I've noticed quite a few people seem to be thinking the same thing I've thought recently: 'well, where is it? where's that different approach you promised? I thought you were gonna bring a gun to a knife fight?!'

Apparently I'm not the only thinking that Obama is falling into the same old trap that dems fall for when they let the repubs do all the attacking which slowly but surely defines their opponent as a pussy in the eyes of the voters. It's never been because people listen to the attacks and think 'man, he's really got a point there. that guy IS [fill in random attack here]!'. No, it's usually because the repubs keep attacking no matter the veracity of the attacks, no matter how asinine the insinuation.

why?

Because negative campaigning works. It is a textbook lesson in politics that no matter how bad you are as a candidate, if you can just make the other candidate look a little bit worse, you can win. It's the political example of the old joke about the two guys running from a bear and one patiently takes the time to put on his running shoes. The one guy goes 'are you crazy?! we've gotta outrun that bear!' and he replies 'no, I just gotta outrun you!'.

While I can certainly appreciate Obama's desire to change politics and move the discourse to a more substantive level, it just doesn't mean shit if he doesn't win. A high-minded losing campaign is just that: a losing campaign.

It's time to take off the kid gloves and punch the McCain camp in the face. It's time to kick them in the groin and then kick them again once they're on the ground. Then kick them again and again until you've won. Yes, I know it sounds bad but guess what? Politics is a dirty game. If you're defending yourself from the other guy that means you're not hitting him hard enough so that he's too busy defending himself from you to be attacking.

Suggested lines of attack:

- McCain's policies on Iraq don't just mean that your sons and daughters will spend years dying there against the wishes of the Iraqi and American people but also that your grandsons and granddaughters will be in debt to pay for it!

- McCain's economic policies don't just mean that government won't help homeowners struggling with foreclosure while cutting taxes for the megarich, he's gonna call you a whiner and say you're bitching and moaning if you complain about it!

- Electing John McCain means nuclear war with Russia.

- John McCain wants to give your hard earned money to [Pick any super rich person]. Don't you think [Pick any super rich person] has enough money? John McCain doesn't think so, he thinks YOU have too much money!

- Wouldn't it be grand to own your own plane, have dozens of mansions and wear $500 imported Italian leather shoes? Wouldn't it be grand if you could just charge a Million dollars to your credit card each month? Let's ask John McCain what's its like living the life of a high-roller and why he supports policies that make it impossible for regular folks who work hard to get ahead while he just reaps the benefits with his wall street buddies.

Suggested Faux McCain Slogans to put in attack ads:

McCain '08:
- 'Drill Now! Drill Tomorrow! Drill Forever!'
- 'Stop Whining!'
- 'Vote for Me so your kids can be POWs too!'
- 'Bomb Everybody!'
- 'And you thought Bush was Bad?!'
- 'Next stop Moscow!'
- 'I hate the gooks!'
- 'Don't worry. My grandkids will pick up the tab!'
- 'McCain = 95% Bush'
- 'Screw you, I'm Rich!'
- 'At least he doesn't eat babies...'

Anyone got any other ideas of not so polite attacks on McCain and suggested strategies for Obama to start fighting back? 

I think he needs something really provocative to start getting McCain's temper to flair up. Right now, he's able to play calm and that's fooling a lot of folks into thinking he's a reasonable guy and viable choice for office. Obama needs to get him to expose his true self so that people are mortified of his finger being anywhere NEAR the proverbial button.

Suggestions wanted!