Scratches in Obama's glitter

DENVER
BARACK OBAMA is different. His unique personal story and promise to change politics explain why he defeated better-known candidates to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

Yet this convention week is designed to turn Obama into something a little less exotic and a little more ordinary. As Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania told delegates on Tuesday night, Obama is "one of us, too."

Selling Obama and his family as your average next-door neighbors, only smarter, better-looking, and more inspirational, is fine. That was the underlying theme of Michelle Obama's convention speech.

But turning Obama into an average politician is a mistake, especially if that means attack, attack, attack.

First, it's an admission that the old Republican mind games still work. Democrats swear this time they won't let the GOP attack machine get to them. They will fight fire with fire, pettiness with pettiness, meanness with meanness. They still sound scared.

But some Democrats also believe that if the attack strategy prevails, it threatens the very essence of the candidate's appeal.

Voters "are looking for an honest debate about the future of our country and a candidate who will bring real, positive change to Washington," said Doug Rubin, the Massachusetts strategist who played a role in Deval Patrick's successful run for governor of Massachusetts in 2006, and now serves as his chief of staff. "There's a real battle going on here - McCain clinging to the old, attack-style politics and Obama offering a new, more positive vision for our politics."

Patrick, whose biography and political message are similar to Obama's, resisted advice to go negative against his opponent. However, despite parallels between these two candidates, a run for the White House is different from a Massachusetts gubernatorial race. The challenges are more complicated and the stakes are much higher, as Obama tries to win election as the nation's first black president.

Yet Obama's primary success shows that the desire for change and a positive message extends beyond one state's borders. New voters, especially young voters, were drawn to a presidential candidate who appealed, as he told them, to their better angels, to their hopes, not their fears. Why should Democrats let Republicans erase that advantage, by letting the GOP define the rules of engagement? Why risk turning off all those idealistic voters who can make the difference in crucial battleground states?

Of course, Obama must defend against Republican attacks. He can't let McCain define him; although, to some degree, he already has. The McCain campaign is successfully using Obama's eloquence and celebrity against him. A recent installment of the GOP's "Audacity Watch" keeps up the heat, using the headline "Temple of Obama" over a report about the columned stage resembling an ancient temple that Obama will reportedly use for tonight's convention speech.

But getting in the mud with McCain helps McCain, maybe even more than it helps Obama. The GOP will take each attack on McCain as license to get even tougher on Obama. Look what happened when Obama went after McCain on the question of how many homes the McCain family owns. McCain pushed back hard, putting a spotlight on Obama's purchase of his Chicago home and a piece of adjoining property with help from a former fund-raiser who was convicted on corruption charges unrelated to Obama.

There's also a danger for Democrats, if they push too hard in the effort to portray McCain as a doddering old man and in the process strip him of dignity as a former POW. Besides, if Obama goes low, McCain and his allies will go lower.

American politics isn't about celebrating accomplishments. It's about finding dings, damages, and flaws in an opponent and then exploiting them. Men like McCain and Obama are allowed to shine as political stars - until they run for president. Then, each candidate works feverishly to scratch the glitter off the other before election day. The shooting star must be brought down to earth, destroyed in the name of comparative politics.

Remember? Obama was going to change all that. That was his promise. That's what made him different.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.