Yesterday’s (October 14) Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading national newspaper, contained an editorial that nicely sums up an outsider’s friendly but detached viewpoint regarding the recent tactics of the McCain campaign. It was printed on the day of national elections in Canada, but mindful of the importance of America’s election campaign to Canada and elsewhere, the Globe and Mail still figured that this was worthy of editorial space in their newspaper. Here is a link to that editorial:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081014.EMCCAIN14/TPStory/?query=mccain+editorial
Most of us – Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans – who support Barack Obama’s efforts to become our next president probably were in agreement that of all the Republicans who were running for president at the beginning of this year, John McCain was the most respectable of the lot, and that he would at least be a significant improvement over President George W. Bush. So… would all of you still agree with that statement? Compared with the other GOP contenders who appeared in the early candidates’ debates, I suppose that McCain is still preferable to the others, but not by much. It says a lot more about the sorry lot of Republican contenders than it does about McCain’s merits. As for his being an improvement over Bush (in the event that McCain is elected), it is hard for me to imagine that he could be worse, but the John McCain I used to respect several years ago is long gone.
Had I been honestly advising the McCain campaign, I would have recommended that he take somebody such as Mitt Romney or Charlie Crist to be his running mate. I am no fan of either Romney or Crist, but both men at least project some level of competence, and probably would have made McCain more electable. From the cynical viewpoint of an Obama supporter, I am glad that McCain chose Sarah Palin for V-P… assuming that their ticket loses the election.
The Palin selection is an illustration of what kind of president John McCain will be, if he does become our next president. He ignores the best advice of those who are presumably his most trusted aides. Instead of a carefully planned process of trying to reach a decision of potentially great importance, McCain went with a gut feeling, choosing a running mate who was nearly a total stranger to him. If it works out, he looks like a genius; if not, he looks like a complete fool. In other words, he is the “decider,” and he is going to play his hunch. Doesn’t that sound like somebody we know all too well?
Sarah Palin was chosen for this role because of two assumptions. First, she would excite the Republican Party base of so-called social conservatives. Second, she might draw a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters who believed that Senator Clinton was “robbed” of the Democratic nomination. In both cases, the reason was that she would help McCain get elected. The notion that, after they take office in January, she would help McCain govern, or that she is qualified to serve as president in case later events make that necessary, clearly did not enter into McCain’s decision making. Does this sound like a candidate who truly puts “country first,” as the McCain campaign slogan would have us believe?
Lately, the McCain campaign has been trying to scare the American public into thinking that Barack Obama is on the side of the terrorists and against the American people. It is a desperate attempt to win the election by demonizing the opposition. The tactic often works, but I do not think it will work this time. We have an economy in crisis and two wars going on. In these circumstances, tying Obama with the actions committed 40 years ago (when Obama was a young child) by a former violent radical mainly serves to make McCain look ridiculous.
I will be satisfied with any kind of Obama victory on November 4, but I really hope that he wins by a double-digit margin in the popular vote, and a comfortable electoral vote margin that includes “blue” states in all sections of the country. If that happens, maybe the Republicans will reconsider what they really stand for. There are some respectable Republicans in positions of responsibility, but the candidate selection process seems to weed them out, or as in the case of Senator McCain, induces them to sell their souls.
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