McCain’s Misguided Strategy?

By Michael A. Cohen
NYT

As the 2008 general election heats up, one of John McCain’s strongest political advantages is his opponent Barack Obama’s lack of political experience. No surprise there: when Mr. McCain began his political career, Mr. Obama was still a college student.

But lately, Mr. McCain seems to be taking the experience argument in an extreme direction: intimating that Mr. Obama doesn’t actually know, well, much of anything.

Here, for example, is Mr. McCain in a recent op-ed in The Detroit Free Press: “Those who would lead our countries must work to ensure that the benefits of NAFTA are understood throughout our countries, and not jeopardized through cowboy diplomacy. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama does not understand this.”

Or how about the recent Supreme Court decision on granting the right of habeas corpus to Guantanamo detainees: “Senator Obama is obviously confused about what the United States Supreme Court decided and what he is calling for,” Mr. McCain said in a blog entry posted on June 19.

On the recently proposed extension of the G.I. Bill, the McCain campaign issued a statement blasting Senator Obama for failing to “take the time and trouble to understand this issue.”

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