THOSE NAUGHTY PEOPLE – AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  The Politico reported yesterday that the White House is crafting Mr. Obama's political strategy for this year.  One part of that strategy, and, I believe, a major part, is on display this week.  Consider just one comment from Mr. Obama, in reply to a question from ultra-sympathetic interviewer Harry Smith:

"I do think that everybody has a responsibility — Democrats or Republicans — to tone down some of this rhetoric, some of these comments. …It used to be that someone who said something crazy, they might be saying it to their next door neighbor or it might be on some late night AM station at the very end of the radio dial and now with the blogs, it ends up getting a lot more attention and you guys end up covering it a lot more. It's not as if there haven't been a lot of crazy things said out and about over the years, it's just that it gets much more magnified much more quickly."

COMMENT:  There's now a concerted effort to portray the president and his party as the responsible adults, as compared to the shouting, screaming, barn-burning extremists of the GOP and its tea-drinking friends, especially that beauty-contest runner-up from what's-it's-place, Alaska? 

There is nothing new here, but the strategy could be effective today, as it's been in the past.   Once you get tarred with the "extremist" label, it's hard to shake it.  This is what might be called an issue multiplier.  After all, who controls what "incidents" are shown on TV?  The mainstream media.  The mainstream media was key to putting Barack Obama in the White House.  If Obama makes "decency" a hallmark of this year's campaign, who do you think is going to be shown, the greater proportion of the time, acting badly?

Right.  You guessed it.   A theme like "we're decent and they're not" is ready-made for the in-the-tank media, and you're already seeing the effects.  Tea partiers are accused of racial rants when there were none.  One commentator said that a conservative talk-show host called the president a Nazi, but no one can find any such quote.  Watch for this trend.  The strategy is to make the other side radioactive, and it often works.

April 2, 2010