Now that I've had a night to sleep on it, I feel much better.

The kind of speeches were heard last night from Romney, Rudy, and Palin get the our blood boiling.  I was pissed, no question.  

Republicans know how to play that game.  Their speeches are designed to illicit emotional, irrational reactions.

But, if we cool down and look at the night's speeches objectively, I think a number of good things can be taken away from them.

1.  Republicans got <i>nothing</i>.  No discussion whatsoever of policy detail or proposals.  The attacks we all saw on Obama and his supporters are all they have.  This is fodder for Obama and fits precisely in the message he is already advancing.  No need to change the message.

2.  McCain is abandoning the center.  This was speculated before as a consequence of the Palin pick, but last night confirms it.  Clearly, they will try to hold some center ground with the "reform" argument, but McCain has shown that he is "all in" with the Rove strategy "spread fear and lies about your opponent and energize the base."  Lots of reasons why this is good news for us, but number 1 is that it undermines the entire logic for McCain's candidacy in the first place (remember, he was considered by many the only viable candidate because of his appeal to the center.)

3.  McCain's move away from the center signifies that his campaign believes they are losing the election.  They are retreating, building reinforcements.  Again, many people saw the Palin pick as an indication of this, but the tone last night reinforced that belief.

4.  This is subjective, but I do not believe Palin made a good case for her own candidacy.  I can not recall a single thing she said that showed she would be a good VP or competent CiC.  She provided some biographical information (PTA, etc.) and read a pre-written, canned speech that tried to make the case that Obama would be a bad president, but anyone who can read a teleprompter could fill that roll.  It was boilerplate and generic.

5.  Probably most importantly, Obama knows McCain's strategy clearly now.  We've seen it before, he knows what they will try to do.  

The Obama campaign will need to prepare a tactical response to the speeches, but they do not need to change their overall strategy.  Obama only needs to stay on message and not get drawn into a battle with Sarah Palin.

We can now all rest assured that this election is about what Obama has known it was about from the beginning: CHANGE.

McCain/Palin call it "reform".  It is their last, best hope to appeal to the center.  Obama will focus like a laser on dismantling and discrediting the reform claim.  Once that meme is thoroughly dead, so will be the McCain candidacy.