Where the left went wrong and took Obama with them

The polls are swinging McCain's way. I know the Obama people are asking themselves how this could be happening?

This is how it happened. It was the perfect storm of public relations.

Just as the right went crazy over Sarah Palin and McCain surprised everyone in a political world where there was thought to be no surprises, the left started attacking her. And it wasn't on policy. It was personal. They attacked her family and her motherhood. Many Hillary supporters still angry from the primaries, gritted their teeth once again and their animosity grew. The rest of us shook our heads in dismay.

Obama immediately came out with a statement pleading with his supporters to leave Sarah's family alone. But his supporters didn't listen and then Obama made the mistake of trying to diminish her accomplishments by calling her a "small town mayor," ignoring that she was a sitting Governor. Although disingenuous, it wasn't a personal attack. But it was caught up in all the ugliness. Obama was suppose to be above this kind of politics. That was his hook. But it didn't look like he was above it after all. Obama quickly backtracked and stopped mentioning Sarah at all, but it was too late. He had thrown himself in the middle of it and seemed to become part of the feeding frenzy on Sarah. To be clear, Obama wasn't a part of it, but that was the perception.

Amid all this Sarah Palin presented herself to the nation beautifully. She was strong, confident, and poised. She didn't let the attacks get to her. Her teleprompter failed during the most important speech of her life at the RNC and she didn't miss a beat. This lady was tough. We all saw that and most of us loved it.

Even as Charlie Gibson looked down his nose at Sarah with obvious disdain in her first national interview, Sarah was proving to the nation that she could take it with the best of them.

Then came the celebrity put downs. Pamela Anderson said the Sarah Palin could "suck it." Matt Damon said that her candidacy was like a "bad Disney movie." Who do you think represents women better in this country, Sarah Palin or Pamela Anderson? Who do you think represents men better in this country, Todd Palin or Matt Damon? Did the Hollywood types not think that those of us who share Sarah's values would be insulted? There are quite a number of us. Enough to turn an election. Maybe they should think about what they say before blurting out things that insult millions of us.

It all came together for the perfect political storm.

Politics is crazy even in a normal election and this is far from a normal election. A lot can change and McCain is far from winning this thing no matter what the polls say now. I believe this thing will be neck and neck until the end. But if Obama loses, we will all look back at this point and acknowledge this was where it all went wrong.