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I'm an independent with no intention of voting for Obama, since I can't condone the selling out of my Fourth Amendment rights for corporate political gain. It would have been smarter for him, in my view, to have stood up to the corporate machine, and shown them that he would not govern as a sell-out. That having been said, here's a few insights from outside the fray.
1) If what I think is a beautifully-crafted Rovian move (and therefore despicably immoral) is in fact the case, then the Democrats are going to have to work extra hard to get the voter turnout. She's thrown out enough key phrases to send a signal to the ~30% of voters who vote along those lines to turn out for the McCain/Palin ticket. Given voter turnout over the last several decades, that is going to be a hard group to overcome. They only need about 26% to actually show up to ensure a victory. People need to turn out in large numbers this November. Very, very large numbers. If more than 60% of the electorate shows up I would be very, very surprised.
2) Protesters would be far more effective if they all dressed up in black and goose-stepped their way through the streets to mock the law-'enforcement' thugs that have been on display this week. I've been against the paramilitarization of our police forces since the 80s, when the War on Drugs first started providing them with the rationales for 'Army'-fying our guardians of the peace. Besides, what kinds of laws do we have that they need to be 'enforced' on the populace? Mockery and scorn are far more effective than anarchic destruction. Citizens also need to be a bit more vocal with the boos when cops start going overboard with the pepper spray.
3) Did I mention that the Democrats are going to need a really significant voter turnout if they hope to win?
4) Don't go the attack route. The smart folks have always known that the core Republicans are mean-spirited individuals, and prone to bad behavior. The better route would be to show that the Obama team is thinking through the issues and how to address them. Talking through the problems and how to overcome them with the American populace. Of course, part of the exploration might involve raising Republican solutions (when they actually offer anything other than faith) and showing why they would ultimately be harmful to the citizenry.
5) Don't worry, I'm not voting for McCain. I consider his policies (a consideration cemented by the choice of Palin) to be the same ones that have allowed the wholesale looting of this country by monied interests. There's no way that I can support that. I have nothing but opprobrium for the Republicans and what they have done to this nation so that they could prosper. I am a Gen Xer who is really pissed off at the mess I'm going to have to help clean up. It looks like I'm going to have to swallow my bile and vote for Barr.
6) Hillary Clinton now has an opportunity to demonstrate that she cares about more than herself, and to serve the Democratic Party by carefully dissecting Ms. Palin in her own special way. Mr. Clinton needs to either shut up or do an international goodwill tour (openly supporting the Obama candidacy the whole way), but I think we're pretty tired of him here.
7) Avoid the name calling. It's embarrassing to everyone but Republicans, who seem to revel in slinging pejoratives around. It's a crappy debate strategy, and the less folks do it, the more its ridiculousness will be revealed.
8) Hillary can also help get out the vote with certain 'communities' who are typically under-represented. Realize that the larger the disparity in vote totals between Democratic and Republican results, the greater the international perception of a repudiation of the policies of the past two terms, not just a pushing out of office. Anything less will leave our international friends wondering about us nervously. This means that the Democrats need to work extra hard to get the vote out.
