Posted by Shyam Moondra
In recent weeks, Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency, seems to have lost it completely. His campaign is so poorly run that one has to wonder how he is going to manage the country! He has not presented any cohesive plan to deal with the pressing substantive issues of economy, energy, etc. Lately, he has resorted to attack ads against Sen. Barack Obama, which is inconsistent with his reputation as being straight shooter and above dirty politics.
Let's look at some facts:
1. McCain made statements that had factual errors and had to be later corrected. And it happened, not just once or twice, but may be as many as half-a-dozen times. Is that because of his advanced age? Is he fit to be near the nuclear button (not to forget his legendary red hot temper)?
2. When McCain ran for the presidency the last time, he proclaimed that he wanted to change the politics of Washington, DC and would run a clean campaign. Well, all that has changed this time. He is now running non-stop attack ads against Sen. Barack Obama. He is back to the old dirty politics, championed by mostly Republicans. This time dirty politics may not work because the people are going through tremendous hardship and they desperately want a leader who would solve problems of economy, oil prices, healthcare, etc. As a result, dirty politics may help McCain solidify his support among hard-core Republicans, but his attack ads will cost him the votes of the Independents and conservative Democrats. To them, McCain, as a straight shooter, was the main attraction, but once he resorts to dirty politics, he loses that attraction. His comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton has backfired; even Spears is reportedly unhappy about her image being used in political commercials.
3. He keeps changing his position on a variety of issues.
a. He first strongly criticized Obama for talking about setting a time-table for the withdrawl of American combat forces from Iraq, But when President Bush started talking about "time-horizon" and Iraqi President al-Maliki's expressed support for Obama's position, McCain switched his position and now he says that he could live with a "time-table." Now that's a big u-turn from his previous plan to stay in Iraq for 100 years.
b. Initially, he gave "no new taxes" pledge, but now he seems to be backing away from it.
c. First, he proclaimed that he would balance the budget by the end of his first term in office, while also making the Bush tax cuts permanent. But when questions were raised about if it's at all possible to do that (the numbers don't add up), he seems to be backing away from such a lofty goal. McCain instantly lost his credibility. This seemed to prove, what he once said himself, that he doesn't really understand economics.
d. First, he said that Iraq was a top priority, but now he seems to be shifting focus to Afghanistan/Pakistan, but only because Obama has been talking about this for a long time and now even Pentagon seems to agree with Obama.
4. The main concern American people have right now is economy, but McCain – 'The Surge Man" – keeps talking about the Iraq war and hammering Obama on this issue. He erroneously thinks that this election is about the war in Iraq. He is just out of touch.
5. McCain's response to the high oil prices was to give the consumers an "oil tax holiday," saving them a whopping $30! The idea was so silly and laughable that, not just most economists, but even President Bush and most Republicans in the Congress wouldn't even go near it.
6. He has been trying to project himself as a tough guy. How is he going to deal with Iran? McCain parodied the Beach Boys' song, saying "Bomb, Bomb, Iran…" Well, the macho strategy in Iraq has cost the U.S. dearly; the American people have no appetite for another war. Again, McCain seems to be out of touch. Recently, President Bush sent a top diplomat to a meeting with Iran on the nuclear issue, which is consistent with what Obama has been saying for some time now.
McCain was not making progress, at least in terms of polls, so someone must have advised him to go on the attack, spending millions of dollars on ads against Obama. These attacks worked in the past when the country was prosperous and there were no major issues. But this time, the people desperately looking for leadership to end the war in Iraq (that has cost thousands of lives and two trillion dollars), to reduce huge budget deficit that Bush has piled up, to create more jobs, to come up with an effective energy policy that combines alternative fuel sources and conservation, to address the healthcare crisis, and do something about the decline in education. McCain, by going on the attack and not offering any strategic vision on important issues that people care about, he is simply making himself as an irrelevant candidate.
