Dick Morris, recalling Thomas Dewey's unpredicted 1948 loss, has recently suggested three ways that John McCain could Trumanize the front-running Barack Obama on Election Day.
One possibility Morris raises is to "use the stock market crash to highlight the tax issue," and another is to "warn voters of impending socialism in America." These do not strike me as particularly sterling game-changers (Note to the GOP: most Americans wouldn't know from socialism if it came and collectivized their front lawn. Either explain the ideology and draw out its--extraordinarily dubious--connection to Obama's economic policies, or assume that only the base will buy the argument).
Which bring us to Morris' other proposal, one that we have been hearing murmurs about for weeks: "bring back Rev. Jeremiah Wright." Morris joins a chorus of McCain supporters (and rogue campaigner Sarah Palin) who are flummoxed as to why The Maverick hasn't exploited this seemingly lucrative "character" issue.
Not to worry, there are always "independent expenditure and 527 groups" who can do the dirty work on this one. Morris even helpfully scripts the commercial with suggested voice-overs, stock footage and all.
I have already written about why this tactic won't work. Primarily, because to reach undecided voters on this issue the media will have to take an interest in this story. But without fresh Reverend Wright provocations, journalists have no particular reason to revisit a story that consumed them for nearly two months.
Still, if the surrogate groups do go this path (and the Iron Law of Electoral Desperation dictates that they just might) there are two things to bear in mind. The first, is that would-be Swiftboaters have little more than 72 hours to do the do. Either the "controversy" grabs the attention of journalists and eventually Undecideds by Thursday, or it's too late.
Second, Obama's Faith and Values operation has played solid defense. As I will explain later this week, his team has effectively neutralized a variety of religiously-based threats to his candidacy.So the rule is: The Kerry campaign made the Faith and Values mistake, while the Obama campaign made sure the mistake never happened again. For these reasons, I am surmising that Wright Rapid Response Units are deployed in bunkers in every Battleground State. Their mission: to stave off what could be a clear and credible threat to Obama's victory.
Jacques Berlinerblau is the Rabbi Harold White Chair in Jewish Civilization in Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service and senior advisor to the Center for Jewish Civilization, where he was director from 2006 to June 2020. Berlinerblau has published on a wide variety of issues ranging from the sociology of heresy and modern Jewish intellectuals to African-American and Jewish-American relations.
