Two campaigns, two problems

John McCain is shaking up his campaign team, and not a moment too soon, since he's been foundering for weeks, if not months. But before Republicans get psyched, they need to read this paragraph:

Mr. McCain is uncomfortable firing people or banishing them entirely. His orbit remains filled with people who have been demoted without being told they are being demoted, like Mr. Davis, who continues to hold the title of campaign manager even as Mr. Schmidt manages the campaign. Yet, Mr. McCain inspires uncommon loyalty in those who serve with him — hence the willingness of Mr. Murphy to consider coming back into the McCain campaign, despite his own rather brutal history of enmity with Mr. Davis.

Loyalty is a good thing, of course, but the hesitancy of McCain to take a direction—any direction—out of fear that it would alienate a staffer or close friend suggests executive weakness. Would he run the White House this way? That sort of management style is the stuff of Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding, neither of whom are worth imitating.

On the other side, Bob Herbert suggests that Obama's new penchant for realism is sparking cynicism among those who bought into his idealism. This is a potential problem insofar as it seems to dampen the enthusiasm of Obama's supporters, enthusiasm that Obama is counting on to boost voter turnout in states where working class white voters distrust him.

Partly, the problem emerges from the way the Democratic party's long-held position as the party of idealistic identity politics. While this gets the faithful out, it's also a losing position. Clinton went one way. Obama is searching for another. He may not need to find that vision to win; McCain's mismanagement of his campaign may cede the field. But if he does, watch out.