Obama's Brass?

In March, during the primaries, I wrote: “So it’s a good thing to see that Obama's got some teeth as well. And I think the masses need to see that as a good thing as well, and not be all dejected and "oh my god, Clinton ruined the race ‘cause now Obama's got to be negative..." Pllleeeaaaasssseeee.”

In that note, I was commending Obama for showing some teeth and fighting back on some of the things the Clinton’s were doing during the campaign. At the time I supported Hillary, mostly because I thought she was the better fighter. I called her a “Mongoose” ready to take on the snakes of the Republican Party.

Obama of course won that contest and like I promised, I am supporting him 110%. I’ve donated, I’ve signed up to make calls and even travel to a battle ground state, as long as the state is Florida ;-).

But now with the nomination behind him, Obama seems to have sort of chilled out – And with McPalin gaining steam I ask again – Obama, let’s see some teeth man!

One of my favorite movies is Glengarry Glen Ross, and in particular, the monolog by Alec Baldwin as Blake, the superstar salesman who opens up the movie with sound advice to the main characters.

“You want to know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes BRASS BALLS to sell real estate.”



So it does to become the POTUS, and go toe to toe with the Rove machine. Nobody campaigns like the Republicans. Their whole mantra is play to the crowd, keep it simple, and attack, attack, attack. This is not a “ten paces turn and shoot gentlemen’s duel he’s having. This is backyard UFC type of stuff, complete with folding chairs and ladders, meaning quite frankly, there ‘aint no rules.

The Clintons know this very well and have the scars to prove it. They are after all, the only team since 1992 that’s beaten the GOP machine. Obama can do well to learn some tricks. Perhaps that will be the subject of discussion during his lunch with Bill on Thursday.

Obama’s got some spunk when he wants to show it. Coincidentally enough, he used the lipsticked pig reference (are you reading my blog, sir?) just today, which brought the Republicans to an uproar. That’s what I’m talking about. Make ‘em mad, because when they are mad, they make mistakes. For example, as they try to twist the pig reference to claim victim, the only thing they do is show their own hypocrisy and penchant for whining.

We need more. We need to see some podium pounding, brow wrinkling declarations like “We will not let the Republican’s trick us again!” “McCain and Palin are two sides of George Bush!” “Palin is a liar and a cheat!” Obama needs to release his own pit bulls from their pens and on the talk shows including “Fox” to raise the necessary objections. He can’t rely on Keith Oberman to do all the work – I love that big guy, but he’s starting to sound silly.

Also, Obamaniacs everywhere (myself included) need to see energy and emotion coming from Obama/Biden. They don’t need to see thoughtful and civil responses on the Sunday talk shows. We need some “bring it, busters!” to get people fired up and motivated. He can’t laugh this off as I’ve seen him do when a talking head describes to him the latest junk from the GOP. The dismissive laughter at the crazy McPalin tactics can come across as condescending, which is an arrow in the wrong quiver. He needs to take them to task.

Start with Obama’s stump. He needs to get the energy up during the attacks because that’s what makes the news. He needs to defend his policy on the war with a backdrop of veterans. He needs to challenge McPalin to come up with actual details of their tax plan. Most of all, he needs to remind everyone that McPalin is anti-choice, anti gay and anti-environment every chance he and his crew get. As for the interviews, he needs to show that he’s upset at the smears, and it’s got to stop.

In the very near future, Obama needs to step it up a notch. People are looking for him to show that he’s got “the brass” to get the job done.