Be Careful What You Ask For; and, More Careful About How You Deal With the Results
Back at the end of May, John McCain invited Barack Obama to visit Iraq with him, knowing that Obama wouldn’t accept the “invitation.” The McCain campaign then made much of the fact that McCain has been to Iraq a bunch of time over the course of the war and Obama had only been there once, in 2006. Since Obama had been there much, he obviously wasn’t interested in the facts and was thus unfit to be the commander in chief, or something like that.
So, this week Obama has been to Iraq, Afganistan, Berlin, Paris and is about to land in London, all the while being treated to adoring crowds, massive media coverage and obliging world leaders.
McCain spent the week visiting a German restaurant in German Village in Columbus, Ohio. As put by an article I read, and can’t now find “Obama visits countries. McCain visits restaurants.” I would add, “and whines about the disparate press coverage.” And, he went shopping with a nice GOP lady who complained about food prices.
I know campaigns ebb and flow; but, McCain did a really poor job this week, low-lighted by his attack on Obama for seeking election at the cost of “losing” the Iraq War.
If McCain keeps up his dismal efforts, Obama can do as he’s done for months, coast on platitudes.
4 comments:
Interestingly, the poles indicate the the race is increasingly more even and that there could be a backlash because the American public will most likely not elect Europe's choice for president. Time will tell I suppose!
In a PR class during my seemingly endless quest to finally finish my degree, our semester project involved picking a topic - or a candidate - and keeping track of the coverage. It was fascinating because there truly is an ebb and flow to coverage and managing it is an art (although I suspect a science, too). This was leading up to the last presidential election - counting positive/negative mentions of each candidate, tracking the photos (did they portray the candidate in a positive or negative light). In the end, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I suppose Obama's due for another Really Bad Week soon enough. Thanks for writing this, Dave.
I'm tired of all the distorted, negative campaigning already (and the constant complaining from a certain candidate) and there is still a lot of time left to endure it. Negative ads do affect my opinions, but probably not in the desired way.
I was not surprised that McCain went negative, but I was surprised that he did it so soon, and so poorly.
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