Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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Age Works Two Ways
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
3:47 PM
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So John Kerry and members of Barack's foreign policy team are characterizing John McCain as "confused" -- obviously an effort to hint that his age renders him unqualified to serve as president (and, incidentally, an incredibly graceless move on Kerry's part, who was plenty happy to have McCain defending him when the Swift Boat veterans were airing charges that Kerry never effectively rebutted).
It seems to me that there are a couple of ways that the McCain people could get the Obama people to back off on the age thing. One way is to ask Barack "New Tone" Obama straight out whether he believes that McCain is too old to be president, as his allies are suggesting. If he says "yes," well, there goes the new tone -- along with a good portion of the elder vote (and, unlike the youth vote, it's one that tends to head reliably to the polls). If he says "no," then there's the response each time one of his surrogates tries to play around with words like "confused." If he weasels, well, it's just another opportunity to point out that with Barack, one may be getting a lot of words without getting a lot of substance.
The point is that in a graying society, it's not perhaps the smartest approach to act as though an obviously capable presidential candidate is in his dotage simply because he misspeaks from time to time. After all, old age wouldn't explain Barack's well-documented history of gaffes.
But -- as McCain's people might be well-advised to point out -- perhaps youth and inexperience would.
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And the perfect setting? A joint Town Hall meeting, as proposed by McCain.
Problem is, Barack won't show up!
As for putting Kerry out there, why stop them? I mean, the Democrats nominating the pompous fool John Kerry in '04 contributed to a Bush victory as much as anything else.
McCain / Bush? How about Obama / Kerry / Dean?
I love having these has-been losers out there representing the "new tone" Obama. |
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Despite the left's attack on authority and tradition, most Americans have greater trust in people with solid experience and a modicum of wisdom. In that regard, McCain would clearly prevail against the callow Obama.
If we could splice a compendium of his positions on all the key issues you would see a series of revisions, on taxes, welfare, guns, abortion, regulation, and foreign affairs, from his arch liberal positions to a more deft--read moderate--approach.
And, therein lies his weakness: People of principle, on both sides of the aisle, don't recast their principles to suit the situation. Obama has mastered the cowardly art of revisionism, which is the inartful and transparent way to appeal to a broader constituency.
Phil Mella
ClearCommentary.com
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could be because of his past drug use. How much pot did he smoke? What effect could it have on his memory now? |
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al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training.
Petraeus goes out every day in an unarmed SUV.
I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues.
Of course we're better off than we were eight years ago. ... Of course we aren't.
I voted to extend the tax cuts ... I voted against extending the tax cuts.
President Putin of Germany
We have drawn down to pre-surge levels.
I will win in January |
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However, thinking there are 57 states as Obama does is pretty hard for an American to get past as simply a gaffe. |
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ask him directly and watch him squirm. And old age wouldn't explain all the gaffes that Bush has made either. I think the Obama campaign's attitude smacks of ageism which I find as offensive as racism. |
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Start accusing McCain, a member of the largest and most consistent voting constituency, of being too old.
I can see a lot of levers in voting booths being broken while voting for McCain in November--from older folks who have had enough of Obama's nonsense.
Changey that! |
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