If McCain Really Wanted To Win
The McCain campaign will apparently pursue a 1988-style campaign of deceit and smears against Barack Obama. They'll say he's unpatriotic, soft on crime, soft on terrorism, secretly Muslim, socialist, Marxist, a Black Panther, a Weather Underground sympathizer, a Hamas sympathizer, and, oh yeah, he's just too young and inexperienced.
But this isn't 1988 anymore, and it's not 2004 anymore. And most important, Barack Obama is not Michael Dukakis or John Kerry or even Al Gore. He is comfortable in his own skin, he's got a great counterpunch, and he gives the best speeches we've seen from a politician since early Clinton and RFK. Hillary Clinton tried these same tactics against Obama and lost, despite having just about every institutional advantage possible.
And let's face it -- the Republican brand is at its lowest point since Watergate. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern history. If John McCain, who is basically pushing all of Bush's policies, really wants to get elected then he has to take some bold steps.
Here is our advice:
1. Publicly disinvite George W. Bush from the Republican National Convention.
2. Publicly disinvite Dick Cheney from the Republican National Convention.
3. Invite Colin Powell and Christine Todd Whitman to speak instead.
4. Announce that you will "win" the Iraq war in your first three years, and pull out in year 4 no matter what.
5. Name Mike Huckabee as VP
I have plenty of other advice (single-payer health care, higher taxes on rich, clean energy investments, New Deal-type infrastructure programs, rooting out war profiteers, etc.) but I know that neither McCain nor the Republican party would ever accept such popular proposals.
Indeed, it is unlikely verging on ridiculous to think McCain's camp would consider the advice above. But distancing himself from Bush, beating back the "100 years in Iraq" comment, and placating the Christian base while putting a fiscal moderate on the ticket would do wonders for the McCain campaign's prospects. It takes on their three biggest weaknesses and really establishes McCain as a maverick.
But I don't think we'll be seeing any of this, do you?
But this isn't 1988 anymore, and it's not 2004 anymore. And most important, Barack Obama is not Michael Dukakis or John Kerry or even Al Gore. He is comfortable in his own skin, he's got a great counterpunch, and he gives the best speeches we've seen from a politician since early Clinton and RFK. Hillary Clinton tried these same tactics against Obama and lost, despite having just about every institutional advantage possible.
And let's face it -- the Republican brand is at its lowest point since Watergate. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern history. If John McCain, who is basically pushing all of Bush's policies, really wants to get elected then he has to take some bold steps.
Here is our advice:
1. Publicly disinvite George W. Bush from the Republican National Convention.
2. Publicly disinvite Dick Cheney from the Republican National Convention.
3. Invite Colin Powell and Christine Todd Whitman to speak instead.
4. Announce that you will "win" the Iraq war in your first three years, and pull out in year 4 no matter what.
5. Name Mike Huckabee as VP
I have plenty of other advice (single-payer health care, higher taxes on rich, clean energy investments, New Deal-type infrastructure programs, rooting out war profiteers, etc.) but I know that neither McCain nor the Republican party would ever accept such popular proposals.
Indeed, it is unlikely verging on ridiculous to think McCain's camp would consider the advice above. But distancing himself from Bush, beating back the "100 years in Iraq" comment, and placating the Christian base while putting a fiscal moderate on the ticket would do wonders for the McCain campaign's prospects. It takes on their three biggest weaknesses and really establishes McCain as a maverick.
But I don't think we'll be seeing any of this, do you?
posted by Existenz | 9:38 AM
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