Twisting the Knife

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28dowd.html

Maureen Dowd issues the latest criticism of Barack Obama for his failure to twist the knife once he's plunged it into his opponent. I hear this one all the time. Running for president is not about showing restraint, the argument goes. It's about making your opponent look as bad as possible. It's visceral, not cerebral.

Well, yeah, if we learned anything from 2004, it's that presidential politics is not cerebral. Still, I disagree (as I often find myself doing) with Ms. Dowd.

I think Senator McCain is dead wrong on just about every big issue this time around. The problem is that I'm not sure the majority of the country agrees with me entirely. I think much of our citizenry is tempted to believe this man when he says he knows what our foreign policy problems are and how to fix them. I sympathize with those who are worried Senator Obama isn't experienced enough to be president. I think his critics are on to something when they call him arrogant and presumptuous and would-be messianic -- I just also think that those sorts of labels are what people inevitably will attach to someone who represents as fundamental a change as Mr. Obama does. Make no mistake: we need a faith bordering on religious if we are to believe that America can rebound from the past eight years.

But not everyone agrees. Many are hesitant. Obama seems risky. McCain is a known quantity, an honorable man (most of the time), a war hero, white, old. Obama needs to attract Republicans and nominally independent voters in Virginia and Indiana, and I think he and his team are making a calculation that these folks would be turned off by distinctly partisan language. These people need to feel that they can safely emerge from their partisan bunkers and vote for the party of Clinton, Carter, Dukakis, and Gore. That's not easy. It takes coaxing.

If folks like Dowd want Obama elected, they need to let him do his job. He's assembled probably the best campaign team in history, and he knows what he's doing. At the moment, the rhetoric can't be aimed at making avowed liberals smile, nod knowingly, or even make us feel spectacular about supporting him. Instead, if we trust this man not just to be our president but to lead this country, we should trust that his air of respect toward McCain is the best available way to entice the good, hard-working, boring old white people of Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to vote Obama. He's not scared. It's a calculation, and it's necessary. Cut him slack.