Memo to the Obama Campaign: WAKE. UP.

As recently as the beginning of this summer we were excited about Obama’s massive fundraising efforts, and the ridiculous amount of money he’d bankrolled in preparation for the general election. Yes, that’s done; good for him. Turns out, though, that you have to spend money to make use of it; you can’t tuck it in the mattress and expect Change to come from change.

This week, though, Obama simply endured McCain’s convention bounce and did nothing to correct the tailspin his campaign was thrown into by Palin’s nomination. He released a single ad that’s getting national attention; McCain released two, just to target Obama for his attacks on Palin. Look, I’ve made a campaign ad, and a good one, I thought – it didn’t take long. What message is Obama sending when he’s willing to idly sit by while McCain, the underfunded underdog without a new idea to his name, wipes the floor with him? I’m livid. You should be too. From one of my law school friends:

I can’t support a candidate who doesn’t want this as badly as I do.  I can’t support a candidate who is not fighting.  Fighting fighting fighting with ferocious intensity. I’m losing my mind.  Where are the ads?!  Even web ads!

Just so. It’s time for Obama to pick himself up and start seriously spending. By foregoing town hall debates, a decision I think was made in obvious error, he gave up an opportunity he could now be using to call McCain on the outright lies in his ads. Well? Why not challenge him now? It’s a little less than three weeks until the first Presidential debate; Obama should call McCain out, now, for a debate next week, and use the chance to either grandstand about McCain’s willingness to lie (should McCain decline) or set the record straight, to his face (should he accept). Either way it’s good for Obama and America.

And, let’s see a spate of new ads. Controversial ones. The kind that get picked up by news outlets and played endlessly just because they’re provocative. I’m not saying mendacious ads, or insulting ads – just ones that make people, and pundits, stop & think. And get some new slogans, for God’s sake! At least, he should:

1. Counter McCain’s allegations of sexism by dredging up McCain’s sexist past: the Chelsea “joke,” the ape-rape “joke,” the notorious stutter on birth control pills, the affair.
2. Aggressively counter McCain’s lies about Bush tax cuts, and use it to claim the moderate ground: something like, “McCain thinks that all Democrats do is tax & spend. But Barack Obama is no regular Democrat: he’ll vote to cut taxes for the middle class, while McCain’s plan will cut taxes only for the rich. Who’s the maverick here?” I get enough outraged form e-mails from David Plouffe in my inbox to know that they’re mad about McCain’s lies; why won’t they do something about it?
3. Accuse McCain of treating the election like a joke: he’s talked about “celebrities,” tire gauges, Hillary Clinton, and screamed when his own running mate is subjected to criticism. But what has he ever had to say about himself?

Bottom line: Obama & Plouffe don’t have to do any of this. But they have to do SOMETHING, or lose.