I respect that Obama wants a classy race, but it is time to take off the gloves

and cover everything on the table


I say pull ALL the punches, leave NOTHING out


hit them hard and often


EVERY point

EVERY gaffe


EVERY misstep



I am tired of "not going there because we are the better people"

that got Kerry no where it got Gore no where


nice guys DO finish last

That is the politics of old. He's campaigning as the change candidate. That's one of the risks you take when you are the change candidate. He needs surrogates to attack or he will look like a hypocrite. But Obama can defend himself without going negative or attacking.

No matter what any of us think, it would not look good for a young black man to take the gloves off and go after an old white man who spent 5 years as a prisoner of war. Surrogates could do this very effectively.

about the age or the race...it does matter, at least to me, that Obama doesn't take off the gloves and go too nasty because that would go against everything his campaign has been saying Obama is not. (Old school politics).

Perceptions are important. There are surrogates who could do this very effectively for Obama without him being directly involved. I am sure that when Obama adds the thousands of DUers, who all believe they know how he should be running his campaign, when he adds them as advisors then things will go perfectly.

WHERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS??!?!???!

make him look like a hypocrite?

As long as he does it in a classy manner, which certainly can be achieved.

was pulling this week. However, I don't see why he can't point out every time he flip flops,lies,mis-speaks,etc.

Sure, he must tout his own candidacy and promote his issues and ideas, and stay largely positive, but just one or two ads showing McCain in a REALLY bad photo, or saying something REALLY fucking stupid, or looking REALLY lost, befuddled, confused, dishonest, or angry, will scare the public away from him. And by all means, use the quotes of fellow Republicans RE his temper against him. Obama wants to run on issues, McCain wants to run on personality and character. Obama needs to play on both fields, and drop one or two big character bombs on McCrazy.

that is all

which means holding back. Rather, you want him to punch McCain with all the power he's got. He's got plenty of surrogates to do this for him, like VoteVets, for instance. General Clark for another. Hillary Clinton for women. Richardson for Hispanics. I can't believe Barack hasn't an armory of stuff and people he's going to let loose when the time is ripe.

This campaign is starting to feel exactly like Kerry 2.0 with a candidate who is aloof and above it all, while his opponent defines him.

When Obama called McCain "an honorable man running a dishonorable campaign" I couldn't believe my ears. This is no time to be bestowing undeserved compliments on the opposition. The "running a dishonorable campaign" part of the sentence is too wishy washy to inflict the slightest damage - and it had already been sweetened.

This isn't a tea party - it's a presidential election.

Obama needs to take the gloves off. He needs to act like he cares, not just let the surrogates (who, IMO, aren't doing that great of a job anyway) do all the work. That is how Kerry lost and that will be how he loses too if he isn't more pro-active.

Biden excels at this. He can rip your statement, platform to shreds, but never makes it personally about YOU. Obama should take that approach.

McCain's actions are not - repeat, not - being met with unanimous approval. We don't like it, plus there are a lot of his own supporters who think he's acting like an asshat, and a good number of Republicans still don't like him enough to vote for him.

Even the media is calling out his dumbass ads.

Let them run their little schoolboy campaign for a while. It's not going to destroy Obama, and it's going to end up hurting McCain with Independents and undecideds - and anyone else with half a brain in their heads, including Republicans.

By then, O's Olympic ad run will go on, then the conventions - and then they should, and probably will, drop the hammer on the Cranky Old Bastard.

- as

nearly as damaging as the SVBT.
If he does, Obama will not take it lying down.

allowing the clock to wind down a bit before he lets the hammer down bigtime 2-4 weeks before the GE.

gave it all against Hillary in the beginning, what does he do for the remaining 10 months, Example,Obama stated the "Keating 5" episode involving McBush hasn't been taken off the table. Obama has at least 6-7 weeks to dance around McBush.

Obama is smart and tough, I believe he'll landslide McBush when he's done.