John McCain's New Strategy and Message
COOPER: Barack Obama tonight doing what he can to get Hillary Clinton supporters on board. We're talking now though about the campaign he'll be facing from John McCain. We're "Digging Deeper." Joining us again: CNN senior political analyst and former presidential adviser, David Gergen; also Democratic strategist and Obama supporter, Jamal Simmons and Tara Wall; conservative political analyst and columnist for "The Washington Times." David, do you think this McCain GOP strategy which seems to have solidified in the last day or so is going to work or will it stick?</s>GERGEN: It may help him over the summer but I'm not sure how much. John McCain is clearly a man of valor, a war hero and great patriot. In the years after World War II, Anderson, that kind of message resonated greatly with the American people. Look at the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960; his war record was very important part of that victory. But in more recent years it has not had the same resonance with voters. Look at Bob Dole in 1996, another war hero, man of valor, great patriot, and yet he went down in that election badly. John Kerry, just a few years ago, his war record was destroyed or undercut by the swift-boaters (ph) and that sort of thing. So that alone to me, I'm very doubtful is enough to carry him. I think this is ultimately going to have to be a campaign on McCain's part about ideas and about the future.</s>COOPER: Tara, in an op-ed today, Karl Rove suggested Obama is arrogant, self-centered. John McCain today referred to him as elitist. It does seem like they're going after him as a person this early in the campaign. Isn't there a risk that that kind of turns off voters or does it play into doubts some voters may have about Obama?</s>WALL: Yes, I mean, I think no matter how legitimate some of these claims are, the Republicans of McCain can't be one-issue oriented. Just to say that he's liberal alone is not going to cut it. I mean, it's true in fact. But that alone is not going to get it. I think you have to -- they're going to have to define the differences between Senator McCain and Senator Obama. And those differences, quite frankly, are stark. And it's why we see this is where the country is. The country clearly is split on these issues and split on these candidates. I think if he continues to drive home -- listen, he's got a very aggressive rapid response as you know. Republicans have this great rapid response operation. You know, he needs to continue to hit home on these issues and continue to hit hard, not be afraid to hit hard on Barack Obama and not let these generalized unfounded claims that are going to come out throughout the campaign go unchallenged. That's another mistake he might make. Those are the two things I would caution against. I think he needs to continue to hone in on where Barack Obama's weaknesses are as it relates to the policies everyday Americans, as we know, are very interested in right now.</s>COOPER: Jamal, in terms of Barack Obama's strategy, critics say he's stressed McCain's age kind of subtly, he keeps that hammering a McCain term is the third term of a Bush presidency. Does he stick with that message over the next couple of weeks?</s>JAMAL SIMMONS, OBAMA SUPPORTER: I don't think anyone is making any reference to McCain's age. What they're talking about is McCain being out of touch with where the American people want to go. That's a very different issue. Doesn't matter if he's 55 or 75, he's out of touch with where the American people want to go. They say Barack Obama is not working across party lines, but they should ask Senator Dick Lugar, who he got stuck in Russia with when they were working on weapons of mass destruction and they were detained by the Russians for three hours. They should ask John McCain himself who thanked Barack Obama for his help on the immigration bill before John McCain flip-flopped on the immigration bill himself and didn't support his own policy. They should ask people like Sam Brownback, who Barack Obama worked with on Darfur and on disinvestment in Iran. So he's got this record of doing things bipartisan-wise and the McCain campaign is going to try to characterize him in a way that I think the American people aren't into. John McCain may have been a hero 35 years ago. That doesn't make him the right president for the next four years.</s>COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Tara Wall, Jamal Simmons, David Gergen, thanks. Just ahead, the latest on Zimbabwe, a country deep in crisis where the move to democracy has turned into a blood bath. International rage is growing. Will it make any difference? Next on "360."