It's Time for Pelosi, Dean, Gore and Edwards to End This Thing

Hillary is now openly going after the redneck vote. And the Republicans are now actively messing in the Democratic primary.

Hillary is no longer trying to get elected President -- in 2008. She is trying to get the nomination for 2012. By poisoning the well so much for Barack Obama that he cannot beat John McCain in the fall.

The damage she is doing to the Demnocratic party with her race-baiting dog whistle campaign is closing in on becoming irreperable.

And Obama is in a box because he wants to actually win in November. He can't go all out negative on Hillary the way the Republicans would because he needs a unified party for the fall campaign. And even if he did go negative, it would undercut the central theme of his campaign -- that he is a new, post partisan politician who wants to bring the country together to solve its problems.

But, if Obama does not fight back hard enough, the media and some Hillary partisans will accuse Obama of being too soft, and not tough enough to take on the Republicans in the Fall.

Let me state this as clearly as I can -- and make a prediction.

John McCain and the Republicans will NOT attack Obama as hard as Hillary has. They cannot do anything worse to him than Hillary already has done. I know this defies conventional wisdom. And people assume that Obama will be raked over the coals by the Republicans.

But, Hillary is running a general election style camapign against Obama, right now. She has become the default Republican in this race.

She is attacking Obama on National security, and using racist dog whistles against him because she is writing off the black vote in the primaries.

There is nothing Obama will see from the Republicans that has not already been thrown at him by Hillary Clinton.

And, ironically, John McCain himself might actually be MORE civil toward Obama than Hillary has been.

About the only thing Hillary has not done is run to the right of Obama on Iraq, and argue that he wants to cut and run. Not overtly, anyway. But you know that's what the 3am add was all about.

So, it is time for Al Gore, John Edwards, Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders to step in and endorse Obama. Not only that, Gore and Edwards in particular must go to Pennsylvania and campaign with Obama.

And Obama needs to campaign outside of the big cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He needs to calibrate his message to state that Hillary is running on the old politics of dividing us up to win elections, and never following through.

The only way we can win, is if we unite and win together. He should say that Hillary is insulting the great people of Pennsylvania, by cynically playing on their fears and anxieties to gain votes. That he believes the people of Pennsylvania are tired of being divided. Tired of being played against each other. Tired of seeing their hopes and dreams crushed by inaction.

Obama needs to get back to what brought him to this point. Stop the petty bickering with Hillary and just subtly portray her as a sad, pathetic loser who is desperate.

Obama needs to win Pennsylvania and put Hillary -- and the rest of us -- out of her and our misery.

ADDENDUM: An effective campaign ad Obama might use is to analogize his campaign to that of a successful football team. Players of all races, work together in the trenches, fighting for each other, bleeding for each other and exerying a great effort to achievce a common goal. That is what he wants to see for thsi country. Everyone striving together for a common goal -- and to win.

If, by some miracle, he could get Pittsburgh Steelers Jerome Bettis [who is recently retired but still vey popular in the state] and Ben Roethlesberger to appear in the campaign ad with him to emphasize the point, it would have even more impact. You could even have them all out in some park throwing around a football to humanize Obama.

THAT would be a POSITIVE dog whistle for the lunchpail, white working class in Pennsylvania.

My my keyeboard, to David Axelrod's eyes.

UPDATE: Thanks to Sheddhead in the comments for these --

John Edwards
c/o John Edwards for President
410 Market Street
Suite 400
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Howard Dean
c/o Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Nancy Pelosi
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Al Gore
2100 West End Ave, Ste 620
Nashville, TN 37203