It's probably too late for this, but instead of going on "Meet the Press" this Sunday and subjecting himself to an hour's worth of Tim Russert's inane gotchas--kudos to TalkBacker thetraytiger for this spot-on parody--wouldn't Obama be better served by accepting Hillary's invitation to a Lincoln-Douglas-style debate?
Ignore the fact that such a debate would be far more illuminating for the voting public. Just cynically consider the advantages such a forum would give Obama. While Russert will almost certainly ask questions about Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayres and lapel pins, I'd be pretty surprised if Hillary did so; a debate without a moderator almost guarantees a debate without "freak show" questions. And if there aren't any freak show questions, that means there'll be lots of questions about policy, including this gas tax ridiculousness. I could envision Obama putting Hillary on her heels by posing his first question to her about that.
But, instead, Obama will slog through an hour with Russert. I think voters--and the candidate--will be worse off because of it.
--Jason Zengerle