The Obama Dream Scenario
Many moons ago, I spoke with an Obama staffer who told me that the candidate Obama feared most was actually Giuliani, as he threatened Pennsylvania and a handful of other states. McCain, in contrast, was the candidate Obama could most easily beat thanks to the marked contrast in age and vigor, and thanks to the role of Iraq. This was before Giuliani suffered major setbacks and the political impact of Iraq started to take a different shape. But there’s a certain logic to it.
That actually doesn’t speak especially well of Obama, assuming the staffer was speaking for the candidate (which might well not be the case).
Giuliani has huge, gaping, massive vulnerabilities. But: he’s a rutheless, nasty political brawler. He would not be afraid of Obama, or of offending anybody’s delicate sensibilities in going after him. Obama’s whole campaign is premised on the notion that he’s the guy to do ju-jitsu on the scorched-earth Republicans – that he could take on precisely the kind of campaign Giuliani would likely run. If he believes his own hype, that shouldn’t be what he’s afraid of.
That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be confident facing McCain. McCain is playing kind of the same game Obama is (and so is Huckabee, in a very different way). If Obama thinks he can play that game better than McCain can, and hence beat him, that’s good. But his first task is to convince his party that that’s the best game to play against any Republican candidate.
— Noah Millman · Jan 4, 09:23 PM · #