It’s The Distractions Stupid!

John McCain’s newest stunt is indicative of his campaigns promise that this election is “not about the issues.”  Tom Brokaw put it best when he said that John McCain is running a “guerilla warfare” type campaign.  He makes a big move to get the public talking about something other than the issues and then when they start refocusing on, oh let’s say the economy, he pulls another one.  Obama went to Europe.  McCain makes a bunch of way over the top ads comparing Obama to Paris Hilton, Brittany Spears and Moses.  Then the DNC brought unity and Obama gave, as Pat Buchanan put it, “the greatest acceptance speech ever.”  The very next day McCain shocks the world and excites conservatives with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  This is McCain’s tactic and it is a good one.  The fundamentals of this election are against him.  The economy is bad, Bush’s favorability is severely anemic and the electorate wants change.  This last stunt, however, may be a bridge to nowhere too far.  Pun intended.

On September 15th the economy tanked and so did McCain’s campaign.  He had no clear message.  One day the fundamentals of the economy are strong and the next the circumstances were dire.  He was for and then against and now has no position on a bail out.  He has been clamoring for more regulation and sounding like an angry Populist, while his 26 year career has been of a free market deregulator.  His running mate is losing her luster due to “Troopergate,” her dubious claims on the “Bridge to Nowhere” and her severely panned interviews.  All of this has been expressed in the polls.  Obama has taken a clear lead nationally and is turning many “Lean McCain” states like North Carolina into toss ups, while turning toss ups like Colorado into “Lean Obama” states.  The crisis has turned the electorate back to Issue #1 and they are clearly punishing the incumbent party and John McCain for this failure.  TIME FOR A DISTRACTION!

Yesterday, after doing relatively nothing on the issue and as Congress was starting to form a bipartisan agreement, John McCain decided to suspend his campaign and postpone the debate.  He was going straight to D.C. in order to show leadership in this crisis!  He made that announcement around 2pm, yet didn’t actually go to DC for another 22 hours and his campaign never really stopped.  Aides were on television giving talking points, ads were still running nationally, McCain was giving an interview with Katie Couric (much to David Letterman’s rage) and then the next morning he spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative.

As his plane landed in D.C., Congress was on the news stating they had an agreement and would probably pass it by Friday afternoon.  John McCain got his photo-op at the White House but it actually dragged away congressional leaders from further progress.  House and Senate Democrats were stating how McCain actually did nothing to further the bil.  He gave no position on what should be done and was slowing them down.  By 10pm the whole deal had fallen through as House Republicans made up their own plan and walked out on further negotiations.  Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were outraged and pretty fed up when they appeared on television to make this announcement.  What happeend? John McCain.

Barack Obama warned that he didn’t want to throw Presidential partisan politics into sensitive negotiations.  He didn’t want to politicize something that needed bipartisan support. The last thing it needed was a distraction, but distractions are what McCain’s campaign is about. He is claiming “Country First,” but this looks like too much of a stunt and one that can severely backfire. The negotiations have come to a halt and it will not look good if John McCain doesn’t show for that debate.  Barack Obama will get 90 minutes alone with 100 million people to explain how McCain’ suspension of his campaign was actually another stunt to distract the American public.  He will explain why we need this bill to happen and how John McCain’s ploy has prevented this from happening.  Then he and he alone will tell the public how he would fix this crisis and what his views on foreign policy are.  He will come out looking calm and presidential, while John McCain will look opportunistic and erratic.

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