McCains Real Problem
Posted on | July 4, 2008
So I have confessed that John McCain was not my first or my second choice as Republican nominee for President. But as the parties nominee, I will vote for him. But at this moment, I am not feeling warm and fuzzy for his chances.
His campaign remains in disarray. This is nothing new. It is what put him in the position of being declared dead before the primary season began. It is to his credit that he arose from the ashes to reclaim the nomination. However, we stand at another crossroads. The Democratic nominee is set, he is a formidable fundraiser, an astute campaigner with a strong organization and a willingness to attack the jugular with surrogates while Senator McCain stands there wishing for a gentler, kinder type of campaign.
The recent flap over the comments by Wesley Clark denigrating the service of John McCain was quite revealing. For one, it revealed the greatest fear of the Obama campaign (McCain’s credibility on Foreign Policy and National Security) and a strong established network of surrogates set to unleash all manner of dubious attacks and credible support for making the big lie real. Note the piling on by all manner of left wing blogs, “Democratic Strategists” and other supposed independents.
It also revealed that if the McCain camp had any well organized structure to fight back against such an attack, it is very well concealed and disguised as at arms length. This is where I get nervous. McCain had many people jump to his defense. But no real response from the campaign and this feeds into the emerging undercurrent that McCain is not the steel nerved, experienced warrior that his service and history in the Senate actually portray. No, they spent their time talking about reorganization and the faux pas of making every effort to repulse the base on immigration. Fortunately, the miscalculation of the Obama campign with this attack diverted attention from the tumult of the McCain campaign.
In captivity, McCain was beaten more severely than any torture he fights against being perpetrated on our captives in Guantanamo. He was offered the chance to escape the pain, the suffering and the very real chance that he could have died in captivity because of his status as the son of an Admiral. What he did was look his captives in the eye and refuse to leave without his fellow captives. There is no more credible testament to the qualification of his character to be President than this single act.
But the failure to look his attackers square in the eye and assert the imperative of his moral position, he sat back and let his surrogates assume the defense at what was the most opportune of timing. I do not question John McCain’s character or bravery, I question his will to win.
John McCain is known for his temper. He spared no veneer of comity when he told John Cornyn to F**k off when Cornyn resisted being railroaded on the Immigration “Reform” debacle. He showed equal brashness when assuming the mantle of leadership over the “Gang of Fourteen”, yet, in the midst of the Presidential Campaign, McCain makes every stretch to avoid asserting the strength of character or will that he evinced in numerous other fights. He is apparently willing to piss off anyone but Barack Obama and the leftist base that he apparently thinks he can pick off at the fringes.
Politics is the most dangerous contact sport played without weapons. Only war can be said to be more brutal or barbaric. This is how it should be. The leader of the most powerful (and most viable) Democracy in the world has the unequaled responsibility to defend, extend and protect that Democracy, not only for us privileged few granted the good graces to have been born to it, but also for all those that aspire to join it.
If John McCain retained his will to survive his captivity at the hands of the North Vietnamese, I just hope it was not at the expense of his will to win when the stakes are so high. Only time will reveal this, but time is running short. McCain must reach down and find the courage of his convictions if he is to win this election.
There is much to attack Obama on. His associations with Wright, Ayers and so many radical organizations will be fought by the surrogates on the right as it should be. McCain will need to attack him strong and hard every day on his flip flops which have started to occur on a daily basis. He also needs to drive home the point that for a mant that claims to be the onwer of so amny principled stands, he never seems to be able to find the time to register his vote for any of them. He muust b erelentless in the attack.
McCain keeps claiming to want to “discuss the issues” with Obama in front of the issues. If he waits for Obama to say yes, he will never have that discussion, so Senator do not wait. You have that conversation with us, without Obama. If you do, he will be forced to cave again and agree to your town meeing format, but only if your start the converstaion without him.
McCain needs to keep driving home the point that while we cannot drill our way out of our dependence on foreign oil, neither can we by standing around talking about “hope change hope change” while demonizing the oil companies that bring us what is the lifeblood of our economy. We will need to take all available measures and yes, develop new, clean technologies to supplant much of the demand for carbon. But standing firm against the use of current technologies and the development of our native resources not only stops us from moving forward to solutions, it endangers our National Security and yes the hopes and dreams of those that look to the United States as the greatest hope for freedom and prosperity for them, their children and their children’s children.
He must also stop taking every opportunity to rub the face of his base in the steaming pile with visits to Mexico in support of an immigration reform already rejected by the base of the party, but also the majority of Americans. We still believe in the rule of law, we do not believe in undermining that precept for the sake of economic expediency.
McCain can win this election, if he chooses to engage the fight as it is and not as he might wish it to be. There are millions of us that hope that he will.
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