PoliticalChatter

The daily tracking polls of the presidential race continue to reflect a tight race. After spending the first few months of summer well ahead in the race, Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama now finds himself trailing or at best tied.

So what changed over the last few weeks? John McCain went on the offensive or as some political insiders say it went negative. This is a fair assertion, the onslaught of McCain ads are negative, but negative politics is nothing new. It is as old as the process itself. This time around there is something very different about the negative approach, something which increases their effective two fold.

In recent presidential races we have seen DUI charges, National Guard scandals, Swift Boating and draft evasion. Each of those accusations were acts of the past, the far past and the importance of them to the voter was peripheral at best. But now John McCain and his political machine are using something much different; Barack Obama’s own words and even more importantly his recent words.

Although the debate of content or out of context can be made, Obama’s words are circling around him like a dark cloud. He has in fact referred to
Iran as a tiny country, seemingly shrugging off the threat of the terrorist sponsor. Obama has in fact spent time beyond a casual working relationship with a former domestic terrorist William Ayers. Obama did in fact remain a member of Rev. Wright’s church long after his hate filled sermons. These actions are fresh, tangible and can be easily understood by the voter.  There is no gray area and no buffer of time and that is why they have been so effective. In so many ways they are similar to the Willie Horton ads, which eventually doomed Michael Dukakis in 1988, not in substance, but in the fact there is really no disputing them.

Barack Obama faces an enormous task of pulling back words and explaining past actions, he has done neither at this point. As McCain continues to pound the Illinois Senator with his own words and actions, a once shoe in candidate is quickly becoming the underdog.

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