Operation Link Obama and Ayers Day 2

Yesterday, I surmized that the MSM is the McCain campaign's unwitting accomplices in turning the Ayers' story into a front burner news story. That's because what we saw yesterday was an explosion of news stories, all either negative towards the McCain campaign or dismissive of the story itself, in relation to this story. The media drives the narrative by what they choose to cover not how they cover it. So, despite their negative slants, all the MSM really did was put the Obama/Ayers connection back into the news cycle. That's exactly where the McCain campaign wants and thus I believe they were the campaign's unwitting accomplices.

Analyzing hits to my own site today, I have seen a doubling of of links to these two stories. Both stories have the key words Obama and radicalism in them. As such, searches of those two words come to my site among many. The sudden explosion in the key word searches of Obama and radicalism tells me that the media's attention on the connection between Obama and Ayers has filtered down to the public. So far, it appears that both the MSM as well as the Obama campaign are playing right into the hands of the McCain campaign.

Now mind you, the McCain campaign has a very difficult and uphill battle. First, this strategy is filled with its own risks. It is quite likely that all of this attention will be seen as the McCain campaign smearing Obama. Still, if that happens what that will mean is that McCain will get crushed by more than he is already getting crushed. While this is no doubt a hail Mary, it has the potential for an upside and an aggressive play is what the McCain campaign needs right now.

Second, McCain still needs to fight off the head wind of the economic news. It appears almost impossible to me that they Ayers' story could ever knock the economy off the front page. Still, one thing is certain. Republicans need to stop complaining about media bias. That's because one thing this episode proves is that an adversarial media can be just as effective as a sympathetic one. The Republicans need to quit whining about media bias and simply use it to their advantage. Clearly, this episode along with the hey that the MSM showed toward the ads comparing Britney Spears to Obama show that Republicans can easily use the media to their advantage. They simply need to be more crafty.

The glimmer of hope for the McCain campaign is that this story is wraught with potential pitfalls for Obama. First, Obama appears to be countering the attacks on his relationship to Ayers by attacking McCain's role in the Keating 5. The problem here is that McCain's narrative in that story, his role in the S & L crisis, is much firmer. First, a Senate panel found that he should be totally exonerrated. Second, it was this episode that gave McCain the inspiration to become a force against Corruption in the legislature. It's unclear what Obama has learned from his relationship with Bill Ayers.

Second, the whole connection between Obama and Ayers is layered in mystery, confusion, and leads, in my opinion, to places the Obama campaign would rather not go. Of course, only Barack Obama knows the extent of his relationship to Ayers and why he would have a relationship at all with an unrepentent former terrorist. I believe, though, that he used Ayers, in whatever limited role, as an asset to climb through the political machine of Chicago and Springfield. Ayers was a player in Chicago politics and, in my opinion, Obama saw him as a necessary ally. I believe he dismissed Ayers past in favor of his own ambition. Of course, this is not an answer he can give and so the longer the story is out there the more problematic his answer will be.

Now, according to Little Green Footballs and Power Line, there is MSM full court press to minimize both Ayers' terrorism and the relationship the two had. I really haven't seen a full court press of anything in print today, however what I have seen is this story being carried from print yesterday into an active role on television today. Here is a sampling.



and...


There are two big problems here for the Obama campaign. First, you really have to have a wilfull suspension of disbelief, to borrow from Hillary Clinton, in order to believe what the Obama campaign is saying about this. Is it really possible for Obama not to have known that Ayers was a former terrorist when he agreed to allow him hold a fundraiser? Even if that is so, at what point did he realize this and why did he continue to relationship. Most people would have nothing to do with a former terrorist and yet Obama held a fundraiser at his home, served on two boards, and gave multiple speeches together. At some point, he had to have known and yet it didn't bother him. Second of all, Obama is playing defense.

From McCain's perspective, it really couldn't have been scripted any better. We saw this story take on a life of its own through the traditional print media when the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Associated Press each did separate stories about this. Then, it was immediately picked up by the new media through blogs and the likes of Politico. Now, it has filtered into television. This makes it a full blown front burner story. If I am advising the McCain campaign, I go directly for the jugular. I have Sarah Palin mention it everyday. That's because everytime she mentions it someone in the MSM takes the bait and publishes something about it, usually negative. So what? All that does is keep it in the news cycle for another day. That means another day of discussing it and another day for the common folk to search about it and wind up on sites like mine.

In order for this strategy to be effective though, the story must be moved so the McCain campaign will need to introduce new wily characters from time to time. By the end of the week, I would switch my focus to Tony Rezko. Certainly, if Governor Palin attacks Obama vis a vis Rezko, the MSM will take the bait and attack her back, and of course, by extension make the Rezko/Obama a part of the newscycle. At some point, I would end it with Obama's twenty year relationship with ACORN. There is definitely a media play here for the McCain campaign. It is tricky and full of pitfalls, however, so far, I believe they have played it beautifully.