McCain bumbles the delivery
By: Jonathan Martin
The Politico
June 6, 2008
NEW ORLEANS – As Democrats buzzed this week about their new de facto nominee, his historic candidacy and the unlikely political demise of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican circles were humming with another topic.
The topic: Is there a way John McCain can win the presidency without giving another speech?
That’s overstated, of course, but the concern about McCain’s wooden and stumbling address before a few hundred supporters here Tuesday night – the same evening as Barack Obama’s soaring acceptance address before thousands of screaming fans – has sent something of a shudder through the party and left GOP operatives shaking their heads in dismay.
Not coincidentally, one of the first things McCain did as the general election campaign began in earnest was to challenge Obama to an unprecedented 10 joint town hall meetings this summer. The Obama camp expressed some initial interest.
The proposal was hatched well before McCain’s Tuesday speech but reflects the campaign’s long-held awareness of the Arizona senator’s communications strengths and weaknesses. To sympathetic Republicans, the prospect of getting McCain out from behind a lectern and back into the town hall format he loves couldn’t come soon enough. To the McCain inner circle, the visual and stylistic contrast with Obama on Tuesday night was both plain to see and painful in the extreme.
(Continued here.)
The Politico
June 6, 2008
NEW ORLEANS – As Democrats buzzed this week about their new de facto nominee, his historic candidacy and the unlikely political demise of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican circles were humming with another topic.
The topic: Is there a way John McCain can win the presidency without giving another speech?
That’s overstated, of course, but the concern about McCain’s wooden and stumbling address before a few hundred supporters here Tuesday night – the same evening as Barack Obama’s soaring acceptance address before thousands of screaming fans – has sent something of a shudder through the party and left GOP operatives shaking their heads in dismay.
Not coincidentally, one of the first things McCain did as the general election campaign began in earnest was to challenge Obama to an unprecedented 10 joint town hall meetings this summer. The Obama camp expressed some initial interest.
The proposal was hatched well before McCain’s Tuesday speech but reflects the campaign’s long-held awareness of the Arizona senator’s communications strengths and weaknesses. To sympathetic Republicans, the prospect of getting McCain out from behind a lectern and back into the town hall format he loves couldn’t come soon enough. To the McCain inner circle, the visual and stylistic contrast with Obama on Tuesday night was both plain to see and painful in the extreme.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home