Obama: Six things he must do before Nov. 4

1. Reintroduce himself

Even though a mocking McCain campaign ad describes him as "the biggest celebrity in the world," Obama said in the USA TODAY interview he needs "to tell my story once again."

At this convention, there's been less emphasis on the father from Africa and childhood in Indonesia — and more on what ties him to the struggles of average middle-class Americans: his single mother, grandparents from Kansas and his efforts to work his way through college.

Obama's getting-to-know-me offensive is partly a defense.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Don Fowler said that in key states such as South Carolina, where he lives, McCain's efforts to portray Obama as an empty celebrity have had an effect.

"Anybody who knows him knows it's not true," Fowler said, "but that impression has been planted and it's going to take a real hard pushback to neutralize it."

In interviews at the convention here, politicians representing battleground states all said they hope Obama will spend more time on their turf. Obama better pack his bags for the duration, said George McGovern, the party's 1972 presidential nominee.

"He's just got to work day and night from now until Election Day, take advantage of his youth and health," he said.

2. Get foreign policy chops

Obama spent a week in July traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq and Europe, where he was received warmly by world leaders.

It was an attempt to shore up the weakest link in his résumé, though Obama insists he doesn't feel uncertain about his ability to handle the foreign policy requirements of the presidency.

"Look at the judgments I've made and the judgments John McCain has made," Obama said last week.

On the Iraq war, which McCain supported and Obama said he would have voted against had he been in the Senate at the time, "he was wrong and I was right," Obama said.

His running-mate choice of Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a veteran on global disputes, has earned him praise — including from some undecided voters.

"It certainly complements the ticket," said Joe Klinger of Springfield, Ill.

McCain and his supporters are citing Biden's selection as an admission Obama needs help on one of the key tasks of a president.

On Wednesday, McCain unveiled an ad saying Obama is "dangerously unprepared to be president."

3. Run against McBush

Obama and his allies are doing their best to tie McCain to President Bush, emphasizing that the Arizonan voted with Bush 95% of the time in 2007, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Quarterly.

What's not stressed by the Obama team is that McCain's score for last year was unusually high: He backed Bush 89% of the time in 2006 and 77% of the time in 2005.

Obama frequently highlights that McCain has been one of the staunchest supporters of Bush's recent Iraq policy, without noting that McCain criticized the early conduct of the war.

Another key talking point: McCain's change of heart on Bush's tax cuts.

McCain opposed them when they were passed in 2001 and 2003, but now says it would be a mistake to roll them back because it would amount to a tax hike for some Americans. Obama argues that the Bush tax cuts benefit the affluent at the expense of the middle class.

Last week in Virginia, Obama borrowed a line from President Reagan to attack what he calls "McCain-Bush" economics.

"Are you better off now than you were eight years ago?" Obama asked a Lynchburg crowd that roared back an emphatic, "No-o-o!"

The Obama campaign began airing a new ad Monday that shows McCain and Bush embracing and says McCain's economic plans would amount to "four more years of the same old tune."

Democrats say it's vital for Obama to link McCain with Bush.

"He's up against a candidate who has got a very appealing personal history," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., citing McCain's service as a Navy fighter pilot and five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

"The challenge will be to focus on the issues … and what an Obama administration will bring to average American families."

4. Learn to bowl

Obama's attempts to be a regular Joe by taking up this pastime bombed in Pennsylvania — both on the bowling lanes, where he threw gutter balls, and in the primary, which he lost to Clinton.

In the fall, Obama needs to connect with the working-class voters who flocked to Clinton. Many voters "haven't been convinced he relates to people like them," said Martin Dunleavy, a Democratic National Committee member from Connecticut, co-founder of a group called Ethnic Democrats.

"They're skittish about his experience," Dunleavy said, adding "the angst, quite honestly, some of it's about race, and we shouldn't lose sight of that."

Obama's emphasis on his middle-class background will help, he said, but not as much as his choice of a running mate born in Scranton, Pa., where Clinton won more than 70% of the vote in Pennsylvania's primary.

"Biden is the classic, middle-class Irish success story," he said.

Obama, who has hit lunch-bucket themes before blue-collar crowds during the past week, plans a bus trip with Biden through western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, beginning Friday after the convention ends.

"This election will be decided on the fundamentals, not how many houses somebody has or who's elitist," said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, referring to Obama's mockery of McCain's multiple residences and McCain's suggestions that Obama is out of touch.

That list, he said, includes the economy, health care, jobs, education and getting out of Iraq.

5. Court the women

The latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows Obama doing better among women voters than McCain, 48%-42%.

However, he "has some missionary work to do" to mobilize Clinton activists, said Ruth Harkin, the Iowa senator's wife and a strong Clinton supporter during the primaries.

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T. J. Rooney, a self-described "dyed-in-the-wool Clinton supporter" now backing Obama, said a message that focuses on McCain's opposition to abortion rights will help win independent female voters in suburban Philadelphia counties that often decide elections in his state.

Rooney recommends that Obama "talk to women about the Supreme Court," because recent rulings on the increasingly conservative court shaped by Bush have limited abortion rights.

Anne Gannon, tax collector of Palm Beach County, Fla., who came to the convention floor sporting a "Clinton Delegate and Obama Supporter" button, said she's angry that Democratic Party officials "failed to speak out about sexist comments" made by some television and radio commentators against Clinton.

Even so, Gannon believes Obama can win the support of older women — and her state — if he and Clinton can convey the message that "her vision of America is his vision of America."

6. Keep 'em fired up

Obama strategists are counting on a record turnout of black voters and voters under 30 to tip several key states — especially some in the South that haven't backed a Democratic presidential candidate in years.

Obama has 16 offices in North Carolina, where 300,000 new voters have been registered since the beginning of the year, said state Rep. Dan Blue.

In Georgia, the campaign has 27 field offices, including one in Forsyth County, where 90% of the voters are Republican, said state Sen. Horacena Tate.

I think McCain Palin will self destruct.

Palin opened with her desire to teach creationism in schools.

I don't think either of them is intouch with reality enough to know limits.
If they get any kind of positive feedback from their target audience they will start shouting mandate from the people and go over the top.

By election day they will be promoting an obvious theocracy and frighten the rest of the US into a very negative reaction. These are ivory tower people, who listen to whome they want and believe that is the voice of the world cheering them on.

Originally posted by Cyberbian
I think McCain Palin will self destruct.

Palin opened with her desire to teach creationism in schools.

I don't think either of them is intouch with reality enough to know limits.
If they get any kind of positive feedback from their target audience they will start shouting mandate from the people and go over the top.

By election day they will be promoting an obvious theocracy and frighten the rest of the US into a very negative reaction. These are ivory tower people, who listen to whome they want and believe that is the voice of the world cheering them on.

Well put!!!!!

I will pay you money if you are right?

Naw, more likely the people will tire of Obama's long winded speaches that lack any substance. They are already sick of "change" that never gets to the fine print.

Originally posted by Cyberbian
I think McCain Palin will self destruct.

Palin opened with her desire to teach creationism in schools.

I don't think either of them is intouch with reality enough to know limits.
If they get any kind of positive feedback from their target audience they will start shouting mandate from the people and go over the top.

By election day they will be promoting an obvious theocracy and frighten the rest of the US into a very negative reaction. These are ivory tower people, who listen to whome they want and believe that is the voice of the world cheering them on.

Incredible.

You've just described what the Obama campaign has already done.

Obama had to win the far-left in the Dem party to get the nomination. Obama started to believe that the far-left that showed up en masse at his rallies actually was representative of America.

Obama even went to Europe and started to believe he had a GLOBAL mandate.

But a funny thing happened...

By the time he got back to the U.S., he lost the entire lead he had in the polls. By now the novelty wore off, and more and more people realized that he had little substance.

And he became so over-confident that he believed he could win without Clinton as VP.

No, what Obama must do if he has any chance to win is figure out how he or Biden can start relating to the white, middle class voters in the swing states. It's not going to be enough to keep telling them all their problems are Bush's fault. That tune is already been worn out.

I can tell you now foreign countries will receive Obama and Biden more positively than a McCain/Palin presidency. Foreign countries are very mad about Iraq and now Georgia/Russia and if they were to see McCain coming on board as 2008 president, they will see George Bush. Not good.

I suggest folks think long, hard, and strong. Do you want countries to get angrier at us or do you want to start trying to mend wounds? (Biden and Obama could do this I believe) It's easier to bow our chests out in ego and say screw the other countries if they dont like it !! There is nothing wrong with our policies !!! But that stance could prove to be a very dangerous one.

I feel comfortable with Obama where as before I wasnt too sure about him. We are back at square 1 again I guess where we are forced to choose between crud 1 or crud 2. Most of the things at Obama have been about the gay guy, his affiliation with a muslim father, not born here, and the preacher. That is a very empty argument.

Originally posted by fastwalker23
I can tell you now foreign countries will receive Obama and Biden more positively than a McCain/Palin presidency. Foreign countries are very mad about Iraq and now Georgia/Russia and if they were to see McCain coming on board as 2008 president, they will see George Bush. Not good.

I suggest folks think long, hard, and strong. Do you want countries to get angrier at us or do you want to start trying to mend wounds? (Biden and Obama could do this I believe)

Maybe you should study history a bit more. How old are you?

I cannot recall a time in history when the U.S. was better off because we made decisions based on whether other countries would like us better.

This is the exact mentality that made Obama flip out when Bush said "some people" wanted to "appease" our enemies.

Obama acted indignant because Bush made this comment, and yet your post reveals the exact mentality many people have re how Obama is going to get other countries to like the U.S. more.

Personally, I don't care if other countries like us. I'm sure Mexico will hate us if we stop the swarming of illegal immigrants across the borders.

I'm sure Russia, China, and France were pissed off when we stopped the back-door deals that were going on with the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq.

And come to think of it, you're entire premise is wrong. Countries do NOT have us. Radical leftists hate us. They always have and always will because the U.S. is living proof that capitalism and free markets beat a centrally controlled socialist government every time.