Obama Should Be Attacking This Guy

John McCain is still keeping things close in the polls, for one simple reason: Barack Obama won’t attack him. Obama seems content to make the entire election about himself, Jonathan Chait writes in the LA Times, trying to make himself an acceptable alternative to the already unpopular Republicans. If that sounds familiar, it’s because John Kerry used the same strategy in 2004.

By making the election about himself, Obama is ignoring his greatest advantage: George Bush. Obama needn’t resort to character assassination or smears; he just has to air clips of McCain saying things like “on the transcendent issues…I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.” Then the election won’t be a referendum on an inexperienced black Senator; it’ll be about one of the most unpopular presidents ever. (More Obama 2008 stories.)