“He’s been hurt by nagging questions about his leadership experience as the GOP tries to shift the election from a referendum on Republican economic policies to a test of whether Obama is up to the job of president”, wrote the excellent Glenn Thrush of Politico.com about Barack Obama.
That’s exactly what happened to Kerry in 2004. Team Rove managed to make the election a referendum on Kerry’s character, not about Bush’s wreaking of havoc. If Team Obama allows the same to happen this time, they will lose the election in a grandiose way. And they will have deserved it.
UPDATE: Arianna Huffington also hits the nail on the head. Let’s see if Team Obama will listen. But I’m starting to wonder whether there’s a new problem on the horizon… For political journalists, the “McCain is just like Bush” line is getting a little stale. Being journalists, they’re in want of ‘new’ lines. Obama will thus have to repackage his ‘McCain is Bush’ line in several new ways, or they’ll simply start to ignore it.
Communicatiestrateeg en schrijver van het boek ‘Megafoonpolitiek‘. Op Twitter te vinden als @kajleers. Politiek bewust, voormalig financieel-economisch journalist, muziekmaker, professionele kletskous, schrijver. Geeft ook social media-trainingen, denkt graag met je mee over communicatiestrategie. En ja, content is en blijft King.