The Politico reports that increasingly more GOP insiders ‘are getting restless.’ They are ‘frustrated by what they view as inconsistent messaging, sluggish fundraising and an organization that is too slow to take shape.’ As a result these officials are ‘growing increasingly uneasy about the direction of the McCain presidential campaign.’

Politico talked to 16 Republican insiders and all of them agree that McCain is running a horrible campaign, in just about every respect.

“It’s not just message or not having just one single meta-theme to compete with Obama,” said a veteran Republican strategist with close ties to McCain’s top advisers. “It’s not just fundraising, which is mediocre. And it’s not even just organization, which is [just] starting or nonexistent in many states.”

“McCain’s campaign seems not to have a game plan. I don’t see a consistent message,” said Ed Rollins, a veteran of Republican presidential campaigns. “As someone who has run campaigns, this campaign is not running smoothly. But none of this matters if they get their act together.”

The main problem with this campaign is that it is “aimless.” One gets the impression, GOP insiders say, that McCain isn’t running on a clear platform, there’s no one, clear message. This while Republicans have learned over the years that, in order to win, you need a very clear and simple message. And you need to repeat this message time and again. Everyone that’s part of your campaign has to spread this one-sentence message. It has to be repeated so often, and it has to be so catchy, that voters can’t forget it about even when they sleep. When sleeping, you need them to wake up the next morning with that message on their lips.

Another major problem is that McCain et al. aren’t using the grassroots as well as they should. In fact, the NRA and other grassroots organizations have largely been ignored. This while Obama’s main strength is exactly that; grassroots. If McCain doesn’t act now, he’ll be destroyed in November, simply because Obama will have tens of thousands, millions even, of grassroots doing most of the (dirty) work for him.

Furthermore, according to these strategists, McCain doesn’t understand that if he wants to win, he has to exploit his own strengths and Obama’s weaknesses. He has to point them out time and again. His campaign has to come up with a clear narrative of Obama. Thus far it has not done so. This even though McCain’s national campaign started four months before Obama’s.

Personally I believe that the strategists are right… but only to a degree:

1. Grassroots. They’re right about this.

2. Defining Obama / Attacking him. They’re not right about this I believe. Frankly, Obama can get away with anything, and will get away with anything, no matter what. The reason is that he has presented himself as a different kind of politician, who offers something most other politicians do not offer (change, hope and unity). Whether that’s true or not is irrelevant; it’s what most voters now believe, and it’s what they will continue to believe for years.

3. Defining himself. They are correct about this one. What Republicans generally don’t seem to understand is that when your opponent convinces people he’s different, and that he offers hope, change and unity to them, you can’t beat him on the same old agenda, nor by simply attacking him. That doesn’t work. You also have to offer hope, change and unity, albeit different kinds. McCain should not spend too much time attacking Obama; he should spend his time coming up with a clear message of hope and change and sharing it with the voters.