Ramesh is right to highlight David Brooks’ diagnosis of Obama’s problem regarding “bread and butter politics” but I think it runs deeper than that. And like VDH pointed out earlier, now is the time for “crusty, cigar smoking pros to knock some heads” and get his campaign back on message. But my question is this? What message does Obama have that addresses “bread and butter” political concerns?

I’m not sure Obama has ever had a coherrent message addressing these concerns. What he does have is an extremely high concept pitch to voters about Obama’s supposed aspirational qualities. A while back, Patrick Ruffini compared it to marketing a luxury brand:

Most campaigns never get beyond talking issues. The sophisticated ones run on attributes in the foreground (cares about people like me) tied to issues in the background (a health care plan). The Obama effort seems to be something wholly different. The campaign and its marketing seem designed to evoke aspirational feelings that have virtually no political meaning whatsoever. This is what great brands do. They evoke feelings that have virtually zero connection to product attributes and specifications… The branding approach liberates Obama to be the candidate of the MoveOn wing and of national unity.

This has approach been integral to his campaign, which has been counting on the ability of Obama to do an end around any and all messy issues of policy and personal character. The Obama campaign has made this prestidigitation integral to their message in numerous areas, even encouraging volunteers to emphasize “personal conversion stories” over discussions of policy. No matter how good his campaign has been run, what we’re seeing now is that ultimately Obama can’t be all things to all people all of the time. If I were to graph Obama’s campaign, I’d label the X and Y axes “vague” and “aspirational,” and it seems like he’s on a steep asymptotic curve headed toward the former for sometime now. It’s true he’s matured through the campaign and gained some confidence, but the free ride is over. Brooks is right that he needs to avoid getting dragged down to Hillary’s level, but he needs to prove himself a man of substance, post haste. How he does that and still manages to remain above it all will be yet another neat trick his campaign will have to perform.