Oh how fondly I do wish to see more like this. Time for a little conscience-clearing among those honest bureaucrats throughout the Executive who may be suddenly realizing the Great BushCheney Vengeance Machine is, hey, kinda toothless now. What are they gonna do, deny you a job on K Street?

"By definition"--you sure about that? I'm reading anecdotals about a lot of black folks waiting to vote tomorrow because it feels more like being part of the historic moment. That seems more committed rather than less.

/quibble

But one thing that is good about these stories is that they create an Inevitability Narrative, just like Rove wove around W in 2000 and Clinton's campaign tried to weave around her in the Dem primary before Obama cracked it wide open. It's certainly building around Obama now and it can be effective in tipping undecideds toward your candidate. Everyone wants to vote for a winner and no one likes a loser. People are strongly influenced by what they perceive to be the opinions of others. It's also discouraging to the other team, and THAT message sure seems to be getting through, given the reports of circular firing squads inside the McCain campaign already.

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And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free.. because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice. [ SUPER: "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ] Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.

Robots--I don't even know why the scientists make them!

Well, during the course of this campaign probably our response to those Reverend Wright videos had to be a spot decision, because frankly it was unanticipated and I hadn’t seen those incendiary videos before. The decision to make it big as opposed to make it small.

[Q] To make the [Philadelphia] speech.

[BO] To write a speech in two days and deliver it at a time when there was a singular focus on the topic I think is an example of having to make decision based on what in my gut would make sense.

[Q] What was your gut telling you?

[BO] My gut was telling me that this was a teachable moment and that if I tried to do the usual political damage control instead of talking to the American people like an adult—like they were adults and could understand the complexities of race that I would be not only doing damage to the campaign but missing an important opportunity for leadership.

That was a great speech, really remarkable, and for exactly the reason he specifies. First time in decades--maybe ever, including Clinton--that I really felt like a candidate was talking to me like an adult rather than a braindead product of some marketing genius's imagination. And he's doing it in this interview as well. Even when he was my 3rd favorite candidate during the primaries this ability has always impressed the hell out of me.

Well, during the course of this campaign probably our response to those Reverend Wright videos had to be a spot decision, because frankly it was unanticipated and I hadn’t seen those incendiary videos before. The decision to make it big as opposed to make it small.

[Q] To make the [Philadelphia] speech.

[BO] To write a speech in two days and deliver it at a time when there was a singular focus on the topic I think is an example of having to make decision based on what in my gut would make sense.

[Q] What was your gut telling you?

[BO] My gut was telling me that this was a teachable moment and that if I tried to do the usual political damage control instead of talking to the American people like an adult—like they were adults and could understand the complexities of race that I would be not only doing damage to the campaign but missing an important opportunity for leadership.

That was a great speech, really remarkable, and for exactly the reason he specifies. First time in decades--maybe ever, including Clinton--that I really felt like a candidate was talking to me like an adult rather than a braindead product of some marketing genius's imagination. And he's doing it in this interview as well. Even when he was my 3rd favorite candidate during the primaries this ability has always impressed the hell out of me.

Well, I hope this is EXCELLENT NEWS for me as well as McCain because hopefully it means I won't be catching so many of his asinine ads here in, of all places, Boston. Only thing I've been able to figure is that we're getting bleed-over from his New Hampshire-targeted advertising. I mean, I see the occasional McCain/Palin bumper sticker here but it's not like he's ever had a prayer in Massachusetts.

Ow.

Even apart from the particulars, McCain's promise seems to fail three general debating rules:

1) Don't fence yourself in before the debate begins. McCain now pretty much has to bring up Ayers, even if there are no questions that make it easy to do, even if his advisers decide the issue is a loser for him, even if, when push comes to shove, he feels uncomfortable about it, etc. If he doesn't, Obama and Biden's taunts will really start to stick.

2) Don't tell your opponent how you're going to attack him before you do. Yes, of course, Obama already had an Ayers response ready before McCain's comments today. But now he'll be that much more certain to have it neatly polished--and he'll be prepared to rebut McCain implicit claim that he's only bringing up Ayers because Obama forced him to.

3) Perhaps most importantly, if you've already lost two debates to your opponent, the second by a large margin, don't do something just because he dares you to.

What they don't say, but what should be obvious is that this isn't just McCain screwing up, it's Obama deftly and devastatingly outmaneuvering him.

A lot of us saw this coming with the original taunting--that it was a way of boxing McCain in. It's yet another instance that he plays a long game and plays it brilliantly.

And as someone who started out with a LOT of misgivings about the whole lack of experience thing, this talent above all is what makes me think he has it in him to be a capital-g Great president. These GOPers and Rove proteges are not pikers. Neither was Hillary. To outflank experienced, hardcore political adversaries in the highest-stakes game in politics with this degree of 8-moves-ahead smarts is a hell of an ability to bring into the office. And to do it with such low-key, unhurried and unpanicked ease, so that your opponents aren't even aware you're that kind of player--so that they continually underestimate you--is just breathtaking.

I think I just may be getting over that "Okay, so when does he start blowing it" feeling. Just maybe. Finally. Getting over it.

Anyway, so the theory is: we crank the Wurlitzer to the max and make Obama apologize and disavow etc etc etc for the last 3 weeks of the campaign. Put 'im on defense! Yeah! Only the old surefire recipe, venerable as it is, just doesn't seem to be working. Nobody's taking 'em seriously and nobody's being forced to apologize except McCain, rather fecklessly, for turning his campaign into the Hate Talk Express. God how that must burn.

I'm reminded of Moe Greene: "The Corleone Family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore." Only in this case it's actually true. Must be frustrating as all blazes to keep pumping away on those organ pedals and watching Obama's numbers edging up into Historic Realignment Territory.

Always glad to help out....