Hope and change are a bit played out. Obama needs to lay down the hammer on Clinton by striking a new theme, one that will resonate positivity while sticking a gigantic shiv into Hillary's back:
"Dignity."
It has echoes of Karl Rove and George W. Bush in their run to "restore dignity" to the White House, which in turn was a reference to the scandals of the Clinton years. But for eight years, the Republicans have shown that they do not have a monopoly on "dignity." Far from it: their scandals, their corruption, their ethical breaches, their affairs, their thievery, their fearmongering, their racism and jingoistic division. All of these show that the Bush Administration failed at its most fundamental promise, to restore dignity to the White House, and to America.
When you watch Obama speak, more than anything else, he conveys that word, "dignity." It runs to the core of his campaign, his refusal to sink into the muck of small-bore negative campaigning with Hillary, his class in congratulating Hillary and recognizing John McCain's heroism.
It runs to the core of his predominant strength as a legislator - his ethics reforms packages, his push for transparency, his foreign policy stance of negotiating even with those countries with whom we disagree, his staunch opposition to torture, his opposition to a dumb war, his support of veterans, his health care and economic plans.
Bush - Cheney have debased America, in the eyes of the world and to our own children, with a war based on lies, a military that condones torture, a tax system that only rewards the extremely wealthy but leaves millions struggling. Bush - Cheney have reduced patriotism to wearing a lapel pin while rigging no-bid contracts and shipping jobs overseas. Bush - Cheney have destroyed faith in goverment, by passing laws that remove environmental protections and calling it "Clean Skies" and "Healthy Forests," by underfunding education and calling it "No Child Left Behind," by throwing out the Constitution and our cherished civil liberties and calling it the "Patriot Act," and by abandoning the hundreds of thousands of vi
Dignity is just as powerful of a theme as Hope, and it is one that presents a subtle contrast to Hillary's new "fighter" image. Hillary is willing to "fight" dirty. She is willing to hit below the belt. She is willing to debase the Democratic Party in the name of her own ambition. She is willing to say anything and change nothing.
And, yes, it is a subtle dog-whistle for the pecadillos of Bill - a way to say, "do we really want 4-8 more years of that in the White House?"
Nobody doubts Obama's dignity. Nobody can question his class and grace.
Obama needs a new theme, but, as the saying goes, if you wrestle with a pig, you get muddy and the pig has a great time. He has to take the high road while throwing haymakers. He needs a new macro theme.
I say "dignity."