Have you had the feeling that the Obama campaign has seemed troubled of late? They’re on the ropes, slipping in the polls? Maybe they could use a little spark to help shake up the race?
Based on the last few hours, I think they got one.
We talked earlier about a reporter from the Politico asking John McCain yesterday how many homes he owns. “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain said. “It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”
In an impressive display of rapid-response, the Obama campaign already has a new ad out, capitalizing:
Around the same time the campaign was unveiling the ad, Obama was hosting a town-hall event in Virginia, and kept the pressure on.
“I guess if you think that being rich means you’ve got to make $5 million and if you don’t know how many houses you have
, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy was ‘fundamentally strong,'” Obama said. “But if you’re like me, and you’ve got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don’t lose their home, you might have a different perspective… So there’s just a fundamental gap of understanding between John McCain’s world and what people are going through every single day here in America.”
This is a pretty devastating message. That McCain has so many homes he’s lost track of the number is embarrassing, but what’s damaging about this story is the way in which it ties into McCain’s misguided economic worldview.
McCain has opposed increases to the minimum wage, he opposes universal healthcare, and he blamed the housing crisis on homeowners. At the same time, McCain thinks the economy is strong, that Bush has been a good steward of the economy, and what the nation really needs is more tax cuts for millionaires.
I’m not watching the networks, so I have no idea if this story is getting major play right now, but it has the potential to humiliate McCain in a very serious, lasting way.
It’s not about wealth and elitism; it’s about being out of touch. This narrative looked pretty compelling when McCain described our economic problems as “psychological,” but this house flap takes the issue to a whole new level.
I’m sure the surrogates will be all over this — they already are — but it sure would be entertaining to have Democrats everywhere doing events nationwide , asking members of the audience if they know how many homes they own.
Barack Obama’s campaign, moving rapidly to exploit what they see as a major opportunity, is deploying high-profile surrogates in 16 states across the country today to highlight John McCain’s uncertainty yesterday about how many houses he owns, the Democrat’s campaign tells Politico.
Governors
, members of Congress and state legislators will hold conference calls and press conferences in front of homes to draw attention to the issue. Party leaders such as Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
, on the stump in Ohio and Iowa respectively, will move to incorporate the matter into their remarks on the campaign trail today in an effort to draw local media attention to the story.
Further, some state parties will hold contests in which Democrats seek out real voters who don’t know how many houses they own.
And in other states, ordinary citizens who have been victim of the mortgage crunch will hold press availabilities to contrast their plight with McCain’s wealth.
The McCain campaign is trying to hit back, saying something about arugula. Please. Note to McCain gang: your guy just admitted he doesn’t even know how many homes he has. The proper response is to change the subject
, not try to engage on the same topic.
I’ve been thinking all week that Obama needed a break to help shift the race a bit. And here it is.
