snap out of it, man

Michael Tomasky has written a brilliant rant about the Obama campaign's failure to refresh its message. I agree wholeheartedly with everything he says, especially the bit about new policy ideas. If Obama is so keen to get the campaign coverage away from trivialities, then he needs to come up with some non-trivial bits of news.

I noted yesterday that the Obama campaign has been incredibly impressive during the course of this nomination race, and one of its virtues has been consistency of message - a refusal to be blown off-course by events or media soothsayers. In the run-up to Iowa, for instance, when he didn't seem to be making enough headway against Clinton, there were plenty of people demanding he go negative. Obama and his advisers kept their heads, remained true to their core message of change, and won the day. But perhaps that success and his subsequent victories have bred complacency, even arrogance. There's a fine line between consistency and a lack of creativity.

Underlying this is the question of motivation. Obama's lack of prepared answers to the questions about flag-pins and Wright at the ABC debate was appalling. You don't have to think those are worthy questions to agree. If he'd thought about it he could have used those questions to make powerful statements about who he is and why he's in this race. But he came off like a man who thinks he's above having to explain himself to anyone. That and the hints that he's bored by the whole thing are beginning to give the impression that he lacks the stomach for this fight. As Tomasky says, voters can smell that.