Jennifer and Linda,  please don’t be sucked in by the advice of Clinton apparatchiks (Wolfson, Carville, Begala) who are all complaining that the Democrats need to attack John McCain.  Attack is the only theory they know, but it is utterly inconsistent with Barack Obama’s personality and his success so far. What’s more, McCain will always be a national hero of sorts.  The Dems have nothing to gain by attacking him. And everyone knows that McCain is independent enough not to make Bob Casey’s clever “sidekick” line stick.  What this convention — nay, this whole Democratic summer — has been missing is any sense of what the Democrats believe the future will look like. Mark Warner’s speech may have been wooden, but with Obama at the top of the ticket, rhetoric is not what the party needs. It needs a message about “what’s next?”  Warner is the most successful Democratic Senatorial candidate because he sounds confident about the future without attacking corporations, foreigners, big oil, or any of the other Democratic bogeymen. Obama needs more of this.