The presidential campaign is entering the hot summer months and things are about to get good. Most people think Barack Obama is sitting pretty with up to a 15% lead, depending on the poll. I live in New York City and from here, it feels like it’s a one candidate race. I saw someone in the East Village yesterday wearing a shirt that said, “McCain Who?”
Now it’s true that whether or not you like Obama, agree with Obama, or trust Obama, he’s the one with all the momentum. The whole damn media has a collective erection for the guy right now … including Arianna Huffington and Markos Moulitsas (of Daily Kos), neither of whom have a penis.
But this is all good news for John McCain and the Straight Talk Express. The main reason is that McCain is best when he’s playing the underdog. This is when his true personality shines through: a sharp, witty man – the kind who you’d follow into battle. This is a man that you want leading the troops in a nasty prison camp and this is a man who you want picking up the phone at 3 a.m. when Iran’s development of nuclear weapons comes to pass.
But more than anything, I hope he can be the type of candidate that’s able to make the argument that he can lead on the critical issues facing the country. If he can’t, it’s no one’s fault but his own – Obama has some huge holes in his glossy sheen and a candidate who can’t exploit them isn’t ready for the Oval Office.
Beginning today and running through the election, I am going to list the arguments that expose these holes. Below is a list of a couple of key myths about the inimitable Barack Obama that McCain must exploit. More will follow, including discussions about taxes, foreign policy, health care, and other relevant items presented over the next few months:
Myth 1:
Barack Obama is a post-partisan politician
Truth:
Obama has consistently toed the Democratic party line in his few short years in the Senate. From judges to medicare to immigration to the Iraq War, the Illinois Senator has been a strident party loyalist. Not one major piece of legislation has his name on it; not one tough battle has he fought in the senate; not one stand has he made against his party; not one politically unpopular decision has he made. This is in sharp contrast to Senator McCain, who has proven to be THE post-partisan candidate on judge appointments, campaign finance, immigration, taxes (though i especially hate this one), and more. This country needs a man who makes decisions based on what he thinks is right and not what is political expedient.
Myth 2:
Barack Obama may be inexperienced, but he has good judgment
Truth:
Obama’s big claim to fame is that he may not have any of the necessary experience (either political, business, executive, etc.) to run the nation, but, unlike Bush, Clinton, McCain, and everyone else in Congress at the time, he was against the war from the start. This has provided the platform from which he can state that experience is less important than good judgment. It’s the basis (besides the fact that he’s extremely well spoken) of his entire candidacy.
But here’s the thing: if, in retrospect, you want to criticize the war, the intelligence, or the execution of war/post war strategy there is room for valid dissent. But, in March of 2003, given the uncertainty of American security, given our failure to connect the dots to 9/11, and given the intelligence that the entire globe supported, how could anyone NOT have supported the Iraq War effort? Imagine if Obama was president at the time. Imagine if the world’s intelligence was correct. Imagine if a dirty bomb or any other WMDs found their way into the hands of the very same people that had the audacity to fly airplanes into buildings. Imagine if all of this happened and our president, in a post-9/11 world, did nothing about it. In this scenario, our president would deserve to be put on trial as an accessory to war crimes.
More to come...
Myth 1: Barack Obama is a post-partisan politician
ReplyDeleteBHO is two years into his freshman term in the Senate, a legislative body that prides itself on decorum and deference. Freshman senators rarely make waves, traditionally keeping their heads down and ears open until they earn their stripes.
Conveniently, you do not mention or discuss his 8 years in the Illinois state senate, which was characterized by his bipartisan work:
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/06/25/obamas-state-senate-years-show-bipartisan-record/
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2006/10/barack_obama.html
This country needs a man who makes decisions based on what he thinks is right and not what is political expedient.
...because that attitude worked out so especially well with the current occupant of 1600 PA Blvd. Truthfully, this is a false argument; both JMC and BHO have shown the ability to embrace both these characteristics, as evidenced by their large support among independents and the grumblings from their base. However, JMC moreso due to his longer record of service and the ensuing political capital this has generated that allows him to "step-out" on his party from time to time with little consequence.
Furthermore, what makes you think either of these candidates does or does not believe in the specific proposals they espouse, aside from the obvious flip-flops (BHO on publicly-funded campaigns, JMC on GWB tax cuts, etc)?
"But, in March of 2003 ... how could anyone NOT have supported the Iraq War effort?"
Opposition was widespread here and abroad, including an estimated 10 million people engaged in the largest protest event in human history on 02/15/08:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_2003_Iraq_War
Yes, there is a valid argument to be made about BHO's judgment, given his short tenure in the public eye. But your statements about "dirty bombs" (let alone "war crimes"? that's rich!) is just GWB-retread. Please try again without the three levels of "what-ifs" and the scaremongering.
In reality, BHO comes out smelling like a prescient-rose on this issue, just ask the American people (see bottom graphs):
http://pollster.com/currenttrends.php
15 points down with an unpopular Republican President, a weak economy and several months of being out of the news due to the extended Democratic primary is an outstanding position. By the time the conventions end in early September, I predict that McCain will be in the lead and his ultimate victory in November is the lock of 2008.
ReplyDeleteMcCain is an unusual politician, in that he puts country over party. Obama on the other hand, despite his vacuous post-partisan speeches, is the most consistently left-wing politician in the Senate. Their is nothing post-partisan about Obama other than his, "Why can't we all get along pleas" while proposing a series of policies that would move us towards a system that would remove merit from our economic system and adopt a European foreign policy of appeasement. We shouldn't be concerned about his experience. We should be concerned about his disposition.
The bottom line is that once you get out of the East Village cocoon, Americans in the real world don't want:
-Higher taxes
-More transfer of wealth from the working class to the lazy class
-An economic system that takes away risk but eliminates opportunity
-A surrender to terrorism
-Defeat in the Iraq War, which we are finally winning thanks to the vision of people like McCain who stood against his party's President and popular opinion in supporting an escalation of the conflict
EVR shouldn't worry about McCain making the argument that will win over his East Village friends. Their is no cogent argument he could make that would give them the fortitude to stand against the terrorists (because they believe we are at fault) and the insight into human nature that would lead them to support capitalism (because they believe that equality means that every one ends up with the same results). McCain needs to and will convince the moderate middle that he shares their values and will make America and hence the world a freer, safer and more prosperous place.