"It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign," William Kristol decrees in today's New York Times. "He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s."
Whatever the Times is paying Kristol, it's too much. Pundits are supposed to see what's ahead, not in the rear-view mirror.
McCain is scheduled to make a "turnaround" speech today, an oratorical "Hail Mary" pass to turned-off voters.
But, in the spirit of bipartisanship so desperately needed these days, herewith a rerun of the acceptance speech McCain should have made at the Republican convention and can still adapt before the final debate this week:
Minneapolis, Sept 4, 2008--In a Capraesque moment for the 21st century, John Sidney McCain III told a stunned Republican Convention tonight:
"I accept your nomination for president of the United States but, in all good conscience, must reject the tactics that are being used to win that office for myself and my party."
To the bewildered, buzzing audience, McCain declared, "I take my text tonight from a source familiar to us all but too easily forgotten in the heat of political battle: 'For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?'
"My friends, I have tried to serve my country all my life with honor, and I will not trade that accomplishment for any office, no matter how exalted.
"In the past months, I have given in to the temptation to allow people who speak for me to paint my opponent as dishonest, deceitful and untrustworthy. From my own experience as his Senate colleague, I know that is simply not true.
"From this moment, all that will stop. In my heart, I believe I am better qualified to lead this country, and I will make my case to anyone who will listen. But I will not be part of a process that demeans others for my own advantage and damages the civilized American dialogue that has been the glory of our democracy for more than two centuries."
Sources close to McCain reveal that, prior to delivering his acceptance speech, the text of which was not made available in advance, the Republican candidate had dismissed all members of his staff associated with Karl Rove and the Bush campaigns of 2000 and 2004.
In what is being called "Operation Straight Talk Redux," the Senator has taped talking-head commercials outlining his positions on the economy, energy, health care and other issues, ending with the statement, "I'm John McCain, and you can bet your bottom dollar I approve this message."
Reaction from Republican convention goers has been mixed. "Even it works for him," said one Congressional candidate who declined to be identified, "there goes eight years of everything the rest of us got from following the Rove playbook."
Seasoned political observers are divided over whether the new McCain can win over enough Independents and disaffected Democrats to make up for expected losses among Conservative Republicans.
"In the long run," says one pollster, "honesty is the best policy. Except when it isn't."
Showing posts with label Barack Obama vs. John McCain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama vs. John McCain. Show all posts
Monday, October 13, 2008
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
The Rise of Joe Biden
Sarah Palin is getting headlines, but after-polling shows the quieter Democrat winning over independents and Republicans in last week's VP debate.
The Pew Research Center reports: "Biden’s favorability rating among registered voters re-contacted over the weekend climbed from 54 percent to 63 percent, and the percentage believing he is qualified to serve as president jumped to 77 percent from 69 percent a week earlier...
"Among Republicans interviewed both before and after the debates, 14 percent changed their view of Biden from unfavorable to favorable, as did 12 percent of independents. By comparison, Biden had little room to gain among Democrats, 81 percent of whom already viewed him favorably before the debates."
Meanwhile the Palin phenomenon seems to have leveled off as "voters who had been first polled a week ago found that most (55 percent) continue to have a favorable view of Palin, but most (52 percent) also still believe that she is not qualified to serve as president, if it becomes necessary."
These figures, registered before Palin started her "palling around with terrorists" attacks, may not stand up as CNN analyst Bill Schneider makes a prediction about tonight's McCain-Obama encounter:
"If either of the candidates tries to go negative when you're with an audience of ordinary voters, they don't like it. We've heard them sometimes get very upset when the candidates start attacking each other, so that's going to be hard to do in a town hall format."
Despite the cheering partisan crowds, Palin will have to put a lot more lipstick on her pit-bull act to overcome that kind of voter disgust.
The Pew Research Center reports: "Biden’s favorability rating among registered voters re-contacted over the weekend climbed from 54 percent to 63 percent, and the percentage believing he is qualified to serve as president jumped to 77 percent from 69 percent a week earlier...
"Among Republicans interviewed both before and after the debates, 14 percent changed their view of Biden from unfavorable to favorable, as did 12 percent of independents. By comparison, Biden had little room to gain among Democrats, 81 percent of whom already viewed him favorably before the debates."
Meanwhile the Palin phenomenon seems to have leveled off as "voters who had been first polled a week ago found that most (55 percent) continue to have a favorable view of Palin, but most (52 percent) also still believe that she is not qualified to serve as president, if it becomes necessary."
These figures, registered before Palin started her "palling around with terrorists" attacks, may not stand up as CNN analyst Bill Schneider makes a prediction about tonight's McCain-Obama encounter:
"If either of the candidates tries to go negative when you're with an audience of ordinary voters, they don't like it. We've heard them sometimes get very upset when the candidates start attacking each other, so that's going to be hard to do in a town hall format."
Despite the cheering partisan crowds, Palin will have to put a lot more lipstick on her pit-bull act to overcome that kind of voter disgust.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Two Winners, But of What?
On the scoreboard, both Sarah Palin and Joe Biden met their challenges tonight, but there was a great disparity in what they won.
Palin proved she could weather a confrontation without major gaffes. Biden showed he had the qualities of heart and mind to be a heartbeat from the presidency.
The interplay between the two was civil, even cordial, but it was hard to see an undecided voter being persuaded that Sarah Palin, rather than Joe Biden, should be answering that 3 A.M. phone call.
Palin was polished in hitting her talking points, even as she evaded substantively answering most questions, and there was an eerie disconnect as she persisted in repeating that Barack Obama had voted against funding the troops in Iraq, even after Biden had made clear that both McCain and Obama had done that only in the context of proposals for time lines for ending the war.
Overall, Biden handled Palin's canned attacks on Obama with good-natured factual rebuttals, while making the case that John McCain was offering more of Bush-Cheney, at one point echoing Ronald Reagan's talking point that voters ask themselves if they are better off than they were eight years ago.
Toward the end, after Palin had labeled herself and McCain, whom she has known for a month, as "mavericks" a dozen times, Biden politely demolished that contention based on seeing McCain up close as a colleague for more than two decades:
"He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.
"He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.
"He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan...in the United States Senate.
"He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.
"He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table."
On PBS, after the debate, historian Richard Norton Smith characterized Palin's performance as "Gidget Goes to Washington." In playing her role as a perky populist, she reminded me of another sitcom heroine, Mary Tyler Moore, who inspired her boss, Ed Asner, to say, "You're really perky, aren't you? I hate perky!"
It's unlikely that, in these threatening times for the American economy, that voters are looking for a perky vice-president.
Palin proved she could weather a confrontation without major gaffes. Biden showed he had the qualities of heart and mind to be a heartbeat from the presidency.
The interplay between the two was civil, even cordial, but it was hard to see an undecided voter being persuaded that Sarah Palin, rather than Joe Biden, should be answering that 3 A.M. phone call.
Palin was polished in hitting her talking points, even as she evaded substantively answering most questions, and there was an eerie disconnect as she persisted in repeating that Barack Obama had voted against funding the troops in Iraq, even after Biden had made clear that both McCain and Obama had done that only in the context of proposals for time lines for ending the war.
Overall, Biden handled Palin's canned attacks on Obama with good-natured factual rebuttals, while making the case that John McCain was offering more of Bush-Cheney, at one point echoing Ronald Reagan's talking point that voters ask themselves if they are better off than they were eight years ago.
Toward the end, after Palin had labeled herself and McCain, whom she has known for a month, as "mavericks" a dozen times, Biden politely demolished that contention based on seeing McCain up close as a colleague for more than two decades:
"He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.
"He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.
"He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan...in the United States Senate.
"He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.
"He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table."
On PBS, after the debate, historian Richard Norton Smith characterized Palin's performance as "Gidget Goes to Washington." In playing her role as a perky populist, she reminded me of another sitcom heroine, Mary Tyler Moore, who inspired her boss, Ed Asner, to say, "You're really perky, aren't you? I hate perky!"
It's unlikely that, in these threatening times for the American economy, that voters are looking for a perky vice-president.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Presidential Pop Psychology
At The Debate, moderator Jim Lehrer at times seemed to be a marriage counselor, urging Barack Obama and John McCain to address each other directly and express their feelings, and now the candidates are accusing each other of being in denial about the financial crisis.
McCain tells voters that "Senator Obama still sees the financial crisis in America as a national problem to be exploited first and solved later." Obama responds, “What he doesn’t seem to get is that if we don’t deal with it right now, by working together for the common good, then this crisis could turn into a far-reaching disaster for workers, businesses, retirees and the American middle class."
As in most bad relationships, there is a breakdown of communication. At Friday night's session, McCain seemed too angry to even look at Obama, let alone talk to him, as his partner tried to cajole him in finding something to agree on.
The remaining debates will be moderated by network elders, Bob Schieffer of CBS and NBC's Tom Brokaw, both of them patient and kindly, but the way things are going, they might want to have Dr. Phil to help the warring couple deal with the "unfinished business of anger, resentment and hurt."
Psychologically, there is no use trying to do anything about the Palin-Biden pairing, a mismatch if there ever was one.
McCain tells voters that "Senator Obama still sees the financial crisis in America as a national problem to be exploited first and solved later." Obama responds, “What he doesn’t seem to get is that if we don’t deal with it right now, by working together for the common good, then this crisis could turn into a far-reaching disaster for workers, businesses, retirees and the American middle class."
As in most bad relationships, there is a breakdown of communication. At Friday night's session, McCain seemed too angry to even look at Obama, let alone talk to him, as his partner tried to cajole him in finding something to agree on.
The remaining debates will be moderated by network elders, Bob Schieffer of CBS and NBC's Tom Brokaw, both of them patient and kindly, but the way things are going, they might want to have Dr. Phil to help the warring couple deal with the "unfinished business of anger, resentment and hurt."
Psychologically, there is no use trying to do anything about the Palin-Biden pairing, a mismatch if there ever was one.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Obama's Missed Point on Pakistan
He was cool and confident in the debate but, in his desire not to look like the young man knocking down a senior citizen to grab a cab, Barack Obama passed up at least one chance to sharpen the difference in his approach to the war on terror with that of John McCain.
At one point, the Republican huffed: "He said that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan. Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government."
"Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan," Obama replied defensively. "Here's what I said. And if John wants to disagree with this, he can let me know, that, if the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out.
"Now, I think that's the right strategy. I think that's the right policy."
What Obama failed to underscore was that since then the Bush Administration has agreed by launching unilateral attacks across the Afghan border on terrorist safe havens and that, after years of being bamboozled by Musharraf, is challenging the new regime to earn the billions of aid the US has been pouring into Pakistan.
In the first presidential debate ever in 1960, Nixon tried not to seem too combative and came off looking like Uriah Heep in comparison to JFK's confident firmness. Obama avoided that pitfall, but not completely. In his stance on Pakistan, he could have shown more spine without risking cockiness. That's part of appearing presidential.
At one point, the Republican huffed: "He said that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan. Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government."
"Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan," Obama replied defensively. "Here's what I said. And if John wants to disagree with this, he can let me know, that, if the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out.
"Now, I think that's the right strategy. I think that's the right policy."
What Obama failed to underscore was that since then the Bush Administration has agreed by launching unilateral attacks across the Afghan border on terrorist safe havens and that, after years of being bamboozled by Musharraf, is challenging the new regime to earn the billions of aid the US has been pouring into Pakistan.
In the first presidential debate ever in 1960, Nixon tried not to seem too combative and came off looking like Uriah Heep in comparison to JFK's confident firmness. Obama avoided that pitfall, but not completely. In his stance on Pakistan, he could have shown more spine without risking cockiness. That's part of appearing presidential.
Friday, September 19, 2008
A 21st Century "New Deal"
George W. Bush is going out as Herbert Hoover with last-minute efforts to save the financial system, but who will voters ask to play FDR and offer them a New Deal?
The Administration is asking Congress to enact what, according to the Wall Street Journal, may look "like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a Depression-era relief program formed in 1932 by President Hoover that tried to inject liquidity into the market by giving loans to banks and other businesses."
It didn't work back then until after Democrats won in a landslide and took more drastic government action. In that crisis, politicians stopped worrying about socialization and stepped in to save the economy.
The ideologues now will be howling, but John McCain and Barack Obama have to stop talking about tinkering with the "fundamentals" and start offering reality to the people they are asking to vote them into the White House.
The first worldwide reaction to today's news is encouraging as stock markets in Europe and Asia are posting "huge gains" in response.
But the devil will be in the details, as Paul Krugman observes: "Today’s U.S. political system isn’t going to follow Andrew Mellon’s infamous advice to Herbert Hoover: 'Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.' The big buyout is coming; the only question is whether it will be done right."
The Administration is asking Congress to enact what, according to the Wall Street Journal, may look "like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a Depression-era relief program formed in 1932 by President Hoover that tried to inject liquidity into the market by giving loans to banks and other businesses."
It didn't work back then until after Democrats won in a landslide and took more drastic government action. In that crisis, politicians stopped worrying about socialization and stepped in to save the economy.
The ideologues now will be howling, but John McCain and Barack Obama have to stop talking about tinkering with the "fundamentals" and start offering reality to the people they are asking to vote them into the White House.
The first worldwide reaction to today's news is encouraging as stock markets in Europe and Asia are posting "huge gains" in response.
But the devil will be in the details, as Paul Krugman observes: "Today’s U.S. political system isn’t going to follow Andrew Mellon’s infamous advice to Herbert Hoover: 'Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.' The big buyout is coming; the only question is whether it will be done right."
Sunday, September 14, 2008
It's Not the Stupidity, Stupid
As Barack Obama's spokesman accuses John McCain of "the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history," he is giving Republicans exactly what they want--shifting the focus of the election to personalities and tactics from what should be the main issue.
Ronald Reagan put it succinctly to voters in 1980: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" The answer was a resounding no, and he swept a sitting president out of office.
This year the answer to the question, "Are you better off than you were eight years ago?" is so obvious and compelling that some in the Obama campaign seem to be acting on the assumption that it wouldn't be cool to keep harping on it.
They need a wakeup call similar to James Carville's 1992 reminder, "It's the economy, stupid" that saved Bill Clinton's effort against Bush 41 by keeping it on message: "It's not the stupidity, stupid."
It isn't the smear ads against Obama, the coded racial attacks that label him "different," the cynical selection of Sarah Palin, the McCain transition from straight talk to double talk. Those side shows are distractions from the main point that McCain has morphed into another Bush and is getting away with the claim that he represents change.
An ocean away, this seems clearer. The Sunday Telegraph quotes a Democratic Party official: "I really find it offensive when Democrats ask the Republicans not to be nasty to us, which is effectively what Obama keeps doing. They know that's how the game is played."
Of course, the smears and lies have to be addressed and swatted away like flies at a picnic, but that's the part-time work of staff and surrogates. Obama now is spending too much of his own time talking about "them" and what "they" are doing instead of telling voters what he will do to undo what the last eight years have brought them--loss of jobs, homes and health care to a wrong-headed war that has squandered lives and billions of dollars to the point of making most Americans despair about the future.
Obama himself seems to know that. "The McCain-Palin ticket," he said yesterday, "they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we've just seen. And they know it. As a consequence, what they're going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you."
He should remind his own staff, too.
Ronald Reagan put it succinctly to voters in 1980: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" The answer was a resounding no, and he swept a sitting president out of office.
This year the answer to the question, "Are you better off than you were eight years ago?" is so obvious and compelling that some in the Obama campaign seem to be acting on the assumption that it wouldn't be cool to keep harping on it.
They need a wakeup call similar to James Carville's 1992 reminder, "It's the economy, stupid" that saved Bill Clinton's effort against Bush 41 by keeping it on message: "It's not the stupidity, stupid."
It isn't the smear ads against Obama, the coded racial attacks that label him "different," the cynical selection of Sarah Palin, the McCain transition from straight talk to double talk. Those side shows are distractions from the main point that McCain has morphed into another Bush and is getting away with the claim that he represents change.
An ocean away, this seems clearer. The Sunday Telegraph quotes a Democratic Party official: "I really find it offensive when Democrats ask the Republicans not to be nasty to us, which is effectively what Obama keeps doing. They know that's how the game is played."
Of course, the smears and lies have to be addressed and swatted away like flies at a picnic, but that's the part-time work of staff and surrogates. Obama now is spending too much of his own time talking about "them" and what "they" are doing instead of telling voters what he will do to undo what the last eight years have brought them--loss of jobs, homes and health care to a wrong-headed war that has squandered lives and billions of dollars to the point of making most Americans despair about the future.
Obama himself seems to know that. "The McCain-Palin ticket," he said yesterday, "they don't want to debate the Obama-Biden ticket on issues because they are running on eight more years of what we've just seen. And they know it. As a consequence, what they're going to spend the next seven, eight weeks doing is trying to distract you."
He should remind his own staff, too.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Case for Closer Campaign Encounters
Around their drive-by handshake at this evening's forum on public service, John McCain and Barack Obama showed voters their best selves, but there must be an alternative to the sliming of the past weeks and tonight's arm's length politesse.
Why doesn't Obama take McCain up on the offer he repeated tonight for face-to-face town hall encounters? In such a setting, McCain would not have been able to pass off Sarah Palin's slur on community organizers without being pressed by Obama to repudiate such glib mindlessness.
In a race that has tightened and with McCain's momentum from Palin effect, Obama should rethink his rejection of the town-hall setting as he did the issue of public financing. A presidential race is no place for a foolish consistency.
The single most pressing problem for the Obama campaign is the split-screen McCain campaign in which he presents himself as the honorable warrior against corruption while his ads and surrogates, especially Palin, take the low Rovian road of swiftboating his history and positions on issues.
The surest way to deal with that is face to face on as frequent a schedule as possible. The debate format leaves too much wiggle room for evasion.
Obama's best chance lies in accepting the opportunities for hand-to-hand combat. He has the truth on his side in most of the controversies that have been stirred up, and he certainly has the rhetorical skills to make the most of it.
Why doesn't Obama take McCain up on the offer he repeated tonight for face-to-face town hall encounters? In such a setting, McCain would not have been able to pass off Sarah Palin's slur on community organizers without being pressed by Obama to repudiate such glib mindlessness.
In a race that has tightened and with McCain's momentum from Palin effect, Obama should rethink his rejection of the town-hall setting as he did the issue of public financing. A presidential race is no place for a foolish consistency.
The single most pressing problem for the Obama campaign is the split-screen McCain campaign in which he presents himself as the honorable warrior against corruption while his ads and surrogates, especially Palin, take the low Rovian road of swiftboating his history and positions on issues.
The surest way to deal with that is face to face on as frequent a schedule as possible. The debate format leaves too much wiggle room for evasion.
Obama's best chance lies in accepting the opportunities for hand-to-hand combat. He has the truth on his side in most of the controversies that have been stirred up, and he certainly has the rhetorical skills to make the most of it.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
The Smart/Shrewd Divide
After eight years of obstinate stupidity in the White House, the change voters should want most is a combination of common sense and common decency.
"You can't beat brains," JFK used to say, but this year's debate has somehow been shifted to a mistrust of intelligence--at first by Hillary Clinton's attacks on Barack Obama as naïve, followed by John McCain's claims of wisdom only through suffering and now by Sarah Palin's salty assertion of hockey-mom shrewdness.
What will be at stake in the next two months is how Americans judge the qualities of mind they want in a president. The threat of terrorism, the woes of the economy, the endangered environment require more than a sound-bite mentality and a determination to, in the most frequently used word in McCain's acceptance speech, "fight" and respond to mindless chants of "drill, baby, drill."
In the campaign, Barack Obama's open-mindedness is being distorted into irresolution, but what he would bring, as conservative David Brooks noted almost two years ago, is "a deliberative style to the White House [that] will multiply his knowledge, not divide it.”
So far, John McCain's campaign has been fueled by the same Karl Rovian "cleverness," the familiar cast of lobbyists, the cronyness of opportunists like Joe Lieberman and now the selection of a VP who puts a fresh face on the same stale ideas of the Religious Right and the Neo-Cons.
Obama himself and those who support him know he doesn't have all the answers, but he will be asking the right questions and bringing to bear what the best minds have to offer in searching for solutions.
If voters are going to risk the future on real change, they would do well to take their chances with brains in the White House rather revert to what Richard Hofstadter labeled "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" and "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" almost half a century ago.
"You can't beat brains," JFK used to say, but this year's debate has somehow been shifted to a mistrust of intelligence--at first by Hillary Clinton's attacks on Barack Obama as naïve, followed by John McCain's claims of wisdom only through suffering and now by Sarah Palin's salty assertion of hockey-mom shrewdness.
What will be at stake in the next two months is how Americans judge the qualities of mind they want in a president. The threat of terrorism, the woes of the economy, the endangered environment require more than a sound-bite mentality and a determination to, in the most frequently used word in McCain's acceptance speech, "fight" and respond to mindless chants of "drill, baby, drill."
In the campaign, Barack Obama's open-mindedness is being distorted into irresolution, but what he would bring, as conservative David Brooks noted almost two years ago, is "a deliberative style to the White House [that] will multiply his knowledge, not divide it.”
So far, John McCain's campaign has been fueled by the same Karl Rovian "cleverness," the familiar cast of lobbyists, the cronyness of opportunists like Joe Lieberman and now the selection of a VP who puts a fresh face on the same stale ideas of the Religious Right and the Neo-Cons.
Obama himself and those who support him know he doesn't have all the answers, but he will be asking the right questions and bringing to bear what the best minds have to offer in searching for solutions.
If voters are going to risk the future on real change, they would do well to take their chances with brains in the White House rather revert to what Richard Hofstadter labeled "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" and "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life" almost half a century ago.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Time for Bare-Knuckled Eloquence
In his acceptance speech, Barack Obama put aside the poetry, took off the gloves and threw down the gauntlet for John McCain--reminding even those who have been observing him closely that, behind the charisma, is a steely politician determined to win an election.
"If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief," Obama said, "that's a debate I'm ready to have.
"For while Sen. McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats that we face. When John McCain said we could just 'muddle through' in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell--but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."
Critics will carp about the lack of well-turned phrases in tonight's address, but the candidate was clearly not looking to replicate Martin Luther King's eloquence of 45 years ago but to turn "I have a dream" into the reality of wide-awake political power.
At every turn, he tied McCain to failed Bush policies, noting that his opponent has "voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change."
To the challenge of putting "meat on the bones" of his calls for change, Obama offered a laundry list of tax proposals and incentives to transfer economic burdens from middle-class families to corporations and upper-income taxpayers that will jump start debate on the issues of the campaign.
He called for finding common ground on divisive issues like abortion, gun control and gay rights rather than using them for political advantage.
The Republican swiftboaters are certain to twist what he had to say into attack ads, but one thing is clear: This time around, they won't have a clear field when they do. Obama may not win the election, but he will not go down without a bare-knuckled fight.
"If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief," Obama said, "that's a debate I'm ready to have.
"For while Sen. McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats that we face. When John McCain said we could just 'muddle through' in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. You know, John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell--but he won't even go to the cave where he lives."
Critics will carp about the lack of well-turned phrases in tonight's address, but the candidate was clearly not looking to replicate Martin Luther King's eloquence of 45 years ago but to turn "I have a dream" into the reality of wide-awake political power.
At every turn, he tied McCain to failed Bush policies, noting that his opponent has "voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change."
To the challenge of putting "meat on the bones" of his calls for change, Obama offered a laundry list of tax proposals and incentives to transfer economic burdens from middle-class families to corporations and upper-income taxpayers that will jump start debate on the issues of the campaign.
He called for finding common ground on divisive issues like abortion, gun control and gay rights rather than using them for political advantage.
The Republican swiftboaters are certain to twist what he had to say into attack ads, but one thing is clear: This time around, they won't have a clear field when they do. Obama may not win the election, but he will not go down without a bare-knuckled fight.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Obama in the Driver's Seat
Between them, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, two white-haired Washington veterans, certified tonight that the new man is ready to move America ahead and handed him the keys to do it.
Clinton, in full-hearted endorsement, declared, "Clearly, the job of the next president is to rebuild the American dream and to restore American leadership in the world...Everything I learned in my eight years as president, and in the work I have done since in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job...
"Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States."
To underscore his point, the former President noted that "Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."
Biden, as Obama's partner on the journey, after acknowledging "a friendship that goes beyond politics" with John McCain, said, "But I profoundly disagree with the direction John wants to take this country, from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Amtrak to veterans."
As a good running mate should, Biden ran through a litany of foreign policy and domestic issues to show that "Again and again, John McCain has been wrong, and Barack Obama is right."
To cap off the evening of validation, Obama made a surprise appearance to hug Biden surrounded by four generations of his family as the Clintons and Michelle Obama beamed from the balcony.
The three-night unity show has set the stage for Obama's performance tomorrow night before a live audience of 70,000 but intended mainly for millions of TV viewers, many of whom will be paying serious attention for the first time. The opening acts have done their job well.
Clinton, in full-hearted endorsement, declared, "Clearly, the job of the next president is to rebuild the American dream and to restore American leadership in the world...Everything I learned in my eight years as president, and in the work I have done since in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job...
"Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States."
To underscore his point, the former President noted that "Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."
Biden, as Obama's partner on the journey, after acknowledging "a friendship that goes beyond politics" with John McCain, said, "But I profoundly disagree with the direction John wants to take this country, from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Amtrak to veterans."
As a good running mate should, Biden ran through a litany of foreign policy and domestic issues to show that "Again and again, John McCain has been wrong, and Barack Obama is right."
To cap off the evening of validation, Obama made a surprise appearance to hug Biden surrounded by four generations of his family as the Clintons and Michelle Obama beamed from the balcony.
The three-night unity show has set the stage for Obama's performance tomorrow night before a live audience of 70,000 but intended mainly for millions of TV viewers, many of whom will be paying serious attention for the first time. The opening acts have done their job well.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Debriefing Obama
You can measure the toughness of Tom Brokaw's Meet the Press interview with the Democratic nominee today by the multiple times Obama said "Right, right," "but, but" and "look, look."
They were numerous as Brokaw pressed him on not being willing to admit the Surge has worked, on oversimplifying the politics of Pakistan and answering the charge that his Berlin speech was a Disney version of "optimism without reality."
Taped in London last night, the interview was a test for the bone-weary candidate after a week of media adulation, and a testament to Brokaw's unimpaired skills as he questioned Obama, not with Tim Russert's cordial aggressiveness, but a cool insistence on getting to the core of issues.
At 68, Brokaw is of John McCain's generation and a suitable surrogate for 20th century journalists who kept their distance from politicians rather than basking in the spotlight as fellow media stars.
On Obama's part, the experience will surely be useful in honing presidential skills that go beyond cheering crowds and fawning interviewers.
Tomorrow, he will be back down to earth, meeting with his economic advisers to focus on gas prices, mortgage bailouts and other worries that voters will want straight answers about from now to November.
They were numerous as Brokaw pressed him on not being willing to admit the Surge has worked, on oversimplifying the politics of Pakistan and answering the charge that his Berlin speech was a Disney version of "optimism without reality."
Taped in London last night, the interview was a test for the bone-weary candidate after a week of media adulation, and a testament to Brokaw's unimpaired skills as he questioned Obama, not with Tim Russert's cordial aggressiveness, but a cool insistence on getting to the core of issues.
At 68, Brokaw is of John McCain's generation and a suitable surrogate for 20th century journalists who kept their distance from politicians rather than basking in the spotlight as fellow media stars.
On Obama's part, the experience will surely be useful in honing presidential skills that go beyond cheering crowds and fawning interviewers.
Tomorrow, he will be back down to earth, meeting with his economic advisers to focus on gas prices, mortgage bailouts and other worries that voters will want straight answers about from now to November.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
A Platoon of Coaches for McCain
Of all the contrasts between the two presidential candidates--political philosophy, age, race--the most glaring, as we saw this week, may be rhetorical.
Barack Obama is a masterful public speaker. John McCain, to put it kindly, is not.
Describing him as "a guy who has never really learned how to read a teleprompter," Gail Collins parses McCain's Tuesday night performance:
“'I have a few years on my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought into so many failed ideas,'” McCain said. Pause. Smile. McCain has only a couple of versions of smile. And for speeches, he tends to employ a kind of scary, humorless teeth-baring.
“'He doesn’t trust us to make decisions for ourselves and wants the government to make them for us. And that’s not change we can believe in.' Pause. Smile. It was Pavlovian, really, as if some handler had run McCain through his paces over and over, administering an electric shock each time he ended a sentence without revealing his dental work."
That is certainly why McCain's campaign has challenged Obama to appear with him at town-hall meetings, a venue in which their man can use the kind of ease and charm he was been displaying for years on the Daily Show in interviews with Jon Stewart. But even if Obama accepts, that won't, to use a hallowed Republican phrase, be a cakewalk either.
Half a century ago, when presidents started appearing on TV, Dwight Eisenhower's campaign hired the movie actor-director Robert Montgomery to coach the former General into acting like good old friendly relaxed Ike. It worked.
Since then, Washington has been overrun by media trainers to teach politicians how to maintain eye contact, use the right gestures and fake looking natural. The McCain people could use a platoon of them.
Barack Obama is a masterful public speaker. John McCain, to put it kindly, is not.
Describing him as "a guy who has never really learned how to read a teleprompter," Gail Collins parses McCain's Tuesday night performance:
“'I have a few years on my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought into so many failed ideas,'” McCain said. Pause. Smile. McCain has only a couple of versions of smile. And for speeches, he tends to employ a kind of scary, humorless teeth-baring.
“'He doesn’t trust us to make decisions for ourselves and wants the government to make them for us. And that’s not change we can believe in.' Pause. Smile. It was Pavlovian, really, as if some handler had run McCain through his paces over and over, administering an electric shock each time he ended a sentence without revealing his dental work."
That is certainly why McCain's campaign has challenged Obama to appear with him at town-hall meetings, a venue in which their man can use the kind of ease and charm he was been displaying for years on the Daily Show in interviews with Jon Stewart. But even if Obama accepts, that won't, to use a hallowed Republican phrase, be a cakewalk either.
Half a century ago, when presidents started appearing on TV, Dwight Eisenhower's campaign hired the movie actor-director Robert Montgomery to coach the former General into acting like good old friendly relaxed Ike. It worked.
Since then, Washington has been overrun by media trainers to teach politicians how to maintain eye contact, use the right gestures and fake looking natural. The McCain people could use a platoon of them.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The Clintons' Long Goodbye
No one expected they would go quietly, but the Clintons may be maneuvering the former First Lady off the Democratic ticket by continuing to strong-arm Barack Obama rather than graciously conceding his nomination.
"Hillary Rodham Clinton," AP reported yesterday, "will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president."
She did no such thing.
Coupled with her coy statement during the day about being "open" to the vice-presidency if it "would help the party's prospects in November," Sen. Clinton seems to be confirming the worst nightmare of the Obama campaign--that she would be a prima donna on the ticket, going her own way, singing her own arias while you-know-who kept tap-dancing not quite out of sight.
For Democrats who want to end the Bush nightmare, all this is disheartening. It isn't necessary to see Obama as the Second Coming to want him to be able to make his race against McCain without added weight on his back.
As the super-delegates climb on the bandwagon this week, will they be able to persuade both Hillary and Bill Clinton to stop campaigning and maneuvering and just get aboard? Otherwise they may be wrecking Obama's future--and their own.
None of us wants to end up with the scorpion-and-frog punchline, "Because it's in my nature."
"Hillary Rodham Clinton," AP reported yesterday, "will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president."
She did no such thing.
Coupled with her coy statement during the day about being "open" to the vice-presidency if it "would help the party's prospects in November," Sen. Clinton seems to be confirming the worst nightmare of the Obama campaign--that she would be a prima donna on the ticket, going her own way, singing her own arias while you-know-who kept tap-dancing not quite out of sight.
For Democrats who want to end the Bush nightmare, all this is disheartening. It isn't necessary to see Obama as the Second Coming to want him to be able to make his race against McCain without added weight on his back.
As the super-delegates climb on the bandwagon this week, will they be able to persuade both Hillary and Bill Clinton to stop campaigning and maneuvering and just get aboard? Otherwise they may be wrecking Obama's future--and their own.
None of us wants to end up with the scorpion-and-frog punchline, "Because it's in my nature."
Monday, May 26, 2008
A Grateful Nation Turns Its Back
Returning from World War II, my generation was welcomed home with open arms, gratitude and a GI Bill to pay for our college education.
For its counterpart today, a New York Times editorial points out, "the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform. He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break."
Luckily, His Lame Duckness will be overruled by a Congress facing reelection and more sensitive to the popular will, but what does all this say about George W. Bush and his wannabe successor, the warrior patriot, John McCain?
According to the Times, "Mr. Bush--and, to his great discredit, Senator John McCain--have argued against a better G.I. Bill, for the worst reasons. They would prefer that college benefits for service members remain just mediocre enough that people in uniform are more likely to stay put."
Even worse, McCain has used the issue to attack Barack Obama, who supports the bill: "I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did," he huffed, overlooking the small point that his antagonist was six years old when McCain was taken POW in Vietnam.
In the Bush-McCain worldview, the citizen soldiers of the Greatest Generation have morphed into personnel whose lives come second to the needs of a military that has been stretched to the breaking point in Iraq
Responding to McCain's attack, Obama said, "It's disappointing that Senator McCain and his campaign used this issue to launch yet another lengthy personal, political attack instead of debating an honest policy difference."
"Disappointing" is a mild word for what the proprietors of the Iraq war are doing with their opposition to the 21st century version of what the Times says "became known as one of the most successful benefits programs--one of the soundest investments in human potential--in the nation’s history."
For its counterpart today, a New York Times editorial points out, "the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform. He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break."
Luckily, His Lame Duckness will be overruled by a Congress facing reelection and more sensitive to the popular will, but what does all this say about George W. Bush and his wannabe successor, the warrior patriot, John McCain?
According to the Times, "Mr. Bush--and, to his great discredit, Senator John McCain--have argued against a better G.I. Bill, for the worst reasons. They would prefer that college benefits for service members remain just mediocre enough that people in uniform are more likely to stay put."
Even worse, McCain has used the issue to attack Barack Obama, who supports the bill: "I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did," he huffed, overlooking the small point that his antagonist was six years old when McCain was taken POW in Vietnam.
In the Bush-McCain worldview, the citizen soldiers of the Greatest Generation have morphed into personnel whose lives come second to the needs of a military that has been stretched to the breaking point in Iraq
Responding to McCain's attack, Obama said, "It's disappointing that Senator McCain and his campaign used this issue to launch yet another lengthy personal, political attack instead of debating an honest policy difference."
"Disappointing" is a mild word for what the proprietors of the Iraq war are doing with their opposition to the 21st century version of what the Times says "became known as one of the most successful benefits programs--one of the soundest investments in human potential--in the nation’s history."
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Deciding Demographic: The Inattentive
Give or take Florida and Michigan, some 35 million American voters have determined that Barack Obama will contest John McCain to become the next president. Now comes the harder part.
Of all the demographic divisions--gender, race, age, economic status, education--Obama faces the most crucial of all, between those who have been paying attention and those who haven't.
With all the new registrations, this year's total of voters is sure to exceed the 122 million of 2004, and the Democratic candidate's challenge will be to make himself known to those like the woman in West Virginia who rejected him saying, "No More Hussein," and millions more who don't know even that much about him.
Presidential campaigns, for better or worse, come down to the perceived character of the candidates, and Obama has come a long way but is still relatively unknown to many, if not most, voters.
In Iowa last night, he asserted that the hard-fought battle for the nomination was good for his party, saying, "Now, some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided. But I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction."
For the next six months, the Obama campaign will be all about going beyond the energized and united to reach the apathetic, the uninformed and the fearful to persuade them that they and their families will be better off with him in the Oval Office than John McCain.
John F. Kennedy had the same problem in 1960, a young Senator running against a better-known, more experienced political figure, and he overcame it. Eleanor Roosevelt, late in life, compared him to her husband being energized by the campaign crowds of 1932.
In the era of TV and the Internet, Obama is capable of outdoing them both.
Of all the demographic divisions--gender, race, age, economic status, education--Obama faces the most crucial of all, between those who have been paying attention and those who haven't.
With all the new registrations, this year's total of voters is sure to exceed the 122 million of 2004, and the Democratic candidate's challenge will be to make himself known to those like the woman in West Virginia who rejected him saying, "No More Hussein," and millions more who don't know even that much about him.
Presidential campaigns, for better or worse, come down to the perceived character of the candidates, and Obama has come a long way but is still relatively unknown to many, if not most, voters.
In Iowa last night, he asserted that the hard-fought battle for the nomination was good for his party, saying, "Now, some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided. But I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction."
For the next six months, the Obama campaign will be all about going beyond the energized and united to reach the apathetic, the uninformed and the fearful to persuade them that they and their families will be better off with him in the Oval Office than John McCain.
John F. Kennedy had the same problem in 1960, a young Senator running against a better-known, more experienced political figure, and he overcame it. Eleanor Roosevelt, late in life, compared him to her husband being energized by the campaign crowds of 1932.
In the era of TV and the Internet, Obama is capable of outdoing them both.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
McCain's Backward Media March
For a campaign in which he faces a quarter-of-a-century age gap with Barack Obama, John McCain has been busy searching for the media's Fountain of Youth, last night on SNL and with a forthcoming interview in Glamour.
Taking a leaf from his hero, Ronald Reagan, who was even older when running for reelection in 1984, McCain is making jokes about his age. In a presidential debate back then, the 73-year-old Reagan deadpanned about Walter Mondale: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
In a parody political ad on Saturday Night Live, McCain emoted, “Good evening, my fellow Americans. I ask you: what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old...I have the courage, the wisdom, the experience and most importantly, the oldness necessary."
He added that controlling government spending was about being able to look your children in the eye, “or in my case my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and great-great-great grandchildren--the youngest of whom are nearing retirement.’’
Interviewed by Glamour, whose readers are young women under 35, McCain says he finds the website, ThingsYoungerMcCain.com., "hilarious." Told that Scrabble, the Golden Gate Bridge and area codes are on the list, he added, "Yes indeed. Not to mention the Internet and...maybe even color TV."
Technically, experimental color sets predate him, but not cable TV. More importantly, he is senior to the whole generation of Baby Boomers, who now make up the majority of older voters.
But that won't faze the potentially most ancient President ever to take office, who has been one of Jon Stewart's most frequent Daily Show guests. Next stop: Sesame Street.
Taking a leaf from his hero, Ronald Reagan, who was even older when running for reelection in 1984, McCain is making jokes about his age. In a presidential debate back then, the 73-year-old Reagan deadpanned about Walter Mondale: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
In a parody political ad on Saturday Night Live, McCain emoted, “Good evening, my fellow Americans. I ask you: what should we be looking for in our next president? Certainly, someone who is very, very, very old...I have the courage, the wisdom, the experience and most importantly, the oldness necessary."
He added that controlling government spending was about being able to look your children in the eye, “or in my case my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and great-great-great grandchildren--the youngest of whom are nearing retirement.’’
Interviewed by Glamour, whose readers are young women under 35, McCain says he finds the website, ThingsYoungerMcCain.com., "hilarious." Told that Scrabble, the Golden Gate Bridge and area codes are on the list, he added, "Yes indeed. Not to mention the Internet and...maybe even color TV."
Technically, experimental color sets predate him, but not cable TV. More importantly, he is senior to the whole generation of Baby Boomers, who now make up the majority of older voters.
But that won't faze the potentially most ancient President ever to take office, who has been one of Jon Stewart's most frequent Daily Show guests. Next stop: Sesame Street.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Hillary's Last Hurrah
So it ends not with a bang but a whimper, the slow dribbling away of her "tiebreaker" victory in Indiana as Barack Obama seals the nomination in North Carolina, "a big state, a swing state," as he put it, and more to the point, a state that gave him a resounding margin after the Jeremiah Wright disaster brought his viability into question.
The chatter about Florida and Michigan, the blather about remaining primaries should start to fade as the superdelegate slide toward Obama begins in earnest and the Democratic Party gets itself together for November.
Obama, in effect, gave his acceptance speech last night and began the campaign against John McCain. Clinton talked gamely about fighting on, but there was a valedictory tone in her voice. Both started the painful process of reaching out for unity and, if Obama chooses, sharing the ticket.
The New York Times headline, "Options Dwindling for Clinton," is an understatement. The campaign is running out of money, running out of arguments about electability and out of contortions to make the primary process look closer than it has been.
What Obama has accomplished in little more than a year, aside from the racial breakthrough, is unprecedented in modern American politics--coming from relative obscurity to take the nomination from a dynastic opponent who was almost universally believed to be unbeatable.
In the past month, he has been tested and toughened by the Wright stuff and surmounted it. John McCain is facing a long, hard summer and fall.
The chatter about Florida and Michigan, the blather about remaining primaries should start to fade as the superdelegate slide toward Obama begins in earnest and the Democratic Party gets itself together for November.
Obama, in effect, gave his acceptance speech last night and began the campaign against John McCain. Clinton talked gamely about fighting on, but there was a valedictory tone in her voice. Both started the painful process of reaching out for unity and, if Obama chooses, sharing the ticket.
The New York Times headline, "Options Dwindling for Clinton," is an understatement. The campaign is running out of money, running out of arguments about electability and out of contortions to make the primary process look closer than it has been.
What Obama has accomplished in little more than a year, aside from the racial breakthrough, is unprecedented in modern American politics--coming from relative obscurity to take the nomination from a dynastic opponent who was almost universally believed to be unbeatable.
In the past month, he has been tested and toughened by the Wright stuff and surmounted it. John McCain is facing a long, hard summer and fall.
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