John McCain is a genius
You can agree or disagree with his politics, but McCain’s move to suspend his campaign earlier today was nothing short of pure political genius. With polls showing a slight Obama surge in the beginning of the week (due mostly to American distrust of the Republican White House during this economic crisis), this move places McCain in the driver’s seat heading into the first debate (whenever that will be).
For Obama, the situation is politically impossible. Neither of his two choices look good:
1. He can agree to suspend his campaign, pull his television and radio ads and cancel all public appearances (as McCain did today). But to do so makes him look reactionary, like one of the “little kids” at the playground chasing after the ‘big kids’ in follow the leader. For Obama, the last thing he wants to look like is a follower. And the decision to explicitly follow what amounts to an order from John McCain would require a considerable amount of humility as well.
2. His other alternative isn’t much better. To reject the call to suspend the campaign, and forge on with the debate, with his ads and with his public schedule would make him look, at best, uncompassionate and ambitious, and, at worst, calculated and cutthroat, taking advantage of a political “opening” while John McCain is off the radar.
So far, Obama’s taken a middle-of-the-road approach in his answer: “Let’s do both at once.” Whether that’s a principled response or a deer-in-the-headlights moment, I guess we’ll see.
In a year this bad for Republicans, John McCain has to view himself as the underdog. And in order for him to have any chance at winning this election, he has to place himself in control of the campaign’s tone and story line. As Jonathan Martin at Politico.com notes, ironically, it took McCain suspending his campaign to really begin to take control of the campaign.
To be sure, there were considerable risks for McCain in this gamble. But, at least as it looks to me right now, this move was, in a word, genius.
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I actually disagree, to a certain extent.
While Obama now has to “react” to McCain’s move (which he did so, intelligently), I think most people will look at McCain’s move as largely reactionary and downright cowardly. His campaign message has been entirely scattered and strangely nonsensical, as of late, with him saying the “fundamentals” line a week ago, and now saying, “this is really bad, we need to work together” (even after saying this was the Democrats’ fault, too). So, while Obama is reacting to a single move by McCain, McCain looks like he has been moving to the beat of Obama’s drum for the past 10 days. This latest strategy was his monkey wrench, however, he now looks like a fool since Obama said, “how about we do both at once?”
You also have to look at the end result, as well. McCain just put forth this notion that this bill needs to be done and he looks like he’s going to try and “take the credit” for the legislation (if it passes). If that happens, will the McCain “bailout” look good to voters? I doubt it (especially since they’re paying for it).
Chris H.
September 24, 2008 at 11:15 pm
McCAin Running, Palin Hiding….it’s a good day after all.
Young man, I would say it more a matter of cowardice then genius. McCAin is losing, nothing will change this.
The NeoConvicts are done. The state of the economy seals the coffin. The polls do not even matter, the word in the street does. And the street says McCAin and Palin get to go home Nov 5th. And oh yeah, Alaska said since palin is letting McCAin run her business in the State she does not have to come back. Run, Johnny run!!!
Peter Archanjo
September 24, 2008 at 11:34 pm
You have GOT to be kidding? John McCain’s tactics are not genius. They show he can’t compete. John McCain is the kid who can’t play ball as well as the other kids, so he takes the ball home.
Through all this, Palin is AWOL. It is obvious she is not ready to even campaign, let alone be VP.
Fred L.
September 25, 2008 at 12:02 am
LOL. This is the biggest croc I have red ll day. McCain is no genius, far from it. It doesn’t take much brains to be at least #300 in a class of almost 900, especially if your father and grandfather were admirals in the US Navy. That being said, McCain is an idiot in every sense of the word. And you s a conservative blogger needs to find yourself a more successful hobby on the web. LMAO
bill
September 25, 2008 at 12:03 am
ECONOMY IS THE WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION
“THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE ECONOMY ARE SOUND” John McCain – so called next President of the USA.
If we lose the war on the economy, how are we going to win the war on terrorsim?
All you Republicans who voted for Bush are responsible for this economic crisis.
Even the Iranian President at the UN Assembly predicted the collapse of USA as an economic super power.
Lets vote Republican again.
It appears that McCain and Bush want Obama to help the Republicans to save the economy.
fonseka
September 25, 2008 at 12:06 am
With McCain not available for the debate, this is the ideal time for Palin to show that she is ready to step in and fill McCains shoes with limited notice since she is completely ready to take over.
We would never see that as Palin is not ready to talk to the press or the public. Palin is not ready to lead the campaign or directly debate Obama. She is just not ready to lead the country.
mike
September 25, 2008 at 1:45 am
You think it’s genius? Oh, it’s not a conscious sort of political stunt, it’s genuine. The issue, you see, actually is John McCain’s age, health, intellectual functions and mental capacities. They’re deteriorating because of his advanced age, and he just can’t multi task anymore. He simply does not have the intellectual vigor and physical stamina or work ethic of the younger Senator Obama. Can’t do two things at once any more.
How do I know he can’t do two things at once? Why, it’s in the US Senate records – go see. He just has not been able to sustain his senate work load AND take part in his campaign. Since 2006, his senate record is paper thin – - it’s his age, and this is a big issue for the presidency. Ssshh though! Not a word to anyone. He prefers everyone to think HE has the robust record, and Obama’s is slim. He might have a bi-polar explosion if the truth gets out.
During the 2-year period, 07-08, poor old McCain sponsored a total of only 158 bills (20 were merely commemmorative resolutions) 22 of which he introduced. BIG DIFFERENCE WITH OBAMA he sponsored 481 bills, 70 he introduced. Get it? Obama worked on 3 times as much legislation as McCain – plus Obama’s bills were ALL on major domestic policy, and some international – stuff like ethics reform, education, tax avoidance, voters rights, nuclear disarmament, health, education, veterans rights, Katrina, law enforcement, Katrina, you name it. Old Mac’s were mainly on military and Indian issues, although I think there were 2 or 3 on ethics.
Mac got really slow & tired in ‘08. Only managed 4 bills. ‘The One’, as usual, churned them out – sponsored 196 major bills, all the while campaigning away against Hillary, then Johnny Boy. Oh and Obama
issued 78 written statements, calls-to-action to President Bush and his Administration, bringing issues to their attention and making recommendations, or commenting on bills. AND the showoff, he delivered 17 policy statements from the floor of the Senate. The little white-haired dude only managed one statement from the floor.
Not sure he was even at the Senate much, or at all, since April.
Oh, I forgot. While all the political nonsense about the financial collapse and the Bailout was going on? Obama issued 4 strong written statements to President Bush and Secretary Paulsen, starting on Sept 9, challenging them to protect US workers rights in the deal, to limit CEO pay and to disallow golden parachutes, etc. Yep, two weeks ago while McCain was napping, Obama was hard at work – so if you hear from the McCain camp that HE was the one who first brought up CEO Pay, golden parachites etc., he wasn’t…he just copied Obama. It was easier that way, Obama’s statements are all online.
That’s the issue. I think Mac should undergo physical testing before the election and results released to the public. Because I think the work load of the presidency would kill the old guy off. If he can’t handle working on two things at once, spend a day in negotiations in Washington (although the committee doing all the negotiations said tonight he won’t take any role and they’ve almost finished!!)dementia may have set in. May even be the dementia that makes his memory so bad and why he lies.
Poor OLD McCain. Better we found out now, before the election, that he’s just not up to the job.
Annemarie
September 25, 2008 at 2:02 am
are you confusing the word blatant with genius?
Do you not understand how reckless and silly this looks?
The only thing that has saved his a$$ is that Bush just so happened to call them both for an invite to the white house…. how nice
I’m sure a lot will get accomplished. It is also a bit sad that you seem to think this type of leadership is the way to go. Its called grandstanding and McCains not good at it, nor is it the time… Seeing as its such a dire crisis… Contradicting himself over and over is not conservative it is just stupid…. Call it what it is
I sick of little toddlers like you picking sides and trying to force sh!t down your fellow republicans throats just because a republican said it. Good luck with that and everyday I realize I must vote for Barack Obama…
erik
September 25, 2008 at 6:51 am
Your comments are quite sound and the reaction from the left seems to substantiate that. The Obama campaign clearly was caught off guard with this moved – almost as much as they were with the selection of Governor Palin.
The debate Friday was to be on Foreign Policy. If the Obama inner circle had a clue the immdiate reaction should have been to change that topic; offer to make that debate about the economy. Does anyone seriously think that Senator McCain woould have been bested by Barack Obama on the topic of Foreign Policy? Lets remember, Senator Obama has been campainging for President about as long as he’s been in Senate. In other words his only hope was to not do too poorly.
Its interesting how the initial reaction liberals have when trying to defend a position or make a point is to make personal attacks.
Preston Thomas
September 25, 2008 at 9:37 am
hahahahaha Best. Satire. Ever.
SushiJoe
September 25, 2008 at 11:34 am
I’d like a president who can multi-task without needing a nap. But that’s just me.
2Wolves
September 25, 2008 at 11:36 am
“1. He can agree to suspend his campaign, pull his television and radio ads and cancel all public appearances (as McCain did today).”
McCain did no such thing. His campaign ads are still running, he did a segment with Katie Couric yesterday (canceling on and blatantly lying to Letterman in the process), and today he is STILL in New York, having just made a public appearance at a Clinton event.
Also, my understanding is that unlike McCain, Obama is already back in D.C. How “genius” does McCain look now?
Adam
September 25, 2008 at 11:38 am
The main distinction here is between grand strategy and tactical moves that are more short-term. Neither of which would equate to genius in this case – while there may be both tactical and strategic political geniuses – John McCain is certainly not one of them.
Sean
September 25, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Has anyone noted how horribly off the mark Green was with this? This can be pointed to as the moment McCain’s campaign really started going downhill – hardly a stroke of genius. Clearly, it was a “politically impossible” situation for Obama.
Jeremy Gordon
October 24, 2008 at 1:56 pm