I think the Democrats really need to cool the “tough guy” rhetoric as in Biden is “scrappy” and a “bare knuckle fighter.” All the hype simply suggests fear that in fact the Democrats are not all that combative. When Obama resorts to the Chicago rhetoric (cf. his rendition of David Mamet’s ‘”If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun” or his shot across the bow to McCain that he’s coming after him), it seems forced and phony.

If they want to suggest that they are patriotic and tough, but do not do the Bush swagger or employ the Nascar lingo, then a better approach would simply be to adopt the measured language of confidence (try ‘”win” or “victory” in matters of Iraq), or a resolution not to add a string of qualifiers (like ‘tragic’ or ‘mean’ or conjunctions like “but,” “however,” etc.) when evoking America, or embrace the same old gloom and doom Katrina/Great Depression tropes about America’s decline.

Better yet Obama could adopt his own braggadocio about “a statesman with sound judgment who doesn’t have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong.” Unfortunately the latter is exactly what both he and Biden have already employed–bluster.