Things Change
Obama continues to gain ground in the Gallup tracking poll, making this the 8th straight day in which the race has either stayed steady or moved in Obama’s direction:
It’s hard to know exactly what’s caused this shift, but it’s plausibly connected to the trend I lament in a new TAP Online column wherein national security has totally vanished from the campaign. In most polls, McCain seems to do better than Obama on national security. So when the public attention shifts away from national security and toward, say, a giant financial crisis, that benefits Obama. Under the circumstances, you can see the interest in trying to make sure the attention stays on the economy. But one thing I don’t note in the article that is worth mentioning somewhere is the fact that this strategy leaves Obama pretty hostage to events. A terrorist attack, a crisis abroad, or even a new tape from bin Laden could easily throw the election back to McCain if Obama doesn’t lay the groundwork for an argument on those issues.
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Calming Down
A remarkable number of liberals of my acquaintance seemed ready to move into panic mood after it turns out that Sarah Palin can deliver a competent attack dog speech. I don’t see why. It was competent, but no more than that. And it wasn’t a speech that even tried to do either of things that John McCain’s campaign needs to do — separate McCain from George W. Bush or convince people that McCain can improve the economy. It didn’t even try to address those subjects.
This stops the downward spiral, maybe, until perhaps people focus on the fact that Palin’s signature accomplishment as Governor of Alaska was to oppose a bridge project that she in fact favored, but McCain was losing the race before Palin was ever announced. Stopping the slide doesn’t get you to a win.
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