Monday Morning: Clinton Memo Dump Preview, McCain as Manager, and Costas Gets Tough

Good morning, all. It's shaping up to be a refreshingly temperate day for all the Superman fans in our nation's capital.

The Democrats have revealed the list of keynote speakers at the convention in Denver later this month. Monday night will feature Michelle Obama in primetime; Tuesday will be Hillary Clinton; Wednesday will be the VP Candidate (still a mystery, though the campaign is pushing a sign-up to be text-messaged when the decision is announced); Thursday, of course, Obama himself.

HRC's placement as the keynoter may do some damage-control with her still-roiling base, though there remains no firm resolution to last week's speculation about whether her name will be placed into nomination in Denver. And Clinton will stay in the news this week as The Atlantic's Joshua Green spills juicy details from her campaign's internal memos in a much-anticipated curtain-raiser. One remarkable (discarded) tactic suggested by chief strategist Mark Penn: to paint Obama as a foreigner. From Mike Allen's Politico preview of the story:

The Penn memo suggesting that the campaign target Obama's "lack of American roots" said in part: "All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light.

"Save it for 2050. ... Every speech should contain the line you were born in the middle of America American to the middle class in the middle of the last century. And talk about the basic bargain as about the deeply American values you grew up with, learned as a child and that drive you today. Values of fairness, compassion, responsibility, giving back

"Let's explicitly own 'American' in our programs, the speeches and the values. He doesn't. Make this a new American Century, the American Strategic Energy Fund. Let's use our logo to make some flags we can give out. Let's add flag symbols to the backgrounds."

And in semi-related news, a quasi-conspiracy theory from former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson, who tells ABC news that the media's failure to pursue the Edwards affair story last fall cost Clinton Iowa and possibly the nomination. (This is based on the debatable notion that Clinton was the dominant second choice of Edwards voters.) The Obama campaign wisely declined to comment.

Obama himself is still on vacation, but his campaign is not. They've released a new ad painting McCain as a Washington insider with deep ties to lobbyists and to President Bush (in the 30 seconds of the ad there are 6 different clips of Bush and McCain together, including several man-hugs). The ad also chides back at McCain's "celebrity" hits on Obama with clips of McCain's appearances on Letterman, The View, Leno, and SNL. The response comes nearly two weeks after the first McCain celeb attack (the Paris/Britney spot), which seems like a long delay. Though has many have pointed out before me, Obama may have been waiting for polling (like Pew's) to show voters solidly view McCain as more negative before striking back -- allowing his counterattacks to look like self-defense.

Worthy McCain reading: a Sunday NYT look at McCain's management style, by Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg. Writing that McCain has been known to "sign off on big campaign decisions and then to march off his own reservation," Nagourney and Rutenberg add that he encourages disagreements in his camp:

I think a certain amount of tension is very healthy, and a certain amount of different views," he said. "Because of the bubble that a president is in, and the bubble that a candidate is in, sometimes you find out afterwards something that -- 'Oh boy, I wish I had heard thus and such and so and so.' So I appreciate and want some of the tension; I don't want too much of it, obviously, because we have to have certain efficiencies. But I think there is a balance there."

But there are also drawbacks to this system, including the self-evident fact that if your ship isn't tight, members of your staff may just tell The New York Times about the internal dissent...

And finally, last night after gulping down the Team USA women's gymnastics qualifiers (Shawn Johnson: WOW. Talk about poise!) we unexpectedly found ourselves watching Bob Costas give a remarkably tough interview to President George W. Bush. On the table: China's human rights record; the conflict in Georgia; Joey Cheek's visa; and performance-enhancing drugs. One fascinating Q&A:

COSTAS: But given China's growing strength and America's own problems, realistically how much leverage and influence does the U.S. have here?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I don't see America having problems. I see America as a nation that is a world leader, that has got great values. And leverage is -- I don't think you should look at the relationship as one of leverage. I think you ought to look at the relationship of one of constructive engagement where you can find common areas, like North Korea and Iran, but also be in a position where they respect you enough to listen to your views on religious freedom and political liberty.

This is arguably a bigger concern for the next President than it is for Bush, but the leverage question is an important one as events continue to unfold in Georgia.

-- Evie Stone

11:46 AM ET | 08-11-2008 | permalink

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