It's Now or Never for McCain and His Campaign

What in the world is wrong with John McCain and his campaign? Granted, McCain is facing an uphill battle on many fronts. For one, anti-Bush and anti-Republican sentiment is stratospheric. As the current standard bearer of the GOP, McCain obviously begins at a severe disadvantage simply by association. When one factors in the phenomenon that is Barack Obama and his historic candidacy, McCain’s uphill climb becomes even steeper. Despite the enormous odds against him, though, McCain can still win this election, but only if he can stop being such a horrendous campaigner, and if his overall campaign can get its act together. Now.

As things stand now, there is simply no getting around the fact that McCain is a terrible campaigner. There are very few positives I can point to, and in direct disobedience of my Mom’s age-old admonition that if I don’t have something nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all, there are many aspects of John McCain the candidate that are in dire need of improvement. It’s no secret that McCain doesn’t exactly knock ‘em dead on the hustings, and so it’s hard to understand why someone in the campaign’s hierarchy would not have already taken immediate steps to at least attempt to correct some of McCain’s most glaring weaknesses on the stump.

First and foremost, when placed in front of a teleprompter, McCain makes George W. Bush look like a gifted orator. McCain is so amazingly robotic in his labored reading of the machine it’s almost comical (if it weren’t so painful). More often than not, it appears as though McCain is seeing the speech for the very first time as it scrolls down the glass screen in front of him. Why wouldn’t someone at the top of his campaign staff force McCain into some sort of a teleprompter “boot camp”? I know the saying about old dogs and new tricks, and sure, McCain is old, but even still, there has to be room for improvement! On Sunday, McCain spent the greater part of his day attending the Yankees game here in New York with Rudy Giuliani. I would argue that the several hours spent doing that would have been much better spent with McCain practicing and improving his delivery of scripted speeches. (Particularly now, with Obama on his vaunted overseas trip, dominating the airwaves and headlines, the time is perfect for McCain to go underground for a few days of an intense campaigning clinic). Team McCain would argue that prepared speeches aren’t his strength, and that he’s best in settings such as town hall meetings and others at which he can speak more extemporaneously. This is probably true, and that’s all well and good, but the reality is that some of the most important speeches to come in the campaign are prepared speeches such as his GOP Convention acceptance speech. Naturally, these are also the ones that that will garner the most media attention and therefore voter attention, too. As such, it remains imperative that McCain improve his delivery of speeches from a prepared text or a teleprompter.

Next on the syllabus would be figuring out some way to stop McCain from laughing at his own jokes, particularly with the evil-sounding chuckle he is prone to emit – often at the most inopportune and inappropriate of times. On a related note, McCain is also given to displaying a smile that looks as forced as it obviously is. Third on the to-do list would be to remove the phrase “my friends” – something he repeats with an almost compulsive zeal – from his public speaking vocabulary. Seriously, how hard would it be to sit him down and force him to watch a few hours of video of his stilted, stiff delivery with clips of his chuckle, his forced smile and his “my friends” thrown in for good measure? McCain’s no idiot. He’s been in politics for three decades and certainly knows good political theater when he sees it. Surely he’d recognize his own shortcomings – at least to some extent – and be driven to make corrections, right? There are people in Washington who are paid solely to provide this sort of critique and instruction, and since his campaign staff seems unable to correct these tendencies, McCain could benefit mightily from their tutelage.

All the blame cannot be placed solely on McCain, though, since any politician relies heavily on his staff and advisors to put him in the best possible position to avoid mistakes. I’m not even sure anymore who is running the McCain Campaign, so often have been its “reorganizations” and “reshufflings”. I am sure, however, that at least in theory, the person running it now and the people who have previously run it would be individuals with experience in presidential politics and at least a fair amount of political acumen. Given the track record of the campaign, though, sometimes it seems like the campaign is being run by a bunch of political rookies with a shockingly severe tin ear to the politics of today and the overall sentiments of the electorate.

One event thus far in this election absolutely epitomizes the ineptitude of those running McCain’s campaign (and to some extent, of the candidate himself). On the night that Obama clinched the Democratic Nomination last month, he was set to deliver a victory speech of sorts in front of tens of thousands of supporters at the Xcel Energy Center – not coincidentally the site of the Republican National Convention in September – in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota. McCain has shown no propensity for attracting crowds a tenth as large (or as enthusiastic) as those of Obama, and on a night when Obama was sure to dominate the coverage after securing the nomination, the smart political move on the part of McCain and his campaign would have been simply to cede the stage and spotlight to him. There should have been a recognition that McCain cannot compete with Obama in a direct comparison of campaign events, and to attempt to do so would not only be futile, it would be damaging.

But there was no such recognition, and what the McCain campaign offered up was shocking in its dreadfulness. Appearing in Kenner, Louisiana, McCain spoke to supporters and, unfortunately for him, all of the cable news networks covered it live. It’s hard to know where to begin with the many things wrong with this event. To start, the venue was dismal, some sort of warehouse or hangar – stark, dark and depressing. Making matters worse, the space was at best half full, showing obvious empty space that could have been filled by supporters. Further, for the first time (and mercifully, for the last time, too), the backdrop chosen by the McCain Campaign operatives running the event was some sort of strange green color – “puke green” truly describes it best – which, when coupled with the insufficient and inferior lighting in the room only added to the malaise already permeating the appearance. To call the crowd’s reactions tepid would be charitable, and I got the sense that they would have benefited greatly from an “APPLAUSE” sign like those used on game shows. And to call the crowd homogenous would be an understatement, as I do not remember seeing anything resembling a broad representation of ethnicities or even genders. Despite knowing that the networks would likely cut away from McCain to “officially” announce Obama’s securing the nomination – and knowing when it would happen – the campaign did not get McCain started on time and so indeed, the networks did simply abandon McCain mid-speech – a blessing in disguise as it turned out, but an accidental and purely serendipitous one. The cherry on top was McCain himself, delivering a long-winded speech via teleprompter that was embarrassingly awful to watch and hear – even by the aforementioned low bar McCain had already set for himself. He even threw in a healthy dose of chuckling or forced smiling – often timing it with each repetition of the speech’s tag line, “That’s not change we can believe in”, as though it were a hilarious joke.Don't just take my word for it, though...

Pretty rough, wasn't it? The broader problem is that so much of what made that entire event so bad is symptomatic of what’s making the overall McCain Campaign itself so bad right now.

Already facing a rather extraordinary candidate and campaign in Obama and his operation, competing with a news media almost laughably shilling for his opponent, and having to fight the anti-Republican, anti-incumbent tides to boot, McCain doesn’t need nor can he afford to do Obama any more favors by continuing to flounder on the campaign trail. Despite all of this, victory remains a possibility for him, but it won’t for long unless McCain and his campaign rise to the occasion. While McCain will never out-campaign or out-speak Obama and since his campaign will certainly not out-strategize or out-maneuver the Obama Campaign, he must become a more disciplined and eloquent campaigner, and his campaign must simultaneously correct his weaknesses while accentuating his strengths. There’s a long time between now and Election Day, but the changes for McCain and his campaign need to start immediately.

(This post can also be seen at Splice Today: http://splicetoday.com/).

Bragging Writes Was On Vacation...

Sorry for not posting anything of late. We were on vacation and have been digging out since returning. I'll be posting something by this weekend or the first part of next week at the latest!

Change We Can Believe In?

So much of Barack Obama’s appeal – not only to voters and those supporting him, but also to the media who barely try to conceal their adoration of him – has been his claim of being a different politician practicing a new kind of politics, “change we can believe in”. To his and his campaign’s credit, this image and message have been crafted to near-perfection, and while I can’t prove it, I suspect that if most Americans were asked to play a word association game, “change” is the word most would choose when presented with Obama’s name.

Indeed, Obama has been an incredible candidate. His rhetoric, both in terms of its content and his speaking style, are nothing short of awesome. Some might argue that the content of his speeches lacks substance, but perhaps in a so-called “change election”, that’s what the voters want to hear. Listening to Obama speak, I can only imagine that the experience must be akin to those who had the opportunity to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. speak. His tone, his cadence, his pitch – all are delivered with an almost intoxicating quality to which one cannot help but be drawn.

Further, his campaign has been run with a precision and a discipline unlike any of the Democratic candidates who preceded him. The Obama Campaign’s ability to stay “on message” and to effectively convey that message is impressive to say the least. Even the seemingly little things such as the backdrops to his speeches or the settings of his press conferences are done with precision, and believe it or not, these things matter, even if perhaps only in the observer’s subconscious. Of course nothing speaks louder than his proven ability to attract tens of thousands of people to a campaign rally, coverage of which is public relations gold that surely has the McCain Campaign green with envy.

But as Obama’s opponent, John McCain might say, “let’s have some straight talk”. Over the last few months – the last few weeks in particular – Obama and his campaign have made some choices and taken some actions that reveal his claim of being a different kind of politician practicing a different kind of politics to be nothing more than a superficial veneer. To be sure, some of this was to be expected, and for the most part would have to be considered prudent. These maneuvers do not make Obama a bad person, or any more dishonest or beholden to the politically expedient than McCain or any other politician, but they do – or should – effectively rob him of his ability to cast himself as a political Robin Hood, a flawless crusader of hope and change.

The first chink in Obama’s armor of change came courtesy of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. In a much-celebrated speech in Philadelphia on March 18th, Obama famously said that he could “no more disown [Reverend Wright] than [he could his] white grandmother”. After a few more inflammatory speeches by Wright however, Obama did, in fact, disown him. Again, his choice to do so was certainly prudent, but not the choice that the principled public servant Obama portrays himself as would have made. This was a decision made out of political expediency, period.

More recently (and more alarmingly), Obama reversed himself again. This time it was the issue of whether or not to accept public funding for his general election campaign. No candidate since the system was enacted after Watergate has ever opted out of the system. Obama himself signed a pledge in which he promised to take public funding, and in a debate in April, he indicated that he would “sit down with John McCain” if he won the Democratic Nomination so that the two could discuss the issue and make a fair agreement. Campaign finance reform has been a signature issue for Obama in his brief legislative career, something for which he has won a great deal of praise. Several weeks ago, though, Obama announced that he would be opting out of the public funding, relying instead on his legions of donors, both large and small. While again this was the prudent choice, it was pure political calculation, made worse by the bogus justification he offered as to why he was making this choice. He argued that Republicans and so-called 527 groups (like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in the 2004 Election) would spend millions against him, and that in deciding to opt out, he was only ensuring a level playing field for himself. The reality is that there are currently no anti-Obama 527 groups in existence, and apparently none on the horizon, either. In fact, the only 527 ad currently airing is a pathetic anti-McCain, anti-Iraq War “Not Alex” ad funded by the Democratic 527, Moveon.Org and the union, AFSCME. By opting out of the $85 million in public funding (also an effective $85 million limit on spending) he would have received, Obama is now capable – and likely to – raise hundreds of millions of dollars, allowing him to overwhelmingly outspend McCain, who has indicated that he will accept the $85 million. This will give Obama an almost incalculable advantage in the last few months of the campaign, and is the sort of action that, had a Republican taken it, would have had elicited vociferous objections and righteous indignation from the Obama camp and the media. The playing field will be anything but level.

Last week, Obama changed positions again on two separate issues: the FISA Bill in the Senate, and the handgun ban in Washington, DC. His campaign stated in no uncertain terms last fall that any FISA Bill legislation that included legal immunity for the telecommunications companies would be met with an Obama-led filibuster. When the bill came to the floor last week, Obama not only failed to filibuster, he voted for it – telecom immunity and all. While this was a part of the inevitable move to the center that candidates from both parties make after securing their respective nominations, it flew in the face of the sort of change Obama promises. When the Supreme Court last week overturned the DC gun ban, Obama expressed no objection to it, and even issued a statement in which he dubiously indicated that he had always supported an individual’s right to bear arms. Here, the Obama campaign surely concluded that by offering his tacit agreement, Obama could pacify the moderate Democrats in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio – the same Democrats Obama infamously said “cling to their guns”. This was the politically advantageous move to make with an eye on the general election, but it was also a misleading statement in reaction to the court’s decision, and it marked the latest in a string of instances in which Obama eschewed the high road of hope for the low road of “the same old Washington politics”.

As the Oval Office has become more and more a very real possibility for Obama, he has on several occasions now shown himself to be nothing more than just another politician. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that on its face, of course; candidates will always do what it takes to win. But in doing so, Obama can no longer sincerely claim to be the shiny, new departure from the political norm, and the media have a responsibility to stop portraying him as such. With the latter unlikely to happen, though, the former becomes even more improbable, and that’s not “change we can believe in” anymore.

The Veepstakes

With the primaries finally over and the general election battle between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama under way in earnest, the attention of the campaigns, the media and political junkies will now turn towards the “veepstakes” and who each candidate will pick as his running mate.

There are many factors that go into the selection of the vice presidential candidate. Some would argue that Electoral College strength is paramount. In other words, can the running mate deliver or help deliver his or her home state and its electoral votes? (Example: Michael Dukakis’ 1988 selection of Texan Lloyd Bentsen). Others would argue that experience is most important. How can the running mate help to shore up weaknesses or fill in gaps of the nominee’s résumé? (Example: George W. Bush’s 2000 selection of Dick Cheney). Another argument is that identity or ideological politics play a crucial role. Could a female running mate help attract female voters or would an African-American candidate attract African-American voters? Could a running mate with a different stance than the nominee on issues important to the party help attract the key “swing voters”? (Example: Al Gore’s 2000 selection of Joe Lieberman, who was Jewish, and who also had prominently criticized the behavior of President Clinton, from whom Gore sought distance). And still a fourth theory holds that the nominee should select one of his primary competitors. Doing so, proponents might argue, helps to appease the defeated candidate’s supporters and unite the party behind two of its most popular candidates. (Example: John Kerry’s 2004 selection of John Edwards). The reality is that for McCain and Obama, all, some or none of these considerations could factor in to their ultimate choice, and at the end of the day, they will probably end up going with the person with whom they are most comfortable, like best and trust most.

John McCain’s choice of a running mate is probably more important than the average presidential nominee for several reasons, his age and his history of melanoma foremost among them. If elected, McCain would be 72 years old on Inauguration Day, the oldest president ever sworn into office. The most important role a vice president can ever play, of course, is to assume the presidency in the event of the president’s death, and morbidity aside, this is something that must be considered by McCain and those who choose to vote for him. Choosing a vice presidential candidate who is younger and more vigorous could reassure voters who may worry about McCain’s longevity. The second factor making McCain’s choice crucial is the fragile nature of his relationship with the conservative wing of the Republican Party, also known as “the base”. Many of them are very suspicious of McCain and of the authenticity of his conservative positions. By choosing a running mate viewed more positively by the base, McCain could go a long way toward assuaging their concerns and, more importantly, receiving their votes.

Barack Obama’s selection is also very important, but for different and more complicated reasons than McCain’s. Obama is only in the fourth year of his first Senate term, two years of which he has largely spent running for president. Prior to that, he was a member of the Illinois State Legislature, and that is the extent of his political experience. At age 46, questions about whether he has the experience needed to be president may dog him all summer and fall. Were he to choose someone viewed as “older and wiser” or someone with a great deal of experience, many voters concerned about the question of experience might be comforted. The other (and more complicated) issue for Obama is whether or not to choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate. She quite plainly wants the spot and has explicitly made that known. Many of her supporters are reportedly still very upset that she did not win the nomination, and many claim they will withhold their support (financial and otherwise), and perhaps even their votes, unless Hillary is chosen as Obama’s #2. These are likely not idle threats, nor are they insignificant threats, and so Obama may be forced to give serious consideration to choosing his erstwhile opponent despite his otherwise likely disinclination to do so.

John McCain’s best choice is Piyush Subhaschandra Amrit Jindal, known to most as “Bobby”. Bobby Jindal is the current Governor of Louisiana, and at age 37, he is a rising star in the Republican Party. Jindal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but his parents were Punjabi Indian immigrants who had moved to the United States while his mother was pregnant with him. Raised as a Hindu, Jindal converted to Catholicism while in high school, from which he graduated at age 16. After attending Brown for his undergraduate studies, he went on to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1996 at the age of 26, Jindal was appointed as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, turning a bankrupt department with a $400 million deficit into a department with three years of surpluses. Two years later, he became Executive Director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a panel created to help reform the Medicare system. In 1999, then only 28 years old, Jindal was appointed president of the University of Louisiana System, an enormous job – particularly for someone his age. In 2001 he was unanimously confirmed by Senate Republicans and Democrats to serve as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services in Washington. In 2004, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served on the Homeland Security Committee, as well as the Committee on Resources and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. He won reelection to a second term in 2006 – not a good year for GOP congressional candidates – with an astounding 88% of the vote. After two terms in Congress, he returned to Louisiana where he was elected governor in 2008, the youngest in the nation. With a 98% American Conservative Union rating for his two terms in Congress, his conservative bona fides are unassailable. Equally unassailable his Jindal’s obvious intelligence – brilliance, really – and he displays an ease and likeability on camera that would serve him well in a national, television-driven campaign.

As McCain’s running mate, Jindal’s assets are many. He brings obvious youth and energy to the campaign, and as a first generation American, he also adds ethnic diversity to the ticket – and to the party often criticized for being dominated by “white guys” – a particularly important point in a year in which the Democratic Nominee is an African-American. As a staunch conservative, he pacifies the GOP base, and their unofficial leader, Rush Limbaugh, who has called Jindal “the next Ronald Reagan – winning with 100% pure conservatism”, an effusive endorsement from an individual who has the ability to change minds and generate votes. He helps McCain shore up the South – a usually reliably Republican region but one that is suspicious and wary of McCain. While he is young, a Vice President Jindal is almost inarguably more qualified to be president than Barack Obama given the diversity, the depth and the executive nature of his experience. As the son of immigrants, he can potentially attract the votes of Hispanics and other important ethnic voting blocs who can identify with his first-generation American status. Jindal would be a bold and inspired choice that would excite the Republican Party, confound the Democratic Party, and intrigue the media. While there are surely other strong possibilities for McCain to consider, Jindal is far and away the strongest.

Barack Obama should look to the Peach State for his running mate and select former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn. Now 69 years old, Nunn’s political career began in 1968 when he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. In 1972, he was elected to the Senate, and for 24 years he served Georgia in the Senate before retiring in 1997, indicating that he was lacking a “zest and enthusiasm” for politics. Nunn’s career in the Senate was distinguished by his interest in and advocacy for a strong defense policy. He has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate in several of the last elections, as well as a possible Secretary of Defense in several administrations. While a loyal Democrat, Nunn would certainly be considered moderate to conservative, epitomized by his opposition to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy proposed by President Clinton, but also by his occasional opposition to tax hikes and his support for the death penalty. On some of the most highly charged issues for Democrats, however – including abortion, environmental issues and gun control – Nunn toed the party line. Since his retirement, he has continued to pursue his passion of foreign affairs and defense policy, focusing in particular on preventing the spread of nuclear materials globally. He is currently the CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which, per its website, is “working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons”. Nunn’s work on the reduction of weapons has resulted in three separate nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, and certainly is a timely and relevant effort given the apparent interest of Al Qaeda and other terrorists in acquiring nuclear, biological and/or chemical weapons capabilities. Nunn is well-known to Democrats and to Republicans, and to a large degree, is also respected by people in both parties for his statesmanlike qualities and generally moderate views and record.

Nunn is the obvious choice for Obama. He is, quite frankly, a “boring, white guy”, but that’s exactly what Obama – an exciting and charismatic African-American – needs. He brings decades of experience to the ticket, buttressing a nominee who lacks it. Nunn has a wealth of foreign policy and defense knowledge and expertise, again filling in what many may perceive as a gap in Obama’s qualifications. As a son of the South – and one who has the accent and demeanor to prove it – Nunn can only help Obama in a region of the country where racism undoubtedly persists and surely hurts Obama’s chances. To voters in the South and elsewhere who may be nervous about Obama, seeing Sam Nunn on the ticket – the ultimate endorsement – makes the idea of a President Obama a “safer” proposition. As a moderate Democrat, a Vice President Nunn tempers the senator who the non-partisan National Journal named “most liberal” in 2007, blunting one of the key GOP arguments against Obama. Sam Nunn exudes a quiet confidence that only years of service can provide, and he would supply a healthy grounding to an Obama Campaign that often seems almost too frenzied and too hyperactive. Yet at nearly 70 years old, Nunn obviously does not harbor presidential aspirations of his own, and so he would never seek to (nor be able to) upstage the “rock star” aspect of the nominee, a big part of his success. Nunn would play the role of the wise parent, keeping a watchful eye over his younger charge, simultaneously steering Obama clear of missteps and reassuring those who worry about the ramifications of any such missteps. Last, but certainly not least, he is not Hillary Clinton, and therefore brings none of the baggage, none of the agenda, none of the drama (and no Bill) that she would were Obama to select her. Selecting Sam Nunn as his running mate should be a no-brainer and a sure winner for Barack Obama.

So, readers...what do you think? If you're so inclined, please use the "comments" area below to post your own suggestions for McCain and Obama's best running mate choices.

(An abbreviated version of this post can also be seen at Splice Today: http://splicetoday.com/).

Tim Russert: Rest In Peace

This afternoon the political and media worlds were shocked by the sudden death of Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief and Moderator of Meet the Press. As a political junkie, I had a great deal of respect for his career, for his enthusiasm, and for his knowledge. His love of politics was evident, and watching the sparkle in his eyes when he excitedly discussed the latest developments in the political arena was both contagious and endearing. For my generation, he was iconic -- much like Walter Cronkite was to our parents' generation.

Several years ago he wrote a touching book in honor of his father (who was nicknamed "Big Russ"), entitled Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life, and that was followed up two years later by Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons. Given the obvious devotion he has for his father, and also the dedicated father Russert himself was, it seems somehow appropriate (yet also all the more tragic), that he would pass away on this Father's Day Weekend. By all accounts, he was a dedicated family man, a consummate professional, and just an all-around terrific guy. My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and colleagues. He will be missed, as will the thoughtful reporting he would have continued to contribute in this election year, and for years to come.