Apologies for the sports analogy, but that's a pretty apt description of where John McCain finds himself tonight heading into the third and final presidential debate. While the degree to which he trails varies, there is no denying that McCain is definitely running behind Barack Obama and that, had the election been held today, Obama would have won -- likely handily.
And so here we are with one last debate, one last chance for an extremely large audience of voters for both candidates. Obama's mission tonight is quite simple: don't screw up. Continuing the sports lingo, Obama is very close to being able to "take a knee" and "run the clock out", and should he dispatch with McCain in tonight's debate, he'll almost certainly be able to do just that.
McCain's task is extraordinarily more complex and difficult. Without question, he is going to have to be more aggressive tonight. He is going to have to challenge Obama in ways and about things he has thus far been unable or unwilling to do. The biggest quandary he faces is that he risks being labeled desperate by the mainstream media, (and indeed he is almost guaranteed as much). If McCain brings up William Ayers, he'll at best be accused by the media of trying to avoid the "real issues" or the "issues that matter" -- at worst accused of racism or inciting anger, two charges McCain has recently faced for virtually anything negative he says about Obama. The reality is, with the relatively little we know about Obama given his brief political career, his past associations are important and speak to his judgment. We as voters deserve to know what the man who will likely be our next president thinks about the person in whose living room his political career was launched -- the same person who bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and feels he "didn't do enough".
As for the "real issues" and the "issues that matter", McCain does absolutely need to do a better job of articulating his plan for getting us out of the current financial crisis and for repairing a badly damaged economy. He blundered with his "campaign suspension" during the congressional bailout negotiations, and he has never really regained his footing -- not on economic issues and not on the race in general.
This is do-or-die for McCain tonight, and based on Obama's past performances, he's unlikely to make a blunder that will give McCain a boost. So the onus is on McCain, he's come from behind before, and if he's going to do it again, he absolutely has to start tonight. Let's watch!
No comments:
Post a Comment