TAKE OFF THE GLOVES, JOHN! (continued)

I was reading this Dick Morris/Eileen McGann column, and it struck me that we are all on the same page here (see my earlier post): thus far as John McCain's biggest obstacle has been his own bull-headedness in trying to stay "above the fray" it what arguably has to be an ugly election campaign. The country is too polarized for it to be otherwise. But McCain is seemingly so afraid of "offending" some ultra-sensitive voters' sensibilities by telling the honest and open truth about his opponent, that it has tied both he and his campaign up in knots. It's sad.

John McCain desparately needs to get over himself, and especially to get over trying to be Mr. aw-shucks likeable Nice Guy--he is what he is: he's not "Bubba", he's not Reagan, and he is not going to beat Obama in a personality or beauty contest. The only chance he has is to tell the truth, and to not mince words about it. More pretense of being this "different" politician who is above the bloodsport of politics will only serve to alienate the public further about his toughness under fire. If McCain is truly tough enough to handle this job, he needs to start showing it now. Let it fly, John! Get angry! Tell it like it is!

All America wants is someone to tell the truth for a change. No Political Correctness. Stop pandering to the Left. The Left is going to vote for their guy: it is the Right that you need; and at the moment you are leaving the field to Obama's flip-flopping 180's--and thus bleeding away to the very votes you need the most to win.

Obama's "right flank" is exposed, and any field commander locked in a "no quarter" battle with a determined enemy knows what to do when that happens: when you see the opening, you have to quickly and decisively take advantage of it by hitting the enemy with everything you've got. The opportunity never lasts long...

If McCain wants to win, he needs to begin to relentlessly attack Obama when he flip flops--not with the mealy mouthed platitudes holier than thou "I'm above all that attack my opponent stuff" mentality he has been using. McCain does not get the MSM airtime nor the favoritism that Obama gets. McCain has to do this, it cannot be left to his underlings. And it has to be bold, clear cut, and factual. This rope a dope stuff is a losing strategy.

This is where we separate the men who are qualified to lead our nation in Wartime from the pretenders. The Presidency is not a High School "most popular" contest. Von Clausewitz said: "It is clear that war is not a mere act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political activity by other means". The reverse it true too: In this election--when arguably our success in War, our energy independence, the future of our autocratic Supreme Court, and our economy itself--depends on the election. This year Politics IS War. Morris/McGann are exactly right: the longer McCain waits to go bare knuckles (or brass knuckles) with Obama, the longer his odds of winning become:

For the past two weeks, Obama has moved quickly toward the center. He has reversed his previous positions for gun control, against using faith based institutions to deliver public services, against immunity for tele-communications companies that turn records over to the government in terror investigations, for raising Social Security taxes, for imposing the fairness doctrine on talk radio, and a host of other issues.

McCain has watched passively as his rival repositions himself for November. Indeed, he has watched from afar as he took the time out to travel to Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, even though they have no electoral votes.

But now, there is a heaven-sent opportunity for McCain to strike. In his effort to move to the center, Obama has distorted his own record, meager though it may be, and is taking credit for a program he strongly opposed. McCain should immediately run an ad in all of the states in which his opponent is advertising setting forth the facts and explaining Obama's distortion.

A good tag line for the ad would be: "John McCain: when you have real experience, you don't need to exaggerate."

But, if McCain doesn't answer, or just replies with his own positive ad, he will let Obama move to the center, a key mistake from which he may never recover. If Obama can hold his 5-10 point lead until the conventions, he will have set in place a pattern that will be very hard to change. With his new ad, Obama could even elevate his lead to double digits.

On the other hand, if McCain calls him on his distortion, he can do grave damage to Obama on three fronts: credibility, centrism, and experience. By catching Obama in a lie, he can undermine the effectiveness of any subsequent ads the Democrat runs. By showing that he opposed welfare reform, McCain can do much to force Obama back to the left and cast doubt on his efforts to move to the middle. And by emphasizing Obama's limited experience, he can strike at a soft spot --- made softer by Hillary's attacks in the primary.

The move is right there for McCain. Now lets see how good his campaign really is.

It is all up to McCain. Does he continue to refuse to engage in a brawl with the most inexperienced candidate for the Presidency in American History? Does he continue to treat Obama like some distinguished, experienced statesman, or does he expose Obama for the Marxist, race-baiting, class-warfare enabling, anti-Capitalist, big Government, ROOKIE Senator--whose only experience is gathering leftist agitators and angry leftists in the "community", serving as a mediocre Illinois state senator, and "occupying the office" of the corrupt and shamed Carol Mosely Braun's US Senate seat (and for the most part being AWOL from that job since he got it)?

Barack Obama is a smooth-talking FRAUD, Senator; isn't it time that you called him on that?

Put more simply: do you want to retire in November, or are you going to finally decide that you actually want to be President of the United States?

Your move, Senator.