Hurricane Politics

Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf Coast. New Orleans sees a nightmare revisited. McCain sees an opportunity for redemption. Insiders have proposed - or claim that he has proposed - turning the RNC into a service event for the Gulf Coast if the hurricane is as bad as it is predicted to be. If they get Gustav right, perhaps they can ignore that they continue to get Katrina wrong.

Obama's campaign must put in motion events now that bring it and the DNC to the Gulf Coast. It does not have to be a massive effort, just one that shows that the dems want to be on the ground filling sandbags before the storm hits, not cleaning out the Superdome a second time when it passes. And if you really want to take the political teeth out of McCain's RNC efforts, show up in Minnesota with several thousand supporters and offer to lend a hand. There's real post-partisanship for ya.

More importantly, Obama's campaign cannot let McCain run against the Republicans too. Gustav will not change Katrina. The Palin pick doesn't change the fact that the fight she waged on corruption was a fight against Republicans. McCain is not agaisnt the Republican machine. He is of the Republican machine. His campaign feeds off its coffers, it raises money from the same base, it utilizes the same operatives. This is the same party that molded W, and it is the same party that will continue to govern many levels below a president McCain. That is the fight the dems are waging and it is time to make that clear. Obama isn't courting life-long Republicans to win this election; the swing voters he needs vote against government corruption. For them, this is a winning argument. Let's make it!