McCain's Gambles Not Paying Off
By Bob Beckel
RealClearPoliitcs
In less than a month now McCain has rolled the political dice twice to change the campaign's dynamics and twice he has damaged himself. McCain has managed to diminish his advantage on experience by his ham handed attempts to get credit on an economic consensus and failed. And by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain made a run at the Obama dominated "change" vote which is backfiring with each (rare) interview Palin gives and each revelation about her Alaska record emerges.
Prior to the Wall Street meltdown and in the weeks leading up to the Republican Convention the McCain campaign had been on the offensive. From the beginning of the general election McCain's strategy has been to maximize his experience in foreign policy and national security and simultaneously maximize Obama's weakness in both. Obama's trip this summer to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Europe was intended to deal with those perceptions.
The trip was by every measure a success. He made no blunders. Obama received some support for his Iraqi troop withdrawal plan from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, and after McCain had maligned Obama's proposal for direct talks with Iran the Bush Administration announced the opening of dialogue with Tehran. Obama's trip appeared to bolster his international image.
But the McCain campaign seized on Obama's stop in Germany where 200,000 Germans gave him a raucous welcome by running ads comparing the reception to the equivalent of a Britney Spears/Paris Hilton celebrity tour. In the process the McCain campaign diminished what had been a successful trip, applauded by the main stream media, and turned it (in part at least) into a shallow idolatry tour in the eyes of many main street voters who still have serious questions about Obama.
After undercutting Obama's trip, McCain made a bold but fateful decision to challenge Obama's strength (and McCain's weakness) as the candidate of change. In a year thought by many to give the Democratic candidate a lock on change McCain decided to use his convention and vice presidential choice to challenge Obama for the change vote. McCain, like Hillary Clinton before him, must have concluded that experience, though important, would not be enough to win in a powerful change year like 2008.
(Continued here.)
RealClearPoliitcs
In less than a month now McCain has rolled the political dice twice to change the campaign's dynamics and twice he has damaged himself. McCain has managed to diminish his advantage on experience by his ham handed attempts to get credit on an economic consensus and failed. And by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain made a run at the Obama dominated "change" vote which is backfiring with each (rare) interview Palin gives and each revelation about her Alaska record emerges.
Prior to the Wall Street meltdown and in the weeks leading up to the Republican Convention the McCain campaign had been on the offensive. From the beginning of the general election McCain's strategy has been to maximize his experience in foreign policy and national security and simultaneously maximize Obama's weakness in both. Obama's trip this summer to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Europe was intended to deal with those perceptions.
The trip was by every measure a success. He made no blunders. Obama received some support for his Iraqi troop withdrawal plan from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, and after McCain had maligned Obama's proposal for direct talks with Iran the Bush Administration announced the opening of dialogue with Tehran. Obama's trip appeared to bolster his international image.
But the McCain campaign seized on Obama's stop in Germany where 200,000 Germans gave him a raucous welcome by running ads comparing the reception to the equivalent of a Britney Spears/Paris Hilton celebrity tour. In the process the McCain campaign diminished what had been a successful trip, applauded by the main stream media, and turned it (in part at least) into a shallow idolatry tour in the eyes of many main street voters who still have serious questions about Obama.
After undercutting Obama's trip, McCain made a bold but fateful decision to challenge Obama's strength (and McCain's weakness) as the candidate of change. In a year thought by many to give the Democratic candidate a lock on change McCain decided to use his convention and vice presidential choice to challenge Obama for the change vote. McCain, like Hillary Clinton before him, must have concluded that experience, though important, would not be enough to win in a powerful change year like 2008.
(Continued here.)
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