Political Insider

Noting how Sen. Barack Obama has moved to the center on several issues recently -- gun control, the death penalty for child rapists and domestic wiretapping -- the RNC sends daily blast emails calling these "flip flops" actions of a "typical politician."

In one way, Obama certainly is typical. During primaries candidates often curry favor with base voters and then move to the center during the general election. It's the way elections are usually won.

However, given the historical nature of Obama's candidacy this attack line often falls flat. Sen. Hillary Clinton tried it in the primaries and failed. That's because there is nothing "typical" about a black man winning his party's nomination and having a good chance to be leader of the free world.

However, First Read sees Obama continuing "to fuel this line of attack by making conventional decisions like ducking the town hall idea, flipping on campaign finance, trying to straddle the fence on guns, etc. And unlike McCain, Obama doesn't have years of good will with his brand; he only really has about 18 months. McCain has made a lot of subtle shifts away from his so-called maverick independent streak. But because his brand was cemented over years, he's been given more of a benefit of the doubt with the public. Obama's brand reservoir isn't as deep, and he should be much more sensitive to this collecting narrative that he isn't what he claims."

Republicans haven't exactly been consistent on their attempts to define Obama, but he's got to realize that he's not immune to these attacks either. As Gloria Borger notes, the last thing Obama wants is people asking the question, "Is this the man I thought he was? Because once the question is asked, it's already answered."