Bill Manzi.com

Yes, we are hearing those murmurs of disapproval as Senator Barack Obama begins his inexorable slide towards the center of the political spectrum as he gears up for the general election. Whatever else you may think of him Barack Obama is a Chicago politician, who likes to win. He just outmaneuvered some of the brightest political minds in the country (the Clinton machine), who tacked center before they had the prize in their hands. Now comes Barack, re-evaluating prior statements and causing some level of angst on the left. In short order he has shifted on FISA, NAFTA,public finance of presidential campaigns, a timetable for American withdrawal from Iraq, fudged on his position on the Second Amendment, and criticized the Supreme Court decision barring the death penalty for anything less than murder. He has come under some high level of criticism from the left on his FISA switch, but it truly has not been a major issue politically, drawing scant coverage outside the blogging community. The New York Times even ran a critical editorial, saying in effect that Obama needed to act less politically and more in line with his message of change. The Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog had some interesting posts on the Obama shift on FISA and immunity for the Telcoms. Read that posting here. Read the New York Times editorial here. So what do you think? Is this just more of the same, with Obama using Clintonian triangulation to buffet himself from Republican attack? Or is this good, smart, hard nosed politics that will help Barack Obama win in November and bring the change that he has advertised so boldly?

Struggling with getting out a message and trailing in the polls John McCain once again shook up his campaign, bringing in veteran political operative Steve Schmidt to take control of his operation. The move shifts responsibility away from campaign manager Rick Davis, and appears to be the end of the “decentralized campaign” which had envisioned autonomous “regional” campaign managers with broad authority over their designated regions. McCains lack of a unified
message seems to be the reason for the change, along with some operational difficulties. From the Washington Post:

“There’s not a cogent message,” one Republican strategist said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “They’ve been attacking Obama every day, but it doesn’t tie back to an overarching theme that McCain believes in.”

The problems crystallized this week, with McCain on a three-day trip to Colombia and Mexico, where he is talking about trade and drug trafficking, an exercise even some insiders considered a waste of the candidate’s time.

“They’ve been playing this ripped-from-the-headlines game. Whatever is hot or interesting for the day is what they’ve been talking about,” said one former McCain adviser who is no longer with the campaign.

Schmidt explained his thoughts to the Post:

“There are 125 days left until the American people will decide the next president,” he said. “Senator McCain is the underdog in the race. We suspect he is behind nationally five to eight points but well within striking distance. I will help run an organization that exists for the purpose of delivering John McCain’s message to the American people.” Schmidt is also expected to abandon Davis’s plan to put roughly a dozen regional campaign managers in place around the country.

So McCain tries another political shakeup. There is plenty of time for McCain to right his ship, but I have been totally unimpressed by what up to now has been a lethargic effort, with no utilization of the McCain brand which still contains many positives. Scmidt has time, but does the candidate really want to listen to the adults in the room? Read the Post story here.