Deja Vu All Over Again

I recognize that it’s not only possible to get too caught up in McCain’s attack ads from last week, it’s probably exactly what the McCain campaign wants us to do. But I do think it’s worth a little further comment, since last week was really pretty remarkable both in what happened and what it suggests for the campaign to come.

What we seem to be seeing is the McCain embrace of Rovian, Atwater-esque, good-old fashioned GOP attack politics.

We’ve seen it clearly in the past few presidential elections. In the mid-summer of 2000, the “Al Gore is an exaggerator/liar” theme was introduced and became the conventional wisdom of that fall, even though it was based on very little of substance. In mid-summer 2006, we saw the Swift Boat smear get its start, and the “Kerry is a flip-flopper” theme take hold. The Swift Boat stuff was despicable and dishonest, the flip-flopper theme, unfortunately, was not entirely without substance. One can argue that anyone in the Senate could be hit with that tag (and McCain is a great example of this), but Kerry’s difficulties in communicating well and acting decisively was a gift to his political opponents.

So now the GOP candidate is once again seeking an angle to attack. And so here in mid-summer, the “Obama is an elitist/celebrity” theme has been unveiled. And really, for the McCain camp, you have to say, so far, so good. Obama’s poll numbers seem to be going down a bit, the media is jumping all over itself to examine the signficance of what kind of tea and salad Obama prefers, and as an added bonus, Sen. McCain was able to grasp the thin reed of “I don’t look like the presidents on the currency” remark and turn it into The Race Card, thereby claiming victimhood. It was a solid week for him.

Of course, it was also Exhibit A of why we should all be embarrassed and angry over what our electoral politics have become.

So what should we expect in the coming weeks? Well, it would be easy to say “more of the same.” And I expect there will be more of the character attacks on Obama. But will it be effective in the long run? It could backfire on McCain; he’s obviously taking a bit of a beating over this strategy from at least some pundits.

Say what you want about celebrity, it was John McCain’s celebrity with the media that allowed him to build his image as a bi-partisan, reasonable, fair-minded politician for all these years. This strategy puts all that at risk.

Obama has a very fine line to walk between responding in a strong, effective way, and sounding angry, bitter, etc. But based on how he’s handled stuff so far, and on his performance against HRC, I’d say he’s better equipped to deal with this than any Dem presidential candidate since at least 1996.

Note for comparison Obama’s hard-hitting ads released this week, which do criticize McCain, but over a legitimate policy difference with real implications for voters.

Maybe Americans would rather talk about Paris Hilton and arugula than the issues. I hope not.