Obama's money advantage really has the Beltway Villagers very upset. David Broder comes out and blasts Obama in behalf of his pal John McCain in his new column. Chris Cillizza thinks Broder is EF Hutton so you'd all better listen.
The Dean of the political press corps, Broder has been setting conventional wisdom in campaigns for longer than The Fix has been on earth.
Broder relishes his role of setting the political agenda for our country because to the media----David Broder is their sage, their medicine man---the wise man of all wise men---the clairvoyant that must be heard and obeyed.
"McCain benefits from a long-established reputation as a man who says what he believes," writes Broder. "His shifts in position that have occurred in this campaign seem not to have damaged that aura. Obama is much newer to most voters, less familiar and more dependent on the impressions he is only now creating."
McCain's aura hasn't been damaged because the beltway gasbags protect their hero. It's that simple. Did Broder talk about McCain's campaign financing problems? Do they report on all his many flip flops in endless loops that wind up dominating the Sunday Talk Shows? Nope, so how will people know what's actually going on if the media puts up their Star Trek force field around their man?
Many of you know I was completely against the idea that Obama should meet McCain in a series of Town Halls. For one thing the TH's can only help McCain. There is no upside for Obama. He can fumble an answer and get looped on the media for days and days.
(Check out the above video to understand why McCain wants to do a series of Town Halls.) Also, the two are so strikingly different that it would water down the stark contrasts between them when the all important presidential debates play out. Then the polls will really be interesting. So---as a winning strategy it would be a mistake for Obama to agree to them. Broder disagrees:
Obama supporters note that town halls are McCain's favorite campaign settings, so it's no surprise he prefers them to formal speeches, where Obama excels. They point out that public financing helps McCain, who has lagged all year in his private fundraising, while it would inhibit Obama, who has tapped into a rich vein of small contributors using the Internet.
But it's also the case that the multiple joint town meetings McCain proposed would be a real service to the public and that suspending the dollar chase for the duration of the campaign, as McCain but not Obama will do, would be a major step toward establishing the credibility of the election process.
By refusing to join McCain in these initiatives in order to protect his own interests, Obama raises an important question: Has he built sufficient trust so that his motives will be accepted by the voters who are only now starting to figure out what makes him tick
In other words, Obama---how dare you refuse a request by the Media's Maverick? Broder is worried about the election process now? It's laughable. Why isn't he on top of voter fraud? Hey David, why don't you write a major column on the Indiana Voter ID/roll purging decision by the Supreme Court? When Republicans held a solid lead in raising money it was viewed as the way things were. Now, since Obama has an online juggernaut, he can't be trusted.
Email David at davidbroder@washpost.com and ask him to hold McCain accountable for a change.
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