All About Obama

"The installation of Steve Schmidt, who worked closely with Karl Rove, at Mr. McCain's headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been Mr. McCain's campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.

"The shift was approved by Mr. McCain after several of his aides, including Mr. Schmidt, went to him about 10 days ago and warned him that he was in danger of losing the presidential election to Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, unless he revamped his campaign operation, two officials close to the campaign said."

What you really need, boss, is to give more power to . . . me.

Chris Cillizza: "The contrast between the low quality production values of McCain's [June 3] speech and the perfectly-turned event put together by Barack Obama's team at the Xcel Center in Minnesota was apparent to even the most casual political observer and set off fears among high-level Republicans that the Arizona Senator's campaign was simply not ready for prime time.

"McCain's decision to head to Colombia and Mexico during July 4th week has also been roundly panned; the Post's own Dan Balz wrote a piece today that begins: 'Why is John McCain in Colombia?' "

Ana Marie Cox: "Strategy-wise, Schmidt's been an advocate for some of the boldest moves made by the McCain campaign, including the coyly misrepresentative accusation that Romney was 'for surrender' -- McCain's term -- based on wanting a 'timetable' in Iraq. The charge twisted Romney's words, but many feel that it helped seal Florida -- and thus the nomination -- for McCain. He also hates the press, at least as an organism if not individually; McCain sitting around for hours in bad lighting, with everyone recording everything -- almost alone among the central advisers, Schmidt thinks the benefit is not worth the cost. If you're looking for someone to break up the party between the media and McCain, he's your guy."

My take: Reporters love this move because they've been writing for weeks that McCain's campaign is screwed up, and this validates their analysis. And they respect Schmidt as a tough customer.

Politico: "Accounts diverge on the exact nature of the new chain of command. One top McCain source said that Schmidt 'assumed full operational control of the campaign today' and described Davis as 'a general manager.' But Charlie Black, another top adviser, said Davis was still in charge."

Still more thoughts on the Wes Clark/McCain dust-up, from Betsy's Page:

"Although I don't think that the Obama campaign has adopted any tactic to question McCain's war record, it does seem that there are quite a few on the left, both prominent Democrats and lefty bloggers, who either want to disparage or outright slam that service. In a way, this story resembles the Jeremiah Wright story - something easy to understand that contributes to a storyline that makes Obama look bad and throws a spotlight on the milieu in which he swims. There does seem to be a level of discomfort among these guys about a genuinely heroic military record. These are many of the same people who were thrilled to have a candidate in 2004 who was 'reporting for duty.' Is it military heroism and service that they have a problem with or just that of a Republican's heroic past?"

Here's what Clark said at the 2004 Democratic convention: "John Kerry's combination of physical courage and moral values is my definition of what we need as Americans in our commander in chief."

The big test in this election: An AP/Yahoo poll gives Michelle Obama a 30 percent favorable rating and 35 percent unfavorable, compared to Cindy McCain's 27 percent favorable, 17 percent unfavorable. Michelle was significantly more popular with blacks than whites.