Maybe there's a method to McMadness
Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 08:59AM I'm not doing a total about-face on McCain's sudden lurch do the dark-side, but this New York Magazine piece makes some interesting points about his recent attacks on Obama.
The author's thesis: McCain's only shot at winning is to drive up Obama's negatives to unnacceptable levels, and hope that he doesn't do the same to his own.
It's a good point. McCain isn't going to beat Obama at his own game -- change and likeability and newness. His best shot, it would seem, is muddying up Obama's brand and driving home the Iraq-surge success, which at this point is still McCain's strongest issue. Recent polls show a tightening of the race (again), so maybe the strategy is working.
The money paragaph: For those not keeping score, a quick review of the McCain campaign’s lunge for Obama’s jugular. First, its new slogan: “Country first,” with its inverse insinuation that Obama puts something else (i.e., his own ambition) ahead of the nation. Second, McCain’s accusation that Obama “would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.” Third, the McCain ad “Troops,” which claims that Obama, while in Germany, “made time to go the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops—seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras.” And, finally, the ad “Celeb,” with its intercut images of Obama in Berlin, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears.
It will be interesting to see how Obama responds -- if he slings mud back, or simply takes the high road. He tried ignoring Hillary's attacks for a bit, and it didn't work. My guess is that tough-guy Obama advisor David Axelrod is scheming up a counter-offensive that will focus on McCain's age and his adoption of "Bush orthodoxy."
One thing to keep an eye on: If McCain selects Romney as his Veep, it probably means he'll continue the aggressive attacks on Obama. Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, the other front-runner, would clearly be a less capable hatchet man, and it could eventually be the determining factor on who gets the nod. Having an all-out attack strategy but employing Pawlenty as the hatchet man would be like building a baseball team around defense and small ball and starting Jason Giambi at first base -- nonsensical.
Reader Comments (5)
Everything you need to know about John McCain can be summed up in this 3-minute youtube clip. how Obama's campaign isn't taking full advantage of McCain's misteps, misstatements and outright lies in order to win presidency is beyond me. The fact Obama doesn't have a huge lead at this point doesn't bode well for him in the election.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/30/la-times-john-mccain-has_n_104407.html
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