‘Obama has lost control of this campaign’

The words of E.J. Dionne and not me.

And spot on.

Obama bears responsibility (for the mudfest), too: His task is to remind Americans that the stakes in this election are far higher than the matter of who said what and when about Palin. He isn't doing that.

Dionne then combines the straight talk for Obama with some political analysis which will test whether he “gets it” or not:

One test in the coming weeks will be whether Obama continues to contest North Carolina. … If Obama does his job in framing a national message, this state should at least be competitive enough to force McCain to expend resources here.

But Democratic politicians say that won't happen unless Obama grabs the campaign back. “One of the criticisms is that he hasn't cut through all the Republican rhetoric to reveal in a clear and simple way what his plan is, which I believe would resonate with the electorate,” says Jerry Meek, the Democratic state chairman. Voters, Meek says, “like a fighting spirit.”

Dionne then says Obama can’t wait for the media to do what it should be doing. He needs to get cracking.