Today, Obama begins to make his closing argument:
Tomorrow in Canton, OH, Senator Obama caps off a nearly two year campaign with a closing argument speech that lays out the choice in this election and details how he will fix our economy and bring the change we need to Washington.
In his speech, Senator Obama will tell voters that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Obama will ask Americans to help him change this country, and say that in just one week, they can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up, they can choose to invest in health care for our families and education for our kids and renewable energy for our future, and they can choose hope over fear, unity over division and the promise of change over the power of the status quo.
But while we are thinking of Obama’s closing argument, think of this too from Reed Hundt:
The McCain plan will be to give up on the national popular vote and re-run the Bush campaign of 2000. By voter intimidation and robo-calls and litigation and outrageous allegations it will aim for victory in the states that can provide an Electoral College victory. In this case, that means McCain will focus his diminished but vigorous efforts on Florida, Ohio, Colorado, and Virginia. In each state we need hardly ask what images, stereotypes, and fears the McCain campaign will hope to evoke.
Only if we win will McCain and Palin have to cope with the reputations they will have earned. If they win, they get to write the history.
So far, much of the McCain character assassination strategy has largely backfired and hurt him. But the undecideds are making up their minds now, and negative campaigning works in spite of voters overwhelmingly saying they don’t like it. If you are volunteering, keep it up; if you aren’t, then sign up. Do something between now and Election Day to finally get us a President for all of us.