Hold the Applause

Some people are getting really excited that Barack Obama is attacking McCain over the tire gauge flap. Ezra Klein stated,

Obama is never better than when he's backed against the wall on an issue where he believes he's right. This was true oh negotiating with dictators. It was true on the gas tax holiday. And it's proving true on tire gauges. If I were on the Obama campaign, the themes laid out in this video wouldn't simply be my rejoinder to the GOP's tire gauge bullshit. They'd be my message for the next few months. Not only is there a cutting attack in here, but there's also a reply to McCain's charges that Obama lacks substance. After all, if McCain has so much substance, how come he doesn't actually know anything?

I have to say that the examples he cites are do not make Obama that strong. Negotiating with dictators was a mistake statement in that debate that he slowly walked back from to a less unorthodox position. How could you not stand tall on the Gas Tax issue? Everyone knew that that was a total stunt and a pure canard. Clinton could not find one economist to back it up. How hard is it to stand tall in that instance.

Giving Obama credit for attacking on this issue is setting a really low bar. If he did not go after McCain and crew on this he would be guilty of political malpractice. If not this topic, when? I would have been more impressed to see him take the stand on FISA and Off Shore Drilling. Those might have almost had some political risk. Let's see the power attack when the deck is not stacked in his favor, then he can have a pat on the back.