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Morning Topic: The McCain Implosion |
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As Barack Obama is getting stellar remarks for his trip overseas, John McCain has been back in the USA trying to keep his traction in a campaign in which seems to be less and less about him, and more about whether or not Obama would make an acceptable President. It seems that if Obama can pass that threshold, he should be able to win over a majority of the undecided voters. Meanwhile the McCain campaign has made a series of gaffes and goofs that may call into question his ability to run a strong fall campaign.
Attacking policies on the campaign trail is not only normal, but expected. But it is rare and considered unseemly to question the other candidate’s motives, especially when it concerns their loyalty to the United States, But several times over the past few days, McCain has said something like,
“I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war,” as John McCain said during a Rochester, N.H., town meeting on July 22. “It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”
As Chris notes below, Time Magazine’s Joe Klein puts his finger on the problem for McCain:
It was a remarkable statement, as intemperate a personal attack as I’ve ever heard a major-party candidate make in a presidential campaign, the sort of thing that no potential President of the United States should ever be caught saying. (A prudent candidate has aides sling that sort of mud.) It was also inevitable.
The frustration is borne out of McCain losing any edge that he thought he had on foreign policy. He criticizes Obama for being inflexible in Iraq and being naive when it comes to the threat from Iran. Then Iraqi PM Maliki in an interview and then through a spokesman basically adopts Obama’s concept of a timeline. The Bush Administration then talks about “time horizons.” While it may be semantics, the idea of having a limit on how long the troops will be in iraq pulls the podium out from under McCain’s feet. He is instead stuck with some stubborn and undefined concept of “victory” as his strategy for Iraq.
Then there is also the development that the Bush Administration has actually sent a State Department official to talks between European countries and Iran. While their claim is that they will just be observers, this is truly backtracking on the stated policy of Bush and McCain of not dealing with Iran until they give up their nuclear program. They accused Obama of being an appeaser, willing to give in to the worst the world has to offer. And now the Bush Administration budges taking away any rhetorical high ground they may have had.
McCain must be frustrated, but he should be more frustrated with his own campaign operatives who have created a photo op of him in a Golf cart with the first President Bush, looking like he is enjoying his retirement, while Obama is getting off of Osprey helicopters and greeting world leaders. This has been a bad week for John McCain and his attacks on Obama and his obvious frustration is now seeping into his behavior and words on the campaign trail.
Are they not both just different halves from the same mold? Is McCain’s implosion a little too obvious? They say there are no “mistakes” in politics. I used to give my kids a choice to make them feel they are involved in the decision. When they didn’t want to get in the car, I would give them a choice, “You can walk there yourself, or I can carry you.” They would usually pick to “walk themselves”. The fact that they didn’t want to go was quickly forgotten.
It is good to see that Americans are given a choice for their next “leader”.
how many good wars have we been in?? vietnam was the american war by the natives..even back to 1898 in cuba same thing..american war..shesh why do we call them by there countrys?..lets start calling them what they are..naked aggression..you got it..i want it..your evil..im taking it.so support our oops..thats without the Tr.