McCain takes aim

To judge by his victory speech after the Potomac primaries, John McCain expects to be fighting Obama in November.

Hope, my friends, is a powerful thing. I can attest to that better than many, for I have seen men's hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience. And I stood astonished at the resilience of their hope in the darkest of hours because it did not reside in an exaggerated belief in their individual strength, but in the support of their comrades, and their faith in their country. My hope for our country resides in my faith in the American character, the character which proudly defends the right to think and do for ourselves, but perceives self-interest in accord with a kinship of ideals, which, when called upon, Americans will defend with their very lives.

To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It is a platitude.

A well crafted line, aimed precisely at Obama's weakest spot. Note that McCain does not disdain hope and inspiration: he celebrates them, yet still turns the line against Obama. I wonder if Obama is ready for the possibility that McCain will be harder to squash than Hillary.

Comments

It does indeed READ well.

It sounded like crap, because McCain read it from a prepared speech. The difference in oratory skills, and how OLD McCain seems in these speeches, vs. Obama's off-the-cuff rhetoric, is simply monumental.

Posted by greebs | February 13, 2008 8:08 PM

McCain's problem will be when he is forced to explicate his sound and proven ideas. Stay in Iraq, fight Iran, more high income tax cuts. A campaign strategy of "Same ideas as Bush, but better execution" isn't a winner.

Posted by Steven Donegal | February 13, 2008 8:08 PM

You know, I voted for McCain last time. But, in fact, he has proven to be a useful gadfly with limited backbone.

What complex program has he ever assembled? And, after making a huge deal about his principals on his signature issue --torture --he basically said nothing when Bush issued a signing statement to the effect that he didn't have to obey statutes on torture.

Yeah, he was a critic on the conduct of the war --sort of. But he didn't, in the early years when it would have mattered, push for more boots on the ground. Nor did he attempt to leverage his support for Bush in 2004 to improve the conduct of the war.

He was too busy sucking up to the base.

Nobody can legitimately claim to be a fiscal conservative who wants huge tax cuts with a basically endless war commitment.

Give me a break.

Finally, without even discussing his comic book grasp of economics, it must be said that his support for the soldiers is mostly gab. He has not engaged in ANY sustained efforts to ensure that injured veterans get the medical and mental health care they are entitled to under statute.

So, yes, let's see him debate his proven ideas...he wouldn't have made it this fair if the press weren't full of hero worshippers.

Posted by Tim Connor | February 13, 2008 10:43 PM

of course he's not ready for it: nobody expects the spanish inquisition!

more seriously, this is precisely the point about obama: right now, the gop has had trouble getting its attack points together, but it will, it will, and they are outstanding at it. obama's negatives will soar to clinton/kerry levels by the time the gop is through, and those of obama's supporters who think he's too good for the rough-and-tumble are going to have a very rude awakening....

Posted by howard | February 14, 2008 1:13 PM

As Tim said, the problem for McCain is that his own policy proposals are both unpopular and far sketchier than Obama. For some reason, on several issues some media members are accepting McCain's arguments without seeing how they can easily be turned around on him. Same thing happened on Slate today on campaign matching funds, where they described Obama's "dilemma" whether to accept matching funds and thsu reduce his financial advantage over McCain, or turn them down and have McCain challenge him. No one pointed out that McCain accepted matching funds for the primary, even took a loan against them, and then backed out when he surged ahead and was able to fundraise. Obama, or Clinton, should be able to hit back strongly on these issues.

Posted by BP | February 14, 2008 2:49 PM

"Note that McCain does not disdain hope and inspiration: he celebrates them"

He celebrates the bittersweet, passive hope of a POW, whose deliverance is entirely in the hands of others.

That's different from the kind of active, engaged hope that has its place in social movements, who *can* effect change through their own efforts.

McCain mocks that kind of hope. As a military son of privilege, I'm not sure he ever experienced it.

Posted by Jon H | February 14, 2008 4:17 PM