During the primaries, there was one event that finally convinced me to pull out my checkbook and donate to John Edwards's campaign. Ann Coulter had been going around and attacking him left and right. This was nothing new, she had always done so without impunity, enjoying her status as the person liberals loved to hate. But then one woman, a courageous and proud woman, stood up against a bully:

When Elizabeth did that, I think I might have even openly cheered. There was nothing negative about what she did, nothing even close to nasty. There was only one person coming out as the voice of reason, speaking out against a liar and a bully who relied on that precious distance between her and those nasty liberals she loved to demonize.

Well, Ann Coulter was never the same after that. Her stock seemed to drop pretty dramatically and her act, which once was maddening, just seemed old. Because Elizabeth stood up and made it clear that neither she nor John would take it lying down.

Granted, since then the Edwards story took a nasty turn, but this is still something that Obama should learn from. How much bravado would Sean Hannity be able to hold onto if Barack Obama called his radio show and told him to stop the lies? How would John McCain react if Michelle Obama confronted him at an event and asked why McCain wouldn't condemn personal attacks on her husband?

One more story. During the primaries, when Hillary's stock seemed to be at its lowest, she decided that she would stop keeping her distance from things that might damage her and stopped in on the Pittsburgh Tribune Review for a no-holds-barred interview. It took guts, and she was rewarded for it.

It's not good enough to fight these battles in the media and hope that we are all paying attention. Obama needs to actually take the fight to them. He needs to stop distancing himself from his critics and start confronting them head-on. He needs to stop playing games from the safety of his zone and go to confront his opponents in their own turf. THAT'S Chicago-style.