Barack’s Tough Talk

It’s going to be very difficult for either John McCain or (presumably) Barack Obama to run a campaign to the White House this fall and dodge all the smear tactics that will be launched in both their directions without launching into low-ball returns.

For now, Barack has taken the high road and his campaign has been refreshing. I wish the same can be said about the Tennessee GOP.

Using a clip of Barack’s wife, Michelle, stumping in Wisconsin, members of this southern Republican group took one of her comments out of text and onto YouTube.

In her speech, she said, “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.”

There was more to it than that, as usual, but the sound bite is what makes the headlines and the group repeated them over and over in a video trying to infer Michelle is not patriotic meaning Barack isn’t worthy of your vote. You must remember the source of this not-so-clever YouTube moment: The same people who tried get everyone to believe Barack is Muslim because his middle name is Hussein—not that there is anything wrong with being Muslim other than American’s prejudice toward the religion.

McCain even called that one low class. As did Barack regarding this most recent smear tactic. His message: Leave my wife out of this.

If you are going to attack Barack, he wants you to attack his track record, his policy stances and his personality.

That’s a novel idea, looking into a presidential candidate’s credentials and stances instead of twisting sound bites to sway the popular vote.

It probably won’t last, but at least Barack came to the defense of his wife without firing back and made sure the target was on his work, not his family members or anyone else.