SOMETHING ELSE OBAMA SHOULD SAY ABOUT McCAIN

I like Barack Obama's response to John McRove's "Celebrity" ad, though I'm not sure it's enough:

"Given the seriousness of the issues, you'd think we could have a serious debate," Obama said. "But so far, all we've been hearing about is Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I mean, I do have to ask my opponent, is that the best you can come up with? Is that really what this election is about? Is that what is worthy of the American people?"

The crowd yelled: "NOOOOOOOOOO."

"Even the media has pointed out that Senator John McCain -- who started off talking about running an honorable campaign -- has fallen back on predictable political attacks and demonstrably false statements. But here's the problem. All of those negative ads spending all this time talking about me, instead of talking about what he's going to do, that's not going to lower your gas prices...

"It's politics as a game," Obama said. "But the time for game-playing is over. That's why I'm running for President of the United States of America."

Here's what else I'd like to hear him say:

Don't worry about me, though -- I can handle a few hard knocks. Worry about yourselves. Worry about this country, and what's going to happen to it if people who campaign this way get control of the White House.

Because make no mistake about it: If this is the way John McCain is campaigning, then this is the way his administration would govern for the next four years. We'd have four more years of my-way-or-the-highway politics. We'd have four more years in which, if you dared to disagree with the president, you'd have your patriotism questioned and your right to speak questioned. We'd have four more years of a president who spends more time devising ways to ruin the reputations of people who disagree with him than he spends on trying to do what's right for the country. We'd have four more years of no compromises, no coming together for the common good, because, to the president, there simply is no such thing as honest disagreement -- there are only enemies who must be crushed.

We know this because that's precisely what we've had in the eight years of Bush/Cheney. And John McCain, who was once on the Bush enemies list, is now demonstrating that he's learned a few character assassination tricks from Bush and from Cheney and maybe even from Nixon. The kind of campaign John McCain is running now is the kind of presidency he'd have -- and we must not allow that to happen.

Come on, Barack. Really make his character the issue.