John McCain has thus far squandered the opportunity to define Barack Obama before Mr. Obama can define himself. Instead, Mr. McCain has fruitlessly tried to introduce himself to America. As recently as today, Mr. McCain released THIS AD to (re)introduce himself to America.
America knows John McCain. Mr. Obama, not so much. However, Mr. Obama has wisely spent the past few weeks not only defining himself as a “centrist, post-partisan” candidate, but also attacking John McCain. Mr. Obama has been on the offensive, successfully tying Mr. McCain to President Bush’s “failed” policies (see HERE). Mr. Obama has also released THIS AD criticizing Mr. McCain’s energy plan, undercutting one of Mr. McCain’s key center/center-left issues.
Most Americans have heard of Barack Obama, but do they know him?
Even the most liberal press outlets have recognized that Mr. Obama has spent this summer tacking to the center like an untethered skiff sailing into the wind. Despite this obvious fodder, Mr. McCain has failed to effectively respond. Indeed, the best response Mr. McCain can muster is a PRESS RELEASE? Please.
This is a presidential election, not a homecoming election. President Bush did not beat you in South Carolina, Senator, because he was more honorable. He beat you because he wanted it more and because he got dirty. Did I agree with his tactics? No. Did I despise them? Yes. But he won and has been the President for 8 years. Stop trying to run as the change candidate – Mr. Obama owns that brand. Be yourself. If you want to win, Senator, then start acting like it.
To help you out – below is a suggested campaign ad (keep in mind I’m not a screenwriter. Also keep in mind that my full time job isn’t running your campaign – so in an hour I’ve done what your campaign could not or has not done in 6 months – define who Mr. Obama is).
This is not a “negative ad” or an “attack ad.” It’s simply an ad using Mr. Obama’s own “words” or those of his advisors. Your staffers can track down the video.
“WORDS”
created by MDM
Mr. Obama (VIDEO): “Don’t tell me words don’t matter“
SEGMENT TEXT: Iraq
Mr. Obama (VO and TEXT): “I will bring this war to an end in 2009, so don’t be confused.” – Source: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/11/fuzzy_plans_for_iraq/
FADE IN TEXT: “In January 2007, he introduced legislation in the Senate to remove all of our combat troops from Iraq by March 2008.” – Source http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
Mr. Obama (VO): “Just Words?”
FADE IN TEXT: “Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq . . . and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.” http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
SEGMENT TEXT: Campaign Finance
Mr.Obama (VO and Text):“I have been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests.” (Sen. Barack Obama, “Presidential Candidate Questionnaire,” Midwest Democracy Network, www.commoncause.org, 11/27/07)
Mr. Obama (VO and TEXT): “We’ve made the decision not to participate in the public-financing system for the general election.” – June 19, 2008.
Mr. Obama (VO): “JUST WORDS”
SEGMENT TEXT: Gun Rights
(FADE IN) Fmr. Spiritual Advisor to Senator Obama’s Presidential Campaign
Governor Deval Patrick (VO of “Just Words” Speech and VIDEO): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaOkxbM9dY (BOLD TEXT October 15, 2006)
FADE OUT TEXT WITH PHOTO OF MR. OBAMA AND REV. WRIGHT: Just Words?
Senator McCain (VO): “I am John McCain and I approve this message.” Time to get in the ballgame Senator.
The lawyer in me compels me to say that I reserve all rights to the ideas presented above. Call me John.
28 Comments
July 9, 2008 at 12:41 am
[...] Finance, Economy-Business News, Stock Market wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptMcCain Must Define Who Barack Obama Is: Suggested Campaign Ad Despite winning his party’s nomination three months before Mr. Obama won his party’s nomination, Mr. McCain squandered the opportunity to define his opponent before Mr. Obama defines himself. Instead, Mr. McCain tried to introduce himself to America. As recently as today, Mr. McCain released THIS AD geared towards (re)introducing himself to America. America knows John McCain. Mr. Obama, however, has spent most of the past few w [...]
July 9, 2008 at 2:46 am
McCain has defined himself as a war hero but we can’t talk about it lest people learn that he sang like a canary when he was a POW.♪♫
July 9, 2008 at 7:23 am
Ridiculous.
-MM
July 9, 2008 at 7:40 am
McCain had 23 unheroic combat missions. He survived 5 1/2 years as a POW, during which time, he gave more than name, rank and serial number.
Based on that he has promoted himself as a war hero, a task that was helped by the fact that his father and grandfather were 4 star admirals.
THE ONLY ACCOUNT WE HAVE OF HIS INTERNMENT AS A POW IS HIS ACCOUNT WHICH MIGHT JUST BE SERVESERVING.
July 9, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Interesting…well, I’m not exactly sure what is ‘unheroic’ about combat missions, no mind the nature or the number of them, and I’m really confused how John McCain could have persuaded all of the other POWs to agree to ‘the only account we have of his internment.’ But I’m going to take the stance that until I volunteer for combat service, leave my home and family, survive a massive fire on my ship that kills over 130 people, injures many more, and leaves some nice souvenirs in my chest and legs and the scent of burning jet fuel in my nostrils, fly 23 combat sorties over North Vietnam (Hanoi no less), eject from a plane at approx 500 knots that has been shot down by a Russian missile and break both arms and a leg in the process, only to get received by the local welcoming party with rifles and bayonets, and spend the next years of my prime in a swanky vacation bungalow getting served by gentlemen with names like The Bug and Zorba — well, until that happens, I’ll keep my judgments about what is heroic or not to myself. I’ll just say this, Anchors Aweigh.
I may not agree with his position on all issues, but in my mind I know who John McCain is. I’m still trying to figure out who Mr. Obama is. I guess the good thing is that at least I won’t have to worry about whether any of his combat missions were heroic or not.
July 9, 2008 at 1:53 pm
As far as I am concerned anyone who went over to Vietnam and got shot at is a hero. I daresay many of them a lot more than McCain.
The other POW did not see much of McCain at the Hanoi Hilton. One explaination haqs been that he was in an apartment with prostitutes when he was purported to be in solitary confinement.
Even if he were a bona fide war hero that does not mean he is qualified to be President.
Obama is cool,smart and articulate and has common sense and good judgement.
McCain is a blustery, superstitious, compulsive gambler with an anger management problem. He was propelled in the Navy by his 4-star admiral father and grandfather.
July 9, 2008 at 5:37 pm
HR, great comment and defense of every man and woman who not only served in Vietnam, but served in combat zones at any time.
Gasdocpol, your latest comment directly contradicts your first one. Your first implies Mr. McCain was not a hero, your second confirms that he is – but less so than others. Which is it?
I agree that Mr. Obama is cool, smart and articulate. He’s proven that. He’s also proven to be unprincipled, naive, spineless (see comment above about his grandmother) and inexperienced.
I also agree that Mr. McCain is superstitious and gets angry? So what?
Personally, I want a President who gets pissed off. Pissed off Presidents act – spineless ones analyze polls and decide to act based on popular sentiment.
-MM
July 9, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Get a serious grip, gasdocpol.
“McCain had 23 unheroic missions.” And you had how many over North Viet Nam or other hostile territory? And you spent how much time in the Hanoi Hilton or similar imprisonment? And you withstood how much torture and gave only your name, rank and serial number wherever that may’ve been. And….
Where are his words that he promoted himself as a “war hero”?
And how does any of this fit with him being the son and grandson of admirals?
Put your proof–quotes, credible hotlinks, etc.–where your allegations are re: McCain’s time in imprisonment and the other assertions/rumor-mongering you’ve made.
If you can’t, then, if it’s possible in whatever dimension you exist, find the honor to apologize.
And not in some oblique non-apologetic form that Barack Hussein Obama would employ.
July 9, 2008 at 8:58 pm
gasdocpol — I agree with you, being a war hero does not qualify anyone to be President. But all things equal, as an officer in the US Navy I’m rather inclined to side with the vet, heroic or not.
And I’m still not convinced that being ‘cool, smart and articulate’ qualifies somebody to be President either. In fact, if I were to rack and stack the qualities I seek in a President, those fall rather low on my list. All it takes is a quick tour of any law school in America and you will find plenty of folks who think they are cool, smart and articulate — and they would never get my vote.
And I guess that common sense and good judgment are in the eye of the beholder, because quite frankly I’m not so sure that I care about the price of arugula at Whole Foods or that my kids speak Spanish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/obamas-down-on-the-farm/
July 9, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Great comment HR and CKA.
Gasdoc, response?
July 10, 2008 at 6:29 am
MM You have started an interesting exchange of ideas
Holy Rouleur and CKA
Thank you for responding to my comments.
Please allow me to rephrase.
I am not convinced that John McCain is any more a hero than anyone else who went to Vietnam in combat.
His 23 combat missions was not a big number. the average Air Force pilot flew 100 and many Naval aviators flew over 300. as far as I know, none of them “struck a blow for freedom”.
Like Wesley Clark, I do not believe that
McCain’s experience in the military would give him insight into the concerns of the commander-in-chief.
I know enough about the politics of the federal service academies and the Navy to know that McCains having a father and grandfather who were 4 star admirals could make rigorous academic standards and rules of discipline not apply to him as rigorously as they are applied to others.
McCain’s schtick has always been being the pugnacious tough guy who has gotten credibility as a warrior. He has gotten good at putting a good face on his capers and antics in high school, the USNA and in flight training. By the time he got to Vietnam, he was able to spin himself into a war hero based on his 23 combat missions and surviving as a POW
The Internet is full of testimony that McCain was responsible for the USS Forrestal disaster and that he got privileges as a POW that included the services of prostitutes. What made these stories believeable is that they easily fit into a pattern of his lifelong behavior.
My definition of common sense is the ability to make a good decision without the benefit of special training or experience. In the case of the proposed invasion of Iraq in October 2002, people with years of special training and decades of “experience” got sucked into supporting the invasion. Obama did not merely guess right but he took readily available information , identified the essential , prioritized facts and summarized with uncanney accuracy prediction that the Iraq war would be a dumb war. He said
But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.
I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
It was lame of Hillary to say that “If I had known then what I know now, I would not have voted for the invasion” Obama was able to come to the correct conclusion with information that was known then.
I would say that superstitions, compulsive gambling , problems of anger management are likely to impact upon the decision-making process.
Obama has proven his intellect by dint of being Magna Cum Laude at Harvard Law School and president of the Law Review. He has proven to me that he has common sense by his analysis of the proposed Iraq invasion and his willingness to talk to Iran and Syria without preconditions as well as issues in general. That is more likely to work, I believe, than the bluster of John McCain saying “Don’t mess with me. I survived 5 1/2 years as a POW.”
I’ll take cool intellect over salty bluster any day. If Obama can be indited for suggesting to an Iowa farmer that arugula might be a good cash crop and have people be influenced by that isolated remark then maybe, in the aggregate, Americans deserve the kind of guy they would like to have a beer with. I hope not
July 10, 2008 at 9:07 am
Fair comment. Looking forward to HR’s and CKA’s and others’ responses.
-MM
July 10, 2008 at 2:19 pm
MM
Do you mean fair as opposed to unfair or as in “fair to middling”?
It seems to me that fairness includes subjecting McCain to the same degree of scrutiny that Obama is subjected to. Apparently it is just fine to attribute all the attitudes of Rev. Wright to Obama but it is treason to even question facts regarding McCain himself.
Apparently there is a statute of limitations in the minds of some people who say that just because McCain has succeeeded in promoting himself as a war hero for enough years to have a Senate career, it must qualify him to be President too without question.
This reminds me of the attitude toward those of us who have opposed the Iraq invasion from the start. We were called wimps and cowards and traitors.
July 10, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Fair, as in not overly partisan or rife with propoganda.
It is not fine to attribute Reverand Wright’s attitudes or views to Mr. Obama. However, Mr. Obama placed into debate Reverand Wright’s attitudes and views when he made Reverand Wright his campaign’s spiritual advisor. Thus, it is fair to analyze Mr. Obama’s decision in light of Rev. Wright’s multitude of racist, anti-American, anti-semetic, anti-everything comments.
I hope you can see how you are comparing apples to oranges.
Scrutiny of Mr. Obama’s judgment is not the same as scrutiny of Mr. McCain’s military record.
I welcome, as I am sure Mr. McCain does, any and all legitimate questions about Mr. McCain, his service to the country, his family, his ideas, etc..
July 10, 2008 at 4:36 pm
MM
Is it conceiveable that Obama has found some things that Rev Wright has said that are valid and other things that Wright said with which Obama disagrees and rejects?
Is it a good idea to throw out the baby with the washwater?
I would say that Obama found some valid components in Wright’s ministry and felt some goodwill toward him as the person who had brought him closer to God.
I admit that he was not as calculating in his use of religion and his faith for political purposes as was G.W Bush who claimed that Jesus Christ was his favorate philosopher while basically doing just the opposite of what Jesus taught.
SO… you are saying that we can attribute everything Wright ever said as being in lockstep with Obama’s philosophy of life but we cannot question or discuss whether or not McCain is the war hero that he is pretended to be.
Apparently McCain became rather testy when asked by a reporter about his military service.
No, I really do not see that we are comparing apples and oranges.
July 10, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I appreciate your active participation, but your logic is flawed and infected with baseless assumptions.
1) Obama made Rev. Wright his spiritual advisor. By his own admission Mr. Obama knows Rev. Wright, including his beliefs, his politics and his sermons. He named his book, Audacity of Hope, after a Rev. Wright sermon. America, however, knew little of Rev. Wright. We discovered later that Mr. Obama’s spiritual advisor blames America for 9/11, says America’s foreign policy is akin to terrorism, blamed the American government for creating HIV/AIDS and infecting blacks with it as a means of genocide – the list goes on and on.
The point simple point is this: to make a man who espouses this type of paranoid, delusional vitriol your spiritual advisor – clearly calls into question your judgment.
2) Mr. Obama’s choice of spiritual advisors has little to do with “calculating.” If he were truly “calculating” he would have left the church. Mr. Obama should have been guided by a basic political common sense required of even a city council candidate. Analogies to George Bush are irrelevant.
3) To say Mr. McCain “pretends” to be a war hero is absolute nonsense and undeserving of a response.
I can’t seem to understand why Obama supporters deny reality? Why don’t they address this issue? Why don’t they question how such a smart man could make Rev. Wright his campaign’s spiritual advisor? Is it because Rev. Wright’s comments don’t offend them? Is it because they believe a self professed parishner of Rev. Wright’s church for two decades was ignorant of his intolerant teachings? What am I missing?
July 10, 2008 at 8:42 pm
[...] best advocates on the McCain campaign staff. But, until the campaign truly begins an effort to define who Barack Obama is he will continue to say whatever it takes to win, shrouded in the soaring rhetoric [...]
July 10, 2008 at 9:25 pm
MM
With all due respect, you are a lawyer and when you are working, it is your job to argue one point of view. you will say anything that you think will convince a judge or a jury or in some cases intimidate your opponent.
My logic is flawed and is infected with baseless assumptions?
YOUR modus ponens argument is as follows
P1 If McCain is a war hero, that is a strong argument for his being president.
P2 McCain is a war hero
THEREFORE There is a strong agument for McCain being President.
OK I admit that your logic is valid but it is not sound.
Just because you accept your premises as being undenyable does not make it so. I could do the same thing with other things you said.
We could continue this sophomoric battle of wits but you are so convinced that McCain is the real article that you have devoted a blog to promoting him. I have been so enthusiastic about Obama, that I spent 5 days freezing my 69 year old butt off in December and January going door to door before the Iowa Caucus and 2 days registering voters in Indiana etc.
In my 33 years of practicing medicine, I was sued once. I was called into the hospital a 2 AM, saved a patient’s life after someone else had dropped the ball. A week later, personnel in a different hospital made a grave error and the patient became a vegetable. A dirtbag lawyer sued me because he thought that “something might drop out”. The case against me was dropped after 3 days. You should have heard his openning statement. He totally misrepresented the truth and made me sound like Hitler, Stalin and Jack the Ripper all rolled into one. I know how you guys operate.
July 10, 2008 at 9:52 pm
First, sorry you were sued. I dislike litigation and dirtbag lawyers as much, if not more, than you. While your comment could reasonably be interpreted as implying I am a dirtbag lawyer, I will assume that is not what you meant. Also, I appreciate your service as a physician – I always tell my wife that if I had been better at math and science I would have been a doctor. I commend you.
Second, I appreciate and applaud your commitment to Mr. Obama and democracy in general.
Third, I don’t think this is a sophmoric battle of wits, rather an honest debate. I just cannot understand your position or why you cannot see the merits in mine.
Fourth, modus penens – classic. yes, my argument is simple. Mr. Obama has exhibited questionable judgment and that judgment ought to be questioned. If you disagree, I direct you to the title of this post.
Fifth, I am not arguing at all that Mr. McCain is qualified to be President solely because he is a war hero. My argument, and the primary purpose of this post, is simply to shed light on Mr. Obama’s changing positions and to question his judgment. The secondary purpose is to encourage Mr. McCain to do the same. Nowhere in this post or on this blog will you find me saying that Mr. McCain is qualified to be president solely because he was in the military. If you could point out such an instance, I would happily retract it.
My preference for Mr. McCain is undeniable. I disclosed it up front so there would be no confusion. I have also repeatedly said in this blog that I’m a fan of Mr. Obama. I am a fan of great orators and I don’t deny that he is one of today’s best. But I liked him far more when I thought he stood behind his words. Now I know that his words were indeed, just words.
July 11, 2008 at 8:37 am
MM
1. You are a dyed in the wool Republican. I do not expect to change your mind. You probably voted for GW Bush .
2. I am not a dyed in the wool Democrat. I voted for Nixon 3X, Ford, Clark (Libertarian) in 1980, GHW Bush (The Elder). I would not have been unhappy if Dole had won in 1996. I was reading “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Conscience of a Conservative” in the early sixties.
3. The Presidential campaign may not be a perfect method of deciding who will be President. In my lifetime, there has generally be a choice between two reasonable candidates. To be sure, the best people for the job do not want to jump through the hoops or just don’t have the requisite fire in the belly.
4. In 2000, the GOP had to have known that GW Bush had been a drifter with a drinking problem until he was 40 and then a serially failing businessman until the Neocons propped him up as their front. Apparently they thought that if he had good enough advisors, he would be OK.
5. I actually, up to then, admired Rumsfeld. I thought Cheney was just fine. I was unaware of the existance of the now defunct PNAC a think tank that included Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, etc,etc,etc. The agenda of that thinktank was imperialistic and GW Bush was put in the White House to carry it out.
6. Gore was successfully painted as a buffoon and he helped by running a poor campaign. Gore did not lose. America lost. Of course that is just MY opinion.
7. I suspect that Obama knew the Rev. Wright was a mixed bag and had long since turned off to the idiocies he spewed and listened to what he said that was of value. Just as spouses get used to and accept their partners flaws and after a while, do not even see them, I suspect that Obama did the same thing with Wright.
8. I see an eerie similarity between GW Bush and McCain. Both went through prestigious schools because of legacies from highly successful fathers and grandfathers. Both were lousy students. Both were propelled by the same ancestors. Both misbehaved well into adulthood. Both are anti-intellectual.
9. McCain has gone from “Punk McNasty” in high school to a raunchy , rowdy party boy with “trainwreck” weekends in Annapolis to a hot dog risk taking flyboy to sainthood in Vietnam according to you, back to a philandering husband until he married his source of money. From there he went to the Senate where he was a superstitious compulsive gambler with an anger management problem.
10. I am of the opinion that 9/11 was the catalyst that allowed us to be lied into the Iraq war. Interestingly Kagan (I forget which one) wrote in PNAC that a catastrophic catalytic event – a new Pearl Harbor would expedite their agenda. I think that McCain’s war hero aura is the catalyst that promotes McCain.
I am not even going to question your notion that McCain was a saint in Vietnam. you have accepted that as axiomatic.
July 11, 2008 at 9:20 am
gasdocpol -
A quick review of the posts will reveal that not once did anyone here claim that Mr. McCain is qualified to be President based on his military career, nor did anyone claim that he is more heroic than other Vietnam vets. The comments were in response to your baseless claims that his combat missions in Vietnam were unheroic, that his accomplishments were a result of his father and grandfather’s ranks, that he was hanging with prostitutes in an apt instead of solitary confinement, and that Mr. McCain spun himself as a war hero. And my favorite part is where you proceed to offer stories and testimony on the Internet as your points of authority. I’m not exactly sure what the Latin name for that kind of logic is.
I find it really hard to swallow your claim that McCain is spinning himself as a war hero and qualified candidate based on his military service and time as a POW. But assuming it is so, would it be safe to say that Mr. Obama is spinning himself as smart and intellectually qualified based on his position as editor at the Harvard Law Review? If I adopt Wesley Clark’s reasoning, I do not believe that Mr. Obam’s experience in law school would give him insight into the concerns of the President.
I think MM was being generous when he said your comment was fair. Its not treason to question a veteran’s military career, but you’ve certainly got to do better than stories and testimony from the Internet and your self-assessment that you know enough about federal service academies and the Navy. As an officer in the Navy and a graduate of a federal service academy, its difficult for me to listen to someone like you explain to me about the politics and rigor found in these institutions.
Its been a little tricky for me to follow some of your thoughts and I’m beginning to think that you’ve started to emulate Mr. Obama. First unheroic, then a hero but less than other veterans. First this was an interesting exchange of ideas, then a sophomoric battle of wits. Next you’ll be telling me to go and cling to my gun and religion.
I’m still not convinced who I will vote for in November; however, I’m definitely impressed with Mr. Obama’s recent pitch on faith-based programs (http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/07/youve_got_to_ha.html) and even more impressed with his Father’s Day speech (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/27/obama.fathers.ay/). But I’m less than impressed with many of his other statements and blunders and recent do-overs (http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2008/07/10/boggsed.html). Again, I have to reiterate that I’m not so quick to see Mr. Obama’s common sense and good judgment. These statements may be isolated as you suggest, but, in the aggregate, ‘bitter’ folks in middle America are questioning the pattern. My guess is that those Iowa farmers who have never been to a Whole Foods were secretly laughing amongst themselves, because they know corn is king — the original cash crop. Now that my friend is common sense.
I heard an interview on NPR yesterday with Jack White about his essay titled, “When the Man is One of Us.” (http://www.theroot.com/id/47225) It was very interesting and I had to chuckle as I thought that old wasted excuse about ‘The Man’ would be hard to kill. Give it a read.
I have a son who suffers from extreme infantile scoliosis. His spine had a curve of nearly 50 degrees when we was less than 18 months old. I could go on and on about the dirtbag doctors we have had to deal with over the last few years, but I will spare you the details. I see in the news about these elementary school teachers having sex with their students, it makes me sick and they are some serious dirtbags. gasdocpol, your generalizations about all lawyers doesn’t help with your credibility in this thread.
One last question for you, when Iran drops a couple of missiles in Israel’s lap, will that be a dumb war?
July 11, 2008 at 9:54 am
HR- solid comment. Doctor, response on the merits? Also, doctor, I appreciate your comments – but still don’t believe that you have addressed the points made originally in this post or by others who have commented.
July 11, 2008 at 11:03 am
1. No one is saying that McCain’s qualifications to be President include the character and mental toughness he desplayed as a POW?? Or that having been in battle gives him an overwealming insight into national policy as related to the use of military force? ? … lol
2. There is a whole spectrum of reported events of McCain’s military career going from the sainthood that you favor to the stories of prostitutes and the wet start that almost sunk the USS Forrestal. The sainthood that you prefer is at variance with McCain’s pattern of behavior before and after Vietnam.
3. The federal service academies for most of their graduates, have rigorous academic and performance standards. Exceptions are made for certain individuals. The space cadet son of a famous general got through West Point, 2 cadets at another pulled a caper that would normally gotten them expelled but the admiral got phone calls from JFK and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. One year USNA midshipmen only had to stay ahead of an All American lineman on the curve that year to graduate. I suspect that not too many midshipmen who were 5th from the bottom of their USNA class got into flight school at Pennsacola. Officers in the Navy who wrote fitness reports on McCain in turn had their own fitness reports written by their superior officers right up to 4 star admirals. If nepotism exists in the academies, I suspect that it exists in the fleet too.
4. My definition of common sense is to be able to make a good decision without having had special training and experience. Would you not agree that Obama was able to come to the conclusion that the Iraq war would be a dumb war was a good demonstration of common sense. You have been insisting that his experience is sorely lacking. He certainly did not have the rigorous military training and experience that you would claim that
McCain had.
One can only conclude that he got it right because he had common sense.
5. Bitter? How about Phil Gramm, McCain’s top economic guru saying Americans are a nation of Whiners?
6. I have been to two Bar mitzvas and I love and respect Jewish people. The Jewish lobby has currupted Republicans and Democrats to the point where the US UNCONDITIONAL support of Israel was one of the reasons for 9/11. Even Obama must bow to their will. (go ahead call me antisemetic now) With friends like Israel ,we do not need enemies.
July 11, 2008 at 5:16 pm
gasdoc-
I’m at wits end trying to engage in productive dialogue with you, but I can’t help responding to a couple of statements you tossed out in your last comment:
Although I think Senator Gramm should have kept his mouth shut, I do agree that we Americans are guilty of some serious whining and often carry an air of entitlement about us. Like everyone owes it to us. But I also think we are at an economic tipping point — a critical one — and it is a completely different thing for Obama to talk about the small-town residents of PA and OH in the manner he did claiming “they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…as a way to explain their frustrations.” Not a strong display of good judgment and common sense there.
I have never insisted that Mr. Obama’s experience is lacking, I’ve simply adopted your reasoning, regarding Mr. McCain and his military career, to Obama and that a few years at Harvard Law School does not make one smart or intellectually qualified to be President. In fact, I think it requires more intellect and sharp judgment to fly a jet plane on and off an aircraft carrier and in combat than it does to write legal briefs and memoranda.
I had to laugh out loud at the first sentence in #6 in your comment above. The classic disclaimer: “I’m not racist, I have a black friend.” You’ve adopted it quite nicely.
Again, I’ll refer you to Jack White’s essay I mentioned in my previous comment and a excerpt that is helping me understand you and your comments:
“But in a deeper sense, [Jesse Jackson's] stunningly inappropriate comments symbolize the social, political and psychological vertigo that all of us, and especially black Americans, are experiencing because of Obama’s success. We are all, including Obama, in a place we never really thought we would be, and it has knocked us off our feet. We don’t know how to act. We don’t have a plan. We’re searching for our equilibrium. And until we regain our footing, we can expect all sorts of bizarre behavior from people who ought to know better.”
Bizarre behavior indeed. Lets just hope Mr. Obama and folks like you can overcome that vertigo in short time.
July 11, 2008 at 6:58 pm
HR
Landing an plane on an aircraft carrier calls for reflexes, atheleticism , visual and depth perception perception coordination, coolness but intellect ? Judgement ? , yes but not the kind of judgement demanded of the President.
I can think of some professional athletes who I suspect would do well landing on an aircraft carrier but who I would not want to be President.
It is an honor to have an elite person like yourself going to his wits end trying to have a productive dialogue with an obvious antisemite like myself, who suffers from vertigo.
July 12, 2008 at 10:07 am
[...] that really should be used mainly because it uses Obama’s own words against him. (HERE) What could be more powerful? I am currently working on making the ad into an actual [...]
July 15, 2008 at 6:58 pm
[...] his campaign has been off message, has failed to take the initiative and define Barack Obama (HERE) and has made poor strategy calls. (see [...]
July 16, 2008 at 7:56 am
John McCain has successfully taken 23 combat missions which were not exceptional as far as I know and 5 1/2 years as a POW and defined himself as a war hero and qualified to be a Senator and to be considered as a possible President.
McCain is now trying to define Obama in a way to benefit McCain .
Some people are cheering for McCain. Not me.