When you’re losing to your opponent among voters who think the economy is the top issue - and that’s the overwhelming majority of people - you need to outflank your opponent on another front.
For Republican John McCain, who is slipping farther and farther behind Democrat Barack Obama with those voters focused on the economy, he needs put Obama on the defensive. And the playbook right now is to either utter two names - Rev. Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers. The former, Obama’s former pastor in Chicago videotaped denouncing American policies, did not end Obama’s bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee. The latter, though, has been largely untried, and McCain’s gonna give it a go.
I say “largely untried” because Hillary Clinton dropped a reference to Obama’s supposed ties to Ayers during the much-maligned Philadelphia debate last April, but then the issue disappeared.
Until now. As you may have heard, GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin told an audience over the weekend that Obama pals around with terrorists, a reference to Ayers time as co-founder of the radical Weather Underground. The group was responsible for bombings in the 1970s in Washington, D.C., and Ayers was a founding member.
So, does Obama get together with Ayers for dinner and a few drinks in the Chicago night clubs? Collectively mourn the quick end to the Cubs season? Hardly.
From CNN.com:
Obama and Ayers, now a university professor, have met several times since 1995, when both worked with a non-profit group trying to raise funds for a school improvement project and a charitable foundation. CNN’s review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved.
Thing is, in politics perception is everything. And if the American public perceives Obama has a close relationship with Ayers, then his lead over McCain in critical swing states like Pennsylvania could begin eroding, putting McCain back in the game.
Update:The Obama campaign releases this ad in response:
