shooter, and leaves the opponent to occupy higher ground.
Last weekend, with great fanfare, Obama announced that he would henceforth concentrate his fire on McCain. To this political operative, two questions come to mind. What took Obama-Biden so long to come to their senses? How could a campaign that vanquished Hillary Clinton allow itself to be thrown so far and so long off message by McCain’s choice of a female running mate?
The answer to Obama’s ten day disarray lies not just in McCain’s VP choice, but in the masterful job McCain did of separating himself from George Bush at the convention. Nobody who listened (or read) his address saw a third Bush term. What they saw was a stark break from the last eight years, rhetoric reinforced by a mate choice Bush would have never made. Obama has based his entire fall campaign on portraying McCain as Bush III. That strategy was completely undermined at the Republican convention. Obama needs to toss the old play book, start talking about why his “change” is better for the country than McCain’s, and treating Palin with benign neglect. 
