Party Like It's 1988

» NYT: '88 Campaign Offers a Lesson in Using Symbols as Bludgeons

Mr. Obama, of Illinois, has promised a different politics, one that rises above the fray and the distractions of wedge issues. As Glenn Greenwald, a columnist for Salon, recently put it, "The entire Obama campaign is predicated on the belief that it is no longer 1988."

That's certainly the gamble of the Obama campaign. The one good thing he's got going for him (assuming the nomination) is that the underlying environment of this cycle make it a particularly toxic time to be a Republican. Unpopular, mismanaged war? Check. Demonstrable incompetence at nearly all levels of operation? Check. Not exactly a good time to ask for four more years of the same old policies.

Kristol opines a bit on the GOP angle of this. Admittedly, his suggestion of a McCain-Jindal ticket would make things interesting. But would it help matters any? His datapoint doesn't look promising:

Another McCain staffer called my attention to this finding in the latest Fox News poll: McCain led Obama in the straight match-up, 46 to 43. Voters were then asked to choose between two tickets, McCain-Romney vs. Obama-Clinton. Obama-Clinton won 47 to 41.

It's a stretch to assume that even a McCain-Jindal combo would minimize that sort of damage.