Roles Are Set, as Are the Perils

McCain vs. Obama could turn out to be whiny vs. haughty.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain both appear to be seizing the roles in which they have been cast: Sen. Obama as front-runner and Sen. McCain as underdog. The approach carries perils for both men.

Democratic Sen. Obama, who has taken to openly musing about the likelihood that he will be elected, risks coming off as arrogant and presumptuous. His Republican rival, who proclaims himself to be running behind at every stop and relentlessly attacks his opponent, risks coming off as negative and whiny.

Sen. McCain enjoys the underdog role, and arguably is at his strongest when he's behind. He ran as the underdog in the GOP primary almost until the end.

Analysts said the danger to Sen. McCain's approach, such as with his new ad, is it can be seen as whining about Sen. Obama's successes rather than promoting Sen. McCain's own. And it remains unclear if it will stoke voter concerns about Sen. Obama or reinforce his front-runner status.

This week, Sen. Obama told House Democrats that he had become a symbol for the world's hopes for America, a comment Republicans seized on.

Sen. Obama's chief message strategist, Robert Gibbs, said, "There's a fine line between being confident and arrogant. We haven't been on the national scene for a long time so Barack Obama has to convince people he can do the job."

Republican strategist Glen Bolger said candidates must tread carefully to look presidential without coming off as presumptuous. "His campaign has made the strategic decision that they have to make voters believe the candidate has already won," Mr. Bolger said. "The risk in that is that there is a fair amount of hubris."