Is Obama Too Wimpy In His Approach To McCain?

Today New York Senator and Democratic Senate Campaign Committee chair Chuck Schumer made a statement urging Barack Obama not to be afraid of getting bruised in a vamped up effort to personally attack John McCain. A report on Politico.com quotes Schumer as saying the following:

"I would not be afraid to attack back," said Schumer, who chairs the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, in an interview with Politico. "When they say, 'He's not one of us,' you don't say, 'Here's our plan on health care,"' he said.

"I thought the Britney Spears commercial was powerful," Schumer said, referring to McCain's television ad casting Obama as a vapid "celebrity."

After Hillary Clinton made her comeback during the democratic primary by clobbering Obama on character issues, I tend to agree with Schumer. I think the Obama campaign's attitude of being "above the fray" is exactly what got John Kerry into trouble in 2004. Interestingly enough, it seems like at the beginning of the general election campaign Obama's campaign over-reacted and immediately came out with statements condemning McCain right and left for every perceived criticism. 

So I wonder why the Obama campaign isn't hitting McCain harder on his character? For one,I think there is some risk involved with attacking McCain's character and it could backfire in Obama's face. McCain has long portrayed himself as an established American hero and any sort of negative portrayal of McCain's military record could add fuel to the idea that Obama himself is unpatriotic. 

So where could Obama attack McCain's character? It's been said elsewhere before, but I think Obama could easily attack McCain for not being the political maverick he purports himself to be.  There are other areas Obama could go after McCain as well, if was only willing to take the gloves off.