More importantly, the only way I can think of to avoid "refighting the same fights we had in the 1990's", to quote Senator Obama, is to let our opponents win these fights without a struggle.

In his book, he talks about how the 1990's were a lot about whether people smoked dope, dodged the draft, etc etc back in the day.

Why the Clinton campaign is not making this argument is not clear to me.

Obama Slams Clinton for Nevada Mailer
January 16, 2008 4:18 PM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Senator Barack Obama slammed Sen. Hillary Clinton Wednesday for sending out fliers to Navadans that he said misstates his health care plan and position on social security.

The Obama campaign supplied reporters with a copy of the Clinton campaign mailer, that reads: "We need a President that will help hard working families keep more of what they earn."

Inside the mailer are contrast images of Clinton and Obama. "Barack Obama. A plan with a trillion dollar tax increase on America's hard-working families," it reads, "Hillary Clinton. A blueprint to rebuild the road to middle-class prosperity."

At a campaign event at a convention center in a Las Vegas suburb Wednesday, Obama chided Clinton for sending out the mailer.

"Some of you may have been getting these, a flier lately from Senator Clinton's camp that says that they are gonna solve Social Security just by showing fiscal responsibility and 'Obama is going to initiate a trillion dollar tax cut (sic) on hard working families,'", Obama told the crowd, "I want to be clear about what the social security debate is ... we don't have an immediate crisis, but we do have a long term problem."

(Later the campaign said Obama misspoke, that he meant to accuse Clinton of accusing him of a tax increase -- not a tax cut.)

Obama said his plan would bolster social security coffers by removing the current cap on the very highest of earners  -- not a general tax raise implied by the Clinton mailer.

"This is what I proposed, this is what Senator Clinton is calling a trillion dollars on hard working Americans. Now maybe she thinks that the top 3 percent of the population is the average, middle class America. It is not. Just so you're clear. So if you get that flier, I just want to make sure that everybody understands what my plan is."

He admits that it's not a crisis, which is good. He claims that there's still a long-term problem, which is not necessarily definite since we simply cannot know at this time, but not a lie, either, so I give him a pass on that one. But for Clinton to claim that lifting the payroll cap would be "a trillion dollar tax increase on America's hard-working families" is just plain dishonest and wrong.

One can certainly criticize the idea of lifting the cap in terms of its present necessity (according to Krugman) or wisdom (because, as Marshall and others have argued, it might make it easier for congress to borrow and spend yet more money unnecessarily, although I'd argue that if that's what's keeping congress from being fiscally irresponsible, we've got far more serious problems to resolve).

But to criticize it as a harsh penalty on "America's hard-working families" is simply dishonest and a cheap shot. We're talking about INDIVIDUALS, not FAMILIES, who make more than $97,500 a year or so. Middle-class, perhaps. Hard-working, probably. Financially struggling, and likely to be dealt a horrible financial blow by having to pay out a bit more each year in FICA, I think not.

Again, this isn't about whether we need or would benefit by lifting the payroll cap, but rather about the dishonesty of calling it an unfair burden on "America's hard-working families", and using this to attack Obama, rather than other, more salient criticisms of him. I have to wonder, is her camp really getting this desperate? Or are they merely trying to make Obama think that they're this desperate, to make him feel too confident yet again (as he appeared to be post-Iowa) and perhaps make some stupid mistakes of overreaction?

McGovern was characterized as nutcase liberal.If Carter had somehow won a second term, he would have been pulverized even more than he was by Reagan. Michael Dukakis got Willie Horton, Al Gore got the Love Story and Internet and John Kerry got swiftboated out of Viet Nam. If any of these individuals had been elected they too would have been the victims of the "vast right wing conspiracy." And they too would have been sliced and diced by the MSM. And all of the Clinton haters could instead be McGovern, Dukakis, Gore and/or Kerry haters. However, these guys didn't make it out of the starting gate.