Posted by
Bryn T. Jones on Saturday, November 08, 2008 11:58:02 PM
While many are throwing their hands up and declaring the miserable campaign of Senator McCain, I think a little perspective is needed. True, John McCain didn't run a campaign as aggressive or pointed as he should have. He missed the opportunity to define Barak Obama as a Socialist from day one. The adds with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were funny. The add with Moses was a little over the top. They both got a lot of buzz. But they didn't do what John needed to do.
I thought that he should have had an ad with a person looking at two resumes. Voice over would say, "In choosing the right candidate one must consider each one's experience..." Show the resume of Barak Obama. Then show the resume for John McCain (which takes longer to view). "In the absence of experience, one might consider if an applicant has stellar character witnesses or job references." The screen would show William Ayres stomping on an American flag intercut with footage from his bombings and quotes from him stating "guilty as sin and free as a bird." Another shot of Reverend Wright acusing America of inventing AIDS etc. Then show images of John McCain with President Reagan etc. End with: "The choice has never been clearer.... John McCain for President"
Such an ad would have been far more effective than the ads put out by his campaign. They should have had the audio of Obama talking about the Supreme Court redistributing wealth. They should have had Tony Rezco ads running as further "Character Reference" ads against Barak. Then follow them quickly with "Character Reference" ads for John McCain.
Despite the failure of the McCain campaign to hit the right notes and present a strong case for his presidency, he still came within 6% points of winning. That's not to say that he would have been able to win, given the mood of the country. Clearly, the electoral win for Senator Obama was greater than McCain could easily overcome on election night. Still, he got pretty close with so much amassed against him. For that we should hold our criticism and applaud the man.
Going forward, however, we should learn from McCain's pitfalls. We will also be given 4 years of Obama to use as a foundation for new attacks. Will he try to socailize our country, and will America turn out support for that like they did when he was a novel candidate? Will he benefit if a new wave of conservative Republicans get control of Congress in 2010 and balance the budget and bring back economic prosperity?
Time will tell. Names are flying around like crazy. Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney. I think Mike Huckabee will return, as well. It will be an interesting few years.