Label Obama However You Want

If you haven't noticed lately, John McCain and his mouthpieces have been labeling Barack Obama as arrogant, elitist, presumptuous, etc. You've heard it, and you must be getting as frustrated and irritated as I am. When McCain was calling Obama inexperienced, lacking foreign policy exposure or claiming he missed key votes, I could live with that. These attacks have now crossed the line and gotten out of hand, but I do have an idea.

McCain reminds me of a senior citizen in the neighborhood who, upon seeing the young upstarts moving in all around him, chooses to name-call, label them as yuppies, wet behind the ears or ignorant liberals instead of getting to know them. He is threatened by the changing environment around him, but instead of observing the new neighbors with curiousity, maybe going about his business and quietly sticking to what he knows and feels comfortable with, he lashes out, screaming hurtful slurs out the window and earning a reputation as the cranky old man who's lost his mind.

Welcome to the McCain campaign. That describes what John McCain is doing and why. But the key is how to combat that behavior without allowing McCain to garner sympathy from his cronies and tepid supporters, many of whom are supporting him because they feel they have no choice, but will rally around their candidate if he's being counter-attacked by Barack Obama. I actually think that I've come up with a solution to these attacks and unfair labels that will stick if not countered immediately.

Barack needs to adopt the labels in this way. When a reporter -- and you know one will -- asks Barack if he feels that he is arrogant, he responds, "If recognizing that the American people are struggling to pay for overpriced gasoline, pay their health insurance premiums and pay off their student loans and still put food on the table makes me arrogant, guilty as charged!" Or he could say, "If taking advantage of an opportunity to bolster my foreign policy by meeting with critical world leaders and drawing large crowds who recognize that the change that this country needs will also rekindle their affinity with the United States and restore our stature in the world makes me a presumptuous person, so be it."

Barack Obama must meet McCain's constant attacks with some lighthearted humor and at the same time point out that the mean-spirited and baseless references that are now part of everyday campaigning and advertising of the McCain campaign don't bother him at all. Remember when Ross Perot was accused of being inexperienced, and in a debate pointed out that if running up huge deficits, driving people out of work and whatever else he was accusing George H.W. Bush of, then yes, he doesn't possess that experience. It was very effective, although the rest of his campaign did not take off.

Barack Obama is the real deal, the entire package, but at this moment McCain is attempting to label him, and without the proper counter measures being employed immediately, these labels will stick to him like glue. He will just be known as a tax and spend, inexperienced flip-flopper, and that is obviously so untrue.

But if Barack uses the words of John McCain to point out that these labels are irrelevant to him, but that the false accusations that come along with them will not be tolerated for a moment, that the words used to describe who Obama is are just the opposite of reality and that he doesn't care what he's called as long as people recognize that he's being called names because they're threatened by the change that he's promising, then this will give Barack the opportunity to run through his plans for this country if he is fortunate enough to be elected president.

So when some pundit points out that Obama is fussy, finicky or feels that he is somehow annointed by God to save the world, Barack should just say, "Yes, you know, I am fussy. I just won't sit around and watch millions lose their homes, watch oil companies continue to rape the American driver, and I will not continue with the status quo that is being offered by John McCain. It is time for major change. Yes, I am fussy!"