Obama's International Popularity a Double-Edged Sword?

We're in an in-between period right now. There's a lull. Obama has just locked up the nomination, Clinton has just dropped out. McCain and Obama are now sniffing each other's butts before the general election spending really gets under way. They're baiting each other on different issues, trying out different talking points and lines of attack. They're seeing what's going to stick when the campaign goes into full swing.

In monitoring different stories, I'm beginning to fear that Republicans are testing the water for a full-fledged campaign to make Obama appear to be the candidate terrorists want to win.

The Lieberman attacks and the lines about being Hamas' preferred candidate merely represent trail runs of what will be a longer, more protracted campaign to frighten the American public by weaving together Obama's skin color, international heritage, and more diplomatic foreign policy approach.

The right is banking that they can claim an Obama Presidency is "what the terrorists/extremists want" and implicitly tie that to the malicious rumors about his commitment to Israel, his own religion, and his loyalty to the United States without actually having to answer for or defend the fringe whisper campaign.

We're already seeing media snipes of this nature during this lull period to a certain degree, but what I'm anticipating is that this strategy will become a daily staple of the McCain campaign. Obama will be explicitly attacked for being the "preferred candidate of terrorists and extremists" to the point where he'll have to answer the charges directly and repeatedly.

Given that McCain and the GOP are flailing so badly on all fronts, they're desperately searching for something, anything that they can use against Obama for the duration of the campaign. This is the only thing that I've thought of that truly worries me, if only because McCain will be effectively insulated potential tactical backlash.

See also Thomas Friedman's latest.