Learning to fight Obama

Washington Times:

Republicans, who have spent years preparing to face Hillary Rodham Clinton, are now switching gears to also aim at Barack Obama — a tougher target.

Political analysts say the Illinois senator's race, short record and charisma create obstacles for any Republican running against him for the presidency.

"A Barack versus GOP fight is incredibly more difficult and will come down to our candidate's ability to excite the independent majority — something much easier to do when you are not from the party of George Bush," said Republican elections strategist Brett Sciotto.

Mrs. Clinton, while tough to beat, at least would fire up the Republican Party base and fuel a conventional, party base-against-base campaign, said Bennet Kelley, a former Democratic National Committee official and founder of the Internet Law Center.

"Obama poses a greater threat to the GOP because he doesn't provide the same fuel to the GOP base," Mr. Kelley said.

The Republican Party's opposition research machinery has been gearing up for four years for what it thought would be a difficult presidential campaign fight between their nominee and a well-known and well-financed Mrs. Clinton. The party's press operation has been blasting the New York Democrat daily for months now, gleefully documenting her slide in the polls and her denouncing her Senate votes.

After Mr. Obama's Iowa caucus win last week that shifted, and Republican National Committee attacks now include the first-term senator from Illinois, either alone or together with Mrs. Clinton. Yesterday that included linking Mr. Obama to an Illinois Democratic fundraiser who is on trial for fraud.

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The best way to fight Obama is on the specifics of his policy positions and the one he is most vulnerable on is the war. That is probably counter intuitive especially for Democrats but his recent statements on the surge show a profound ignorance of warfare, and the facts that led to the downturn in violence. He is going to look even more ignorant as the year keeps proving the success of an operation he opposed. If John McCain is the nominee, he should crush Obama on this issue.