OK, this new (527, not McCain campaign) ad is going to leave a mark. There are still many voters who have never heard of Bil Ayers, and the coverup going on at UIC is just going to make it look worse.
Of course, the Obama camp also started another spork fight with the McCain campaign, and is getting hammered again.
Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people “cling” to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?
The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.
The problem with their strategy, as is often the case, is that they project their own class envy on the voters (just as they project many of their other personal issues).
But by and large, Americans don’t envy the rich–they want to be rich. Let’s leave aside the amusing fact that by the new Democrat standard that white guys who marry rich women and end up with several houses are to be demonized as out of touch, that John Kerry shouldn’t have had a prayer of getting their nomination.
So-called progressives are envious of the wealthy in the classical sense–they not only want what others have, but they want the others not to have it. In fact, the latter is more important to them than the former, so they promote policies that equally distribute poverty, in effect if not intent.
But the American people don’t want to take John McCain’s houses from him. They just want more house of their own. It’s very hard for me to believe that the number of domiciles that John McCain has, or whether or not he knows how many, is going to be an issue on which the election will turn. And as already noted by the McCain campaign, Barack Obama isn’t the best messenger in that regard. Nor were John Edwards or John Kerry. I think they’d certainly prefer a guy who came by his houses honestly–by marrying them–to one who acquired his with the help of a convicted felon for favors still unknown.
But what I don’t really understand is the McCain strategy at this point. Less than a week before the convention, Senator Obama’s polls aren’t looking very good, but there’s real dynamite in some of the internals of them, in which one poll showed Hillary! ahead of McCain by several points. So who do they want to run against?
If they weaken him too much this week, the Donkeys may come to their senses and come up with another nominee next week. On the other hand, in doing so, they’d shred the party. Of course, the optimal situation is for Obama to come out the nominee, but one badly bloodied by a huge obstreperous floor fight, so maybe they’re betting that the Dems won’t be able to jettison their flawed messiah without even more damage to the party. So it’s in the Republican’s interest for them to finally nominate Obama, but in the weakest possible state, and the worse things look for him going into the convention, the more likely that there will be a movement to oust him. But they should hope that it’s not successful.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s more on Senator Obama and Tony Rezko.