Where I think you're mistaken is that Obama's halo will not tarnish in the media. It may not have tarnished if he were running in the general against, say, Mitt Romney, but come on...he'll be running against someone with an even more glowing media halo than he has, St. John of StraightTalkistan.

Against the Republicans, you have to hit back hard, and you have to take the initiative and hit them first. John Kerry tried to stay above it all, and look what happened to him...