by Jim Tankersley
Sen. John McCain spent a lot of time this week making light of the media's focus on his presidential opponent, Democrat Barack Obama - even issuing "junior varsity" press passes to the reporters covering the Arizona Republican while Obama trekked across the Middle East and Europe with network anchors in tow and releasing a Web video mocking the media's Obama affection.
But maybe keeping the spotlight on Obama is a great strategy for McCain.
Consider: Polls show Americans are overwhelmingly upset with the Bush administration and the direction of the country. Both are recipes for a blowout for the incumbent party. But a batch of polls this week show McCain nipping at Obama's heels, both nationally and in swing states.
Why, you ask? One distinct possibility is that a lot of voters don't see this election as a referendum on Bush or the direction of the nation, but on Obama. And it's clear from polling that they're still not sold on the junior senator from Illinois. More than half the respondents in a recent poll by The Economist magazine, for example, described Obama as "inexperienced" - just the sort of doubt that McCain's campaign is cultivating.
By that logic, the longer McCain can keep voters focused on Obama - and keep cultivating those doubts - the better his chances to win in November. To the extent McCain wants attention, it's to his arguments that he's a good alternative for Obama-wary voters. It may be his best path to victory; it certainly appears to be the one he's on now.
Consider McCain's campaign press releases this week, while Obama was overseas. Close to 20 of them rapped Obama directly. McCain's weekly radio address begins with three paragraphs of direct Obama criticism:
"Good morning. I'm John McCain, and this week the presidential contest was a long-distance affair, with my opponent touring various continents and arriving yesterday in Paris. With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to 'the people of the world,' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too.
"Back here in the country that we are competing to lead, a lot folks were having trouble trying to square Senator Obama's multiple positions on the surge in Iraq. First, he opposed the surge and confidently predicted that it would fail. Then he tried to prevent funding for the troops who carried out the surge. But now that it's clear that the surge has succeeded, and brought victory in Iraq within sight, Senator Obama can't quite bring himself to admit his own failure in judgment. Instead, he commits the even greater error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would still oppose the surge. Even in retrospect, he would choose the path of retreat and failure for America over the path of success and victory. That's not exactly my idea of the judgment we seek in a commander-in-chief.
"Oddly enough, my opponent advocates the deployment of two new combat brigades to Afghanistan -- in other words, a surge. We're left to wonder how he can deny that the surge in Iraq has succeeded, while at the same time announcing that a surge is just what we need in Afghanistan. I'll leave all these questions for my opponent and his team of 300 foreign policy advisors to work out for themselves. With luck, they'll get their story straight by the time the Obama campaign returns to North America."
Obama is back to the domestic campaign trail this week. It'll be interesting to see how "left out" McCain keeps feeling now - and how much he wants to be.
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Comments
LOL nice article, I agree with the author. But I think all this coverage and such a warm reception has gone to Obamas head, and it shows. I saw the vidoe of Obama smoking a cigar on his europe trip, News hasnt showed it though. I guess its a victory cigar. LOL, IF you want to see the video its at http://www.theobamaplan.com not realated but I dont want to be bias So if anyone wants to see the video of McCain falling? Its so grainy. I havnt heard anything on the news so IM figuring it must be old or something. I was thinking if McCain takes many more falls he might break his hip. Though It wouldnt slow him down much though because he doesnt do much on the campaign trail as it is. If you want to see the video I think It was at http://www.mccanes.com Its not on the home page, but on one of the links there. I thinks its the clip lkni. Hmm. Im not warming to either candidate yet.
Posted by: Paul | July 26, 2008 1:25 PM
Definitely helped McCain, snubbing the troops for instance-plus trying to be something that he isn't as of now-
Posted by: George | July 26, 2008 1:49 PM
It's no surprise that the media is so in love and bowled over with Obama. They are so in desparate need of another "Camelot" administration, that they will overlook any lack of qualification this man has to lead one of the the world's most powerful nations. If not, then can anyone explain why there has been no focus or hard-line questioning about statements made by Obama himself and published in his books? Anyone else would have been put under the microscope. Are they afraid of what the answers will be? That what they find will not jive with what they want? Regardless of what party the candidate is, each one of the men running should be put through grueling questioning for the most important job positions in the world. Any corporation in the world would do the same, why not our people? Wake up America and start asking the HARD questions and may the best man win. Then, America wins, too. This isn't a popularity contest.
Posted by: T. Guinn | July 26, 2008 1:58 PM
John McSame's campaign has run off the rails, I mean what does he stand for anymore? He spends every waking hour attacking Obama and not telling anyone squat about what he plans to do about anything. His campaign would already be toast if the corporate media would report on all of his gaffes and bs lies.
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Posted by: The Big Orange Satan | July 26, 2008 3:13 PM
Obama attention good for McCain?
Yes...and black is white and up is down!
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | July 26, 2008 3:27 PM
More than half the respondents in a recent poll by The Economist magazine, for example,
were conservatives and academics.....
Most Americans have never read the Economist. Just Saying.
Posted by: mdh | July 26, 2008 3:28 PM
I wonder how tagging Obama as inexperienced relates to the Bush disasters of the past 7+ years? And the fact is, McCain will destroy this republic by hastening the disastrous policies puked up by Bushco. A vote for McCain is a vote for Al Qaeda.
Posted by: ronjazz | July 26, 2008 3:44 PM
I wonder how tagging Obama as inexperienced relates to the Bush disasters of the past 7+ years? And the fact is, McCain will destroy this republic by hastening the disastrous policies puked up by Bushco. A vote for McCain is a vote for Al Qaeda.
Posted by: ronjazz | July 26, 2008 3:44 PM
Nonsense.
Is McCormick's ghost now running that paper?
Posted by: Jack Conway | July 26, 2008 3:49 PM
On the contrary, daily polls show no "erosion" of support for Obama as a result of his overseas tour. It's really a reach, Mr. Tankersley, to cite polls conducted before the tour as a referendum on Obama's tour, which, I remind you, just ended yesterday. I'd be surprised, very surprised, if the public's opinion of McCain's public whining about Obama's attention reflected favorably upon him. Except among McCain's "base", that is.
Posted by: James | July 26, 2008 4:48 PM
Obama did not "snub" the troops. That is a Republican talking point slur. Military policy forbids Presidential Candidates from visiting bases during an election year. The McCain campaign knows this, yet still spews this nonsense to reporters who dutifly repeat it without getting a response from the other side of the issue.
Posted by: Bill | July 26, 2008 5:46 PM
Would the John McCain of 2000 vote for the John McCain of 2008?
I doubt it.
What a sad transformation.
Posted by: Zak44 | July 26, 2008 6:02 PM
To the commenter George:
How in the world did Obama snub the troops? I didn't know GOP hacks posted on this site. Can't you think of anything original to say?
That snub business was an outright lie. Look it up.
Posted by: BMW | July 26, 2008 6:29 PM
To the commenter George:
How in the world did Obama snub the troops? I didn't know GOP hacks posted on this site. Can't you think of anything original to say?
That snub business was an outright lie. Look it up.
Posted by: BMW | July 26, 2008 6:29 PM
I heard something on the radio about people being angered by a famous Marxist poster hanging in the window of one of Obamas political offices in Texas. Didn't catch the entire story, anyone hear about that?
The article seems to suggest that we haven't been convinced yet, well I hadn't decided until I looked into what Obama stand for and I made my mind up relatively quick. I would rather pick someone who has values closer to mine.
I guess I'm one of those who are frightened by the prospect of what I have found out about Obama and I will vote for McCain, he may be a bit liberal in some areas for me, but I could do a lot worse ha.
Posted by: Teresa | July 27, 2008 8:33 AM
http://www.memeorandum.com/080211/p145#a080211p145
I never saw this story before.This is the flag with Che on it that is on Obama's Texas political office.
Posted by: Teresa | July 27, 2008 8:23 PM
But maybe keeping the spotlight on Obama is a great strategy for McCain.
Joking, right?
Let me be the first Regular Amurikan to suggest, very fervently, that McCain "bring it on." oh please, oh please, oh please . . .
Is "frightened" really the word that describes McCain supporters? Interesting.
Posted by: Bogus Trumper | July 28, 2008 2:05 PM
It is absolutely a good thing for McCain that the media is focused on Obama, because if not they would be focused on asking him the hard questions, like does he actually has a platform other than selectively reacting to things his opponent says? Or they might be asking McCain to point out the Pakistan-Iraqi border that he refers to on a map. There would probably be many more questions about why when a questioner referred to Senator Clinton as a b**tch, he laughed and said her question was "excellent". And if the democrats were to ever take a page from the Rove playbook, im sure there would be many more questions (based on his biography in wikipedia) such as how does his conservative base feel about the fact that he committed adultery prior to divorcing his first wife after her car accident in favor of a woman 20 years younger. Or about about why he graduated at the bottom of his class and crashed so many planes in non-combat situations (at least three). He admits to not knowing much about the economy, and his advisors seem to think that America's economic situation is fine and dandy and people need to stop "whining". He consistently votes against increasing benefits for vets, and then claims he doesn't (a veteran confronted him about it, its on google). I mean, does McCain stand for anything other than making sure we stay committed to winning the war on an inanimate object? He should be thankful the media is focused elsewhere.
I cant believe this is even a contest
Posted by: Brian | July 29, 2008 4:23 AM