The GOP's book on Obama

The Republican National Committee convened its winter retreat for major donors this weekend at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, presenting Karl Rove and figure such as RNC chairman Robert Duncan — and Dave Berg, "political director" for Jay Leno and "The Tonight Show" — to more than 75 attendees determined to keep the White House in Republican hands. Or, more precisely, out of Sen. Barack Obama's hands. Politico's Jeffrey Ressner lurked:

RNC Chairman Duncan as well as Co-Chairman Jo Ann Davidson opened the Sunday session with a Power Point presentation outlining five main strategic attacks against the Obama candidacy. A Politico reporter witnessed the document, but not the presentation.

The first called for pointing out what the GOP views as a seeming incongruity between Obama and the mantle of commander in chief. The second point harkened back to Obama’s days in the Illinois state Senate, noting how his “pattern of voting ‘present’ offers many openings to question his candidacy.” The third offered hope to the GOP faithful that “we can be confident in a campaign about issues.” A fourth bullet point relayed how “undisciplined messaging carries great risk,” while the fifth and final attack point stressed, “His greatest weakness is inexperience. He is not ready to be commander in chief. He is not ready to be president."

More in the piece. Ressner, Politico's man in Los Angeles, was a correspondent here for Time magazine for 14 years. He was West Coast bureau chief of US Weekly, and also worked at LA Weekly, Cash Box and The Hollywood Reporter before joining Rolling Stone as a senior writer in 1988.