How to Beat Obama

The political hurricane known as Obama is roaring out of the so-called Potomac Primary, building up speed as it moves west, threatening to blow all the way to Denver next August, and then to the White House next November.

For Republicans (like me) who have been counting on Hillary Clinton to prevail, the Illinois phenom is becoming a vexing reality. Obama reminds me of The Beatles. Girls literally cry when they see him. He got 15,000 people to turn out at a rally in Idaho. He raised more than $30 million in one month. What is up with this dude?

Hillary tried to stop him with the old “experience” card. When that didn’t work, Bill tried the old “race” card. When that didn’t work, Hillary started crying. That worked once, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to work again.

Obama is the Tiger Woods of politics, beating the boring establishment like a drum and bringing a whole new fan base to the game.

How do you beat the Tiger Woods of politics? More specifically, how can John McCain beat the Tiger Woods of politics?

McCain has limped through the Republican primary, gaining strength only after his more flawed competitors fell by the wayside. McCain carries the twin anvils of a diminished Republican brand and an exceedingly unpopular Bush administration. He is old and battered from war injuries and the Arizona sun. A clumsy orator, McCain is better answering questions from a hostile audience than he is giving prepared remarks. He can hit a tough curveball, but he can’t hit his driver to save his life.

So how the heck is McCain going to be able to beat the seemingly unstoppable Barack Obama?

Here are five ways the McCain campaign can slow down the Obama train.

• Devil is in the Details: Pin Obama down on the details. The junior Illinois senator has made no little plans, but his big plans contain no little details. That is the job of the number-crunchers who now have a civic duty to put a price tag on all of these big ideas. How high will the taxes go up? How much more will the average senior pay in utility bills under President Obama? How much will each taxpayer have to pay for the bigger government proposed under this new administration?

• Learn from the Gipper: Catholic voters are the most important swing voters in every election. They turned hard against the Republicans in the 2006 election in a big way. McCain needs to get them back. Obama’s voting record, especially in Illinois on the issue of partial-birth abortion, provides some good fodder. But symbolism is also important. When Ronald Reagan went to Notre Dame, he sent a signal to Catholics all over the country (even those who hate Notre Dame) that he was one of them. McCain needs to send a similar message.

• Offer Reform for the Reformers: The top issue for political independents is political reform. Obama has tapped that issue very effectively, although he substitutes the word “change” for reform. But Obama, with his close connections to the Daley machine and an Illinois governor this close to getting indicted, is vulnerable to a real reform platform. McCain has spent the last 20 years attacking the establishment and has a well-earned reputation as a maverick. He needs to offer up a comprehensive, bipartisan reform platform, developed with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), which will completely change how Washington works.

• Swing with the Seniors: Senior citizens are skeptical of Mr. Obama. That is good for McCain. And they vote more than young people. That is also good for McCain. He needs to talk about his experience and how that will help him make informed decisions. Seniors like experience, because they all have it. Young people don’t care about experience, because they don’t have it. But as McCain talks about experience, he needs to emphasize his life experiences, not his Washington experience. As we have seen with Obama’s race with Sen. Clinton, having a lot of Washington experience is just not that popular.

• Learn how to communicate to women: This election just may have the largest gender gap in the history of elections. Most men will vote for McCain. Most women will vote for Obama. But there are more women than men, which means that McCain has to find a way to cut into Obama’s advantage. Whether it is coming up with a compelling list of surrogates, coming up with a plan that will make soccer moms more secure or coming up with a more compassionate and more believable way to reform healthcare, the McCain camp needs to pare down the gender gap.