ALBUQUERQUE — With only 10 days left until Barack Obama is set to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the presidential contender was focused on three issues: the economy, energy and why Republican John McCain is the wrong choice to move the country forward.
The Illinois senator, who just returned from a week-long vacation in Hawaii, is battling McCain head-on, slamming his policies and ties to special interests and contending that the presumptive GOP nominee is nothing more than an extension of the Bush administration.
Although Obama has criticized McCain in the past, in his first two days back on the campaign trail, the criticism has been sharper and constant. When asked a question, he at times will point out first what McCain lacks before saying what he adds. Obama also has stepped up criticism of the Republican Party, referring to its policies as old and tired.
“Basically, what John McCain’s done is he’s hired the same old folks who brought you George W. Bush. The same team. And it’s the same strategy,” Obama told crowds in Reno and Albuquerque. “They try to make it out like Democrats aren’t tough enough, aren’t macho enough. It’s the same strategy.”
Obama’s shift to a more confrontational, critical commentary on McCain comes after McCain spent the past 10 days alone in the media limelight while Obama was vacationing. During that time, circumstances such as the conflict between Russia and Georgia played to McCain’s foreign-policy and military strengths. Additionally, in the past few weeks, a number of polls in battleground states started to tighten.
Obama’s campaign downplayed any possible impact from his hiatus. But make no mistake: He’s coming out swinging.
“As we lead up to the convention, Sen. Obama is going to show that the contrast between he and John McCain is very clear,” said Anita Dunn, an Obama senior adviser. “People are starting to pay attention now. It’s the perfect time to draw contrasts.”
Dunn said Obama and his campaign won’t wage personal attacks or negative, fear-mongering ads against McCain. Instead, his focus on economic and energy concerns highlights “issues that really affect people’s lives” and that are ideally suited to show the differences between the candidates.
Armed with the mantra of campaigning for change, Obama has to be careful about how he criticizes McCain. Go too mean or negative, and he risks being labeled as a typical politician. If he is too soft, he can be portrayed as not tough enough to lead the country.
Focusing his criticism on McCain’s economic and energy policies may help Obama as he swings through some Southern states this week, said Michael Cobb, a political-science professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
North Carolina’s unemployment rate is 6 percent, he noted, and in conservative states, it’s usually better for Democrats to veer from cultural concerns and focus on pocketbook issues.
Cobb also said that after 19 months on the campaign trail getting to know people, and they him, it was time for Obama to highlight McCain’s perceived weaknesses.
“People were unfamiliar with Obama, so he had to define himself,” Cobb said. “But now he needs to go on the attack. The trick, however, is to look friendly while you do it.”
Obama appears to be trying. As he attended town halls, small gatherings and an 1,800-person event, he listened to concerns from working mothers, young people unable to obtain financial aid and older people struggling with health care.
Sprinkled in with his serious answers was criticism of McCain — delivered with a smile and sarcasm.
He got a laugh in Reno when he brought up McCain’s comment over the weekend that he would define “rich” as someone with an income of $5 million. McCain said right after the comment that he was joking and that the statement would probably be used by his detractors.
“I guess if you’re making $3 million a year, you’re middle class,” Obama said to a gathering of union members and Democratic activists, many of whom laughed out loud.
In Albuquerque, Obama charged that McCain’s economic policies were the same “failed” ones of President Bush.
“That’s not change you can believe in. It’s not change you want. It’s change. It makes things worse,” he said, getting some laughs and claps.
Karen E. Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
