Editor 's Note : Republican strategist Alex Castellanos was a former campaign consultant for Mitt Romney 's presidential campaign and has worked on more than half a dozen presidential campaigns . Castellanos is a partner in National Media Inc. , a political and public affairs consulting firm that specializes in advertising . He has produced many Republican political ads and has clients such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce . Alex Castellanos says Barack Obama 's change theme has buckled to `` top-down liberalism . '' ( CNN ) -- In theater , they say the second act is the hardest to write . It requires relentless focus and discipline . The writer must give himself fearlessly to one central idea and never waver , though temptation is the opposite : There are many paths a story can take . So it is in politics , as Barack Obama 's campaign is learning . The clear campaign of change ran into trouble in Act II when it was tasked with explaining what change actually meant . Obama , as they say in show business , `` ran out of script . '' The wind in his sails stalled in the hot calm of August and he has yet to recover . After John McCain 's improbable resuscitation to seize the GOP nomination , the Arizona senator 's top aides briefed him about his exacting challenge : He would go into the conventions trailing Obama by at least 8 percentage points and then battle back through the fall to parity . Yet , as cooler days and hotter rhetoric mark the start of the fall finale , it is Obama who finds himself clawing back , forced to attack , launching uncharacteristic partisan and personal attacks against a McCain who has `` lost track '' of and is `` confused '' about how many houses he owns . How did the soaring campaign of change become grinding politics-as-usual and crash so thunderously to earth ? The Obama campaign 's clear message in the primaries was a bottom-up , organic populism that cast voters themselves as the agents of change . `` We are the change we have been waiting for , '' Obama told his supporters during the primaries . In return , they sang , `` Yes we can . '' This heady mix of populism and change swelled his campaign into a cause . In marketing terms , it is called `` voter as hero . '' Obama empowered his supporters , telling them they , not the old political establishment , could achieve anything . Bottom-up politics is one thing , however . Bottom-up government , another . When Barack Obama became the nominee of the national Democratic establishment , the candidate of hope ran into political reality : His party 's canons of governing are the opposite of change . Barack Obama may believe `` change does n't come from the top down , it comes from the bottom up , '' but the leadership of his party does n't . The national Democratic establishment , from the Daily Kos and MoveOn.org to Pelosi and Reid in Congress , still believe in top-down big-government from Washington , especially if they get to run the factory . Politically , they are industrial-age dinosaurs . They believe the era of big government is back , not over . They would keep money and power in their hands , not devolve it to the average American . That was not something the Denver Democrats were eager to confess . Instead , they advocated a sly European-style socialism that would not speak its intent . `` Decent , quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege , '' the Democrats offered during the first night of their convention . A big-government health-care factory run by Washington ? That 's change ? Why not the same for food , clothing and shelter ? But relax , Joe Lunchbucket , an even bigger public-sector industrial plant will impose no cost on your family . Obama 's party promises not to tax you , just business -- the people who sell you your groceries and gasoline and sign your paychecks . As Fred Thompson noted in his GOP convention speech , `` They wo n't take any water out of your side of the bucket . Just the other side . '' This is not `` voter as hero '' but , instead , `` voter as victim . '' A heroic Washington has all the money , the power , and the answers . Same old , same old . So the candidate of change fell silent . And he sang change never again . Barack Obama could have spoken truth to power . He could have pledged to confront the Democratic Party establishment . He could have brought a more natural , organic era of bottom-up government , not just bottom-up politics , to a dated party clinging to a decaying philosophy of authority . But when the irresistible force of Obama 's bottom-up politics met the immovable object of Democratic Party power , it was the dream , not the power , that conceded . `` Yes we can '' turned out to mean not `` Yes the people can '' , just `` Yes Washington can . '' Too bad . It would have refreshed the Democratic Party and the country . This movie is not new : The candidate who runs to change the establishment does n't . Instead , we see it change him . The hope for real change in Washington has been suffocated by an older generation 's embrace . Now , Barack Obama finds himself trapped without a post-partisan message . Instead of challenging politics-as-usual , he sells the usual partisan politics : `` Bush-McCain '' , he shouts from rooftops , sounding like every other Democrat in the chorus , pretending partisanship is fresh . The story ? Bottom-up change ran into top-down liberalism . Old-fashioned liberalism won . That 's Act II . Stand by for the play 's end . This opinions in this commentary are solely those of the writer .
Alex Castellanos : Obama 's message was populism and bottom-up change . Obama campaign taken over by Democratic establishment , he says . Castellanos : Democratic party champions big government and opposes change . ` The Democrats are the ones who have been in power for a long time now.