Master politicians like FDR and LBJ not only had no illusions about their opponents but also knew exactly what was required to defeat them soundly. Watch this currently popular FDR clip again and think it through from a strategic perspective.
Opponent pummeling? Yes, but that would be merely fighting a battle and not a war.
The 1964 Daisy Ad was similarly strategic.
And in her debate this week, Elizabeth Warren accomplished the same strategic objective.
Are you getting what that is? It’s not complicated, although it seems to have totally flummoxed President Obama. As it did Hubert Humphrey’s campaign, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and every Democratic Presidential candidate in my lifetime. (And no, Bill Clinton didn’t get it either.)
To be fair, Massachusetts isn’t the nation and Warren had more than ample warning of the task she faced. Scott Brown has been in GOP general election mode since 2010 because the Republican base in that state is so small that candidates can rhetorically ignore them and still count on their votes. As such, Brown has been able to coast on his established credential as the Moderate Scott Brown. What Warren did in the debate was to reduce the size of Brown’s comfy “moderate” box.
Against Goldwater, LBJ locked and secured the door to moderate territory. Left him stranded and wandering in the racist crazyland that nominated him.
Unlike Reagan and GWB, Mitt isn’t a darling of rightwing crazyland. His religion and his devotion to it insure that he will always be somewhat suspect among “christian” fundamentalists. Oh, how he struggled for over a year to gain their grudging acceptance. But those “christians” are if not a forgiving lot than a forgetting one. And just in time for a combative Moderate Mitt to make a safe entrance at his first debate with Obama.
Paul Ryan, with his wacko base secured, has been worming his way into non-crazyland in the past few days. And why not when the opposition has left the door open? Can Biden force him to retreat in tonight’s debate? Or will we see another exercise in hand-to-hand debate combat?