Tony Blankley offers some valuable pointers on how John McCain can beat Barack Obama. The Illinois senator is, without a doubt, the best orator in American politics since Reagan. And even President Bush's most ardent defenders cringe at his embarrassing communicative foibles, which serve only to enhance Obama's gifts in the eyes of the public. Americans are hungry for an eloquent president and this gives Obama a significant advantage over his opponents. Hillary Clinton has given Republicans a valuable gift in her moribund campaign. She demonstrated how difficult it is to make attacks on Obama stick. He out-maneuvered her at every step. Last night's debate was a masterful display of Obama's talents. He belittled her relentlessly and made her seem small, irrelevant. Obama came across as presidential, Clinton, peevish. Over the course of the past year, Clinton's arrows have repeatedly missed their mark and in some cases, they've ricocheted off the smooth Obama and found their way back to Clinton, causing her even more damage. Blankley's counsel should be taken to heart by McCain & Co.
Over broad charges against him are dangerous. Republicans will make a mistake if they take to calling Mr. Obama "too liberal for America." He is too liberal, but they need to make the charge specific point by specific point. If they try to pigeonhole him as a liberal, he will refuse to perch in such a hole. He is a golden falcon, not a fat pigeon. He will verbally swoop down on his accuser and point out how he is not liberal at all on that point, but his accuser's record is... If Mr. Obama can be defeated, it will not be with a meat cleaver but a surgeon's scalpel. This is difficult in a national campaign where the public, almost of necessity, must be communicated with by slogans. But Mr. Obama is the master responding to blustery charges with wry, dry irony. -Tony Blankley
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080227/EDITORIAL01/827187145/1013/EDITORIAL
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