Counterpunch Too Weak for Strategists

Strategists urging Obama to bring tougher attacks on McCain

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 7, 2008 4:11 PM CDT

(Newser) – After weeks of enduring blistering attacks from John McCain, Barack Obama is launching a counter-attack. His new “Maverick” ad is his sharpest yet, calling McCain out on his similarities to George Bush. But Democratic strategists still don’t think Obama is hitting hard enough, the Washington Post reports. “If somebody attacks you ... you have to counterattack,” one strategist said. “You want to look tough.”

Obama’s campaign has cut off independent attack groups, leaving most without funding. “There's frustration there because they're watching these childish ad campaigns, and they know exactly how to answer it, but they're powerless to do so,” one Democratic consultant said. But don’t expect Obama to respond to the criticism. “This is a classic Washington story,” an Obama spokesman said, “anonymous quotes from armchair quarterbacks with no sense of our strategy.”

[Images (2)]

[Videos (2)]

Barack Obama is silhouetted by the sun as he gets off the plane at South Bend Regional Airport in South Bend, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Barack Obama answers questions during a town hall-style meeting at Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Obama Ad: The Original Maverick or More of the Same?:Obama for President ad (NCDem)

Obama attacks McCain for contradictory energy talk (BarackObamaFan123)

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

McCain Running 'Dishonorable' Campaign: Ad

In face of rising GOP tide, Obama camp sharpening attacks

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has launched a new ad accusing John McCain of running a “disgraceful, dishonorable campaign,” part of a wider pushback against Republican attacks, the Washington Post reports. With McCain pulling even in the polls, the campaign held a series of internal strategy meetings, including a rare Sunday get-together in Chicago, and emerged pledging to leave no assault unanswered. More»

Obama Lead Up to 14 Points Amid Mac Attacks: Poll

Poll finds Obama ahead 53% to 14% after McCain blows fail to land

(NEWSER) - John McCain's flurry of attacks against Barack Obama has done the Republican more harm than his opponent, according to the latest New York Times/CBS poll. Obama now commands a 53% to 39% lead, with voters seeing McCain as running the more negative campaign of the two, the poll found. More than 60% felt McCain was spending more time attacking Obama than explaining what he'd do as president—and most thought less of him for it. More»

Hey, GOP: Let's Emulate Obama's Cool

Attack ads worked in 2004. That's not where we're at: Frum

(NEWSER) - David Frum plans to vote for John McCain, but with the economy in ruin, anyone who thinks the GOP can win “by banging on about William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright is...to put it mildly...severely under-estimating the electoral importance of pocketbook issues.” These desperate attacks “are sending a powerful, inadvertent message,” he writes in the National Review, “that we lack a positive agenda of our own.” More»

Obama Ads Hone Attack in Key States

Wave of negative ads slams McCain on the economy

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has launched a wave of hard-hitting ads attacking John McCain ads in key states, the New York Times reports. The ads, reflecting a new get-tough Obama, lambaste McCain for being out of touch with Americans' economic struggles. Some have criticized the ads for misleading voters, but Democratic strategists say it's time for Obama to strike back after relentless attacks from McCain. More»

If You're Running on Honor, Don't Tell Lies

GOP falsehoods lead to 'smear gap': Alter

(NEWSER) - Never mind merely unflattering attacks; Jonathan Alter addresses the issue of outright falsehoods, as measured by an impartial fact-checking organization, in the two presidential campaigns, and finds the McCain camp has issued many more. The "smear gap" belies John McCain's vision of himself as an honor-first kind of guy, he writes in Newsweek, and contradicts McCain’s own message of “America first.” More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Counterpunch Too Weak for Strategists