When Building a Personality Cult, It’s Usually Best to Actually HAVE a Personality.

So, Obama has been losing ground as he gets more shrill. What’s his solution to the problem? Get even more shrill.

Senator Barack Obama will intensify his assault against Senator John McCain, with new television advertisements and more forceful attacks by the candidate and surrogates beginning Friday morning, as he confronts an invigorated Republican presidential ticket and increasing nervousness in the Democratic ranks.

…

After back-to-back attack ads by McCain, including one that misleadingly accused Obama of endorsing sex education for kindergarten students, the Obama campaign is planning to sharpen attacks on McCain and Palin in an effort to counter McCain’s attempt to present himself as the candidate of change with his choice of Palin. The new tone is to be presented in a speech by Obama in New Hampshire and backed up by new television advertisements and appearances across the country by supporters.

In addition, advertising themes will be pay equity for women, an issue that has particular resonance as the campaigns battle for female voters, and a more pointed linking of McCain to President George W. Bush and Republicans in Washington.

…

“The Obama message has been disrupted in the last week,” said Representative Artur Davis, Democrat of Alabama. “It’s a time for Democrats to focus on what the fundamentals are in this election.”

Phil Singer, who was a press secretary for Clinton in her primary campaign against Obama, said, “The Obama people need to reboot and figure out ways to make the McCain-Bush argument newsworthy again.”

Well, look… the Democrats have lost… permanently, I think, the ability to define the fundamentals in this election. That accounts for the level of desperation we’re seeing. Their own fault. They based their entire campaign on the buildup of a personality cult around Obama. At that point all that was needed to beat him was a stronger personality, wrapped around someone who can deal with what the Obama campaign has not; The issues of the day. Both McCain and Palin have been dealing with that, and Obama, for all his complaint on the topic, has not.

Notice, please, how Obama’s complaints about ‘the issues’ only started showing up after McCan chose Palin for his VP. THat’s because prior to that, he wasn’t worried about issues, spending all of his time and money on personality.  Along comes Palin… and with her, comes a refocused look on the personality that is McCain, and suddenly, Obama, not doing so well anymore in the polling, has to switch focus to an area he wanted to avoid; The issues.

That’s because Obama never WAS strong on those. The Obama people… and for that matter, the Clintonistas as well, chose that path because personality was supposedly their strong suit. Issues their weak side.

What’s caught Obama and his people off guard about Palin is she’s a stronger personality than Obama. The disoginization and confusion you’re seeing among the Obama camapign is that because of Palin’s stronger personality, they’ve had to shift to an issues oriented campaign they simply were not ready for.  So far in this campaign, Obama’s issues were never really defined, before this in the campaign, particularly among his following.  That Obama now is forced to attach an actual message to his message,  to define his positions on actual issues, he’s not going to do as well. He knows this. Read again that article in the Asia Times I linked the other day::

Speaking to Obama supporters on the periphery of the big event, I was startled by the rapturous devotion elicited by the junior senator from Illinois. He is no symbol for identity politics, no sacrifice on the altar of white guilt, but the most gifted persuader of individuals that I have encountered in any country’s politics, as well as a powerful orator on the grand stage. This is not a crowd phenomenon nor a fad, but the response of hundreds of people to an individual.

I sat in on a session with three leaders of Veterans for Obama, a group of retired young officers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of the New Republic’s writer on the scene, David Samuels. With passion and enthusiasm, these young people spoke of their hopes for nation-building in Iraq. The George W Bush administration should have put twice the resources into the beleaguered country, they harangued me – not just soldiers, but agronomists, traffic cops, lawyers, judges, and physicians. The Department of Agriculture should have mobilized, along with the Department of Justice.

Nation-building? Doubling down on the US commitment to Iraq? Isn’t that trying to out-Bush the Bush administration, while Obama campaigned on getting out of Iraq and spending the money on programs at home? Unblinking, one of the soldiers said, “That’s what we think Barack will do.” They believed in a more expensive version of the administration’s program, and faulted Bush for half measures – and somehow they believed that Obama really agreed with them, all the public evidence to the contrary. And they believed in Barack with perfect faith.

From Obama’s perspective, the issues really were never defined and in the end really didn’t matter. Similarly, what exactly the change was that they proposed, also didn’t matter, and was never really defined. They had their support from ardent followers, not only without such mundane things as defined policy statements, but in fact BECAUSE of that lack. Being forced into talking about their position on the issues has the Obama people trying to pitch extreme leftist mantra to a an electorate which has repeatedly rejected such iwith overwhelming force in the last several cycles.

And so now, instead of hitting on actual issues, being a non-starter for Democrats, and given the quest for personality has failed, Obama will commence hitting McCain/Palin with attack ads. So much for thew new politics Obama advertised.

All because the Democrat ticket doesn’t have the personality needed to carry off a personality oriented campaign. Then Obama, with his VP pick, made the situation worse. Has anyone noticed the near-invisibility of … (What’s his name? Oh, yeah)… Joe Biden?

America's perception

One comes away with the conclusion that the reason Obama would have been better with Hillary Clinton is at least she provides some strong personality to the ticket. Again, Spengler:

Obama will spend the rest of his life wondering why he rejected the obvious road to victory, that is, choosing Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential nominee. However reluctantly, Clinton would have had to accept. McCain’s choice of vice presidential candidate made obvious after the fact what the party professionals felt in their fingertips at the stadium extravaganza yesterday: rejecting Clinton in favor of the colorless, unpopular, tangle-tongued Washington perennial Joe Biden was a statement of weakness. McCain’s selection was a statement of strength. America’s voters will forgive many things in a politician, including sexual misconduct, but they will not forgive weakness.

And so Obama’s getting still more shrill than he has been recently, trying to show strength.   Yeah, start screaming, that’ll convince ’em. It worked for John Kerry and Al Gore, didn’t it?

The polling we’re seeing just now, with Obama in comparative free fall,  would seem to have something to report on how the American people are reacting to the pathetic sight of someone who has exposed himself as a wimp, making cheap schoolyard taunts to the guy who went through 5 years of being a POW and a woman who can feild dress a moose.

(edit, -Bit)

Addendum:  (David L)

Jake Tapper, ABC News, does not seem all that impressed by BO(‘s latest vow:

But just so you know — this is by my count the 4th time Obama’s campaign has officially or unofficially made such a declaration that Obama will “take off the gloves” and fight back.

That’s a lot of pairs of gloves

BO’s vows of “taking the gloves off”, kind of, sort of, reminds of O.J.’s vow to find the ‘real killer or killers” even if he has to to look at every golf course in America.

BO’s problem with getting tough is that the only card he can play without getting trumped is that McCain is the McSame as Bush.  Whatever you think of the McSame card, it hardly like BO hasn’t played it, alot.

When BO opens up any other door, the McCain campaign drives a truck through it.   BO complains about Sarah’s support for Pat Buchanan.   Fred hits BO with Bill Ayers.    BO argued that McCain wanted to eliminate the Department of Education.   The  McCain campaign hits back with the fact the BO supported comprehensive sex-education for kindergardeners.