Widem

Yeah stop crying and die already. Save the 300 million others some money. "Me Me Me, im sick, im sick, im sick."

Of course, it would just be nice for him to actually put on paper his plan to accomplish his dream. He's going to be forced to in the near future, and hey maybe hes just wants to get it all right. His plan for Iraq comes out today, before he visits and after he hasnt been in over 2 and a half years, which imo is a political mistake.

Deson

He can't actually put his full plan on paper because the people he's hoping to court would balk. I just can't wait until he's actually forced to state what kind of Supreme Court judges he'd appoint.

For Iraq, it's not a mistake for the anti-war vote which is huge however, the Iraqi's themselves may take that issue away from him. Heck, McCain can kill him on it right now by addressing the silliness wrapped up in his "the president sets the mission" refrain. While true on the surface, it just so happens Bush and McCain's focus is on stabilizing the Iraq mess, not just leaving. If the Obama camp would fully quote McCain instead of the "100 years" sound bite they claim to loathe, the question would be one of leaving now vs. leaving when we can do no more good. When the question is the latter, there is no surprise that Bush defers to Petraeus since Petraeus actually has a clue. If properly evaluated, McCain has the Iraq high ground because he's agitated for changes longer and louder and the surge, which Obama opposed, allowed us to take advantage of Al Qaeda's overreach. By sticking it out and actually trying to fix our mistake instead of just leaving since we fucked up, we've created opportunity not only for stability but also for some form of agreement between factions that would almost certainly have gone to war in our absence.

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Widem

The interesting part is that even though the people are in majority opposed to the war in Iraq, the nation is split 50/50 on whos plan they want to follow. What this tells you is that even though they hate the war people generally beleive McCain and his record over taking charge of putting things right in Iraq. They feel that with everything we have lost McCain has shown them that good can still come out of this.

I'd also be willing to bet even if McCain was elected we would see a very similar timetable just b/c of how good things in Iraq are going. You just don't say that out loud for security purposes.

Oizen

This doesn't effect my current vote but, I found this artistic and tasteful.

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Widem

I understand the political satire, but for it to be truly tasteful it would have also had to have included John McCain hooked up to a life support machine with cindy in extremely low cut cleavage trying to feed him money flowing from a beer mug.

Then it would have been tasteful satire.

Deson

Meh, I don't fully buy the argument you can't announce timetables. Certainly when things are going bad you don't but when you have them virtually destroyed along with a solid defense behind as is currently being done, a announced time table is irrelevant because they'll never gain another foothold.

McCain owns the non-Berkeley Iraq vote if he actually presses the point beyond "victory in Iraq!" and surrender.McCain's best weapon this election is actual detail and specifics.

That's next month's cover...

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aduros

I don't see this as too much of an issue for Obama. Historically Republicans have always been stronger on issues about security/military. The fact that 48% polled so far say that Obama would make a good Commander-in-Chief, puts him higher than most Democarats would expect. McCain is the one with the extensive military background, so It's no real surprise there that he'd 1-up Obama on the Iraq issue. The problem with this is that while the war in Iraq may be fun to debate online, and amongst others, the real defining issue this election will be the economy.

This is why you don't see McCain vigorously pushing Iraq/homeland security as hard as you'd think, given his advantage and experience. If it was 2-3 years ago, it'd be a completely different story. So as long as Obama continues to lead McCain on the economy, and paint him as a "3rd term of Bush", Obama will win come November.

'Bush fatigue', Iraq on the back burner, and quotes like "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated." Make this a battle any Republican candidate would struggle horribly with. In fact, I would go so far as to say if Obama was a white male, with more political experience, it would be a landslide victory. There's just too many factors beating against the Republicans.

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Deson

If Obama were a white male with his current experience he wouldn't have made it into the primaries, let alone won them.

The major driving force behind the Obama candidacy was war fatigue. Both Hillary and Edwards were stronger than Obama on the economy yet Obama is the one that made it out. While McCain is weaker domestically than he is militarily, he's no slouch and is (all too) quietly promoting the growth of small business to take up the economic slack. While Obama talks a solid game on the economy( though mostly borrowed and just in policy docs), the taxes required for his domestic spending may well offset any gains. McCain is also promoting a balanced budget amendment, something that holds water since he's always been a spending hawk.

This is not a Republican year but if any candidate has the innate ability to pull off an upset, it's McCain. Unfortunately, there just doesn't seem to be any national level organization by his campaign that plays to his strengths-- I suspect because he's still too scared of pissing off the Limbaugh/Hannity crowd. The fire in him is clearly there when he speaks about Iraq but on those issues on which he is clearly lying, no passion at all.

The Dem's need to be very careful about the Bush 3rd term meme. While on the surface he's swapped to Bush's policies, it's primarily a line to those that are already solidly Dem. Independents and fence sitters that actually pay attention know from history that McCain is as close to Bush as Hillary was to June Cleaver. The other problem they have with that meme is Obama himself. Promoting things like faith based initiatives and his rhetoric of being able to work across the aisle is reminiscent of Bush in 2000. The real danger though is that Obama promised to practice a "new politics" that tries to avoid sounds bites and such. By aggressively promoting precisely those sound bites he decries, he undermines that rationale for his campaign and looks like just another politician.

Edit: Funny how things change when you're the nominee...

http://themoderatevoice.com/politics...nt-bother-him/

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aduros

That's why I made sure to include "more experience". If he were white, with more experience, he'd have a much easier time winning over Reagan Democrats, independents and teetering Republicans in this election. He'd also have no problem with the black vote either, since they vote overwhelmingly Democrat anyways. As of now with the Wright fiasco, and lack of a political career people can sink their teeth into, many of those aforementioned constituencies are some what leery of what his real agenda is.

I just can't see him pulling off an upset. He has to distance himself from Bush much better than he's been doing recently, and while his strength are in his details, he has to be willing to try and grab those angry Hillary supporters (especially women/Reagan Democrats) while he can. Even if that means, as you said, pissing off the Hannity crowd.

Obama has the money to campaign in red states, places that McCain previously shouldn't have to bother with, and put that much more pressure on him. Obama's also riding a huge wave of popularity. In a time where the economy is down and everyone is feeling the pinch, he comes off as a shining beam of hope and passion for his party. McCain has to realise this, and work harder to light that fire in his party. He needs to understand that right now, people don't want a "straight talk express", they want to hear sweet nothings whispered in their ears.

Herein lies the problem with politics: the average voter is an uneducated voter.

Only a minority of voters will actually go out and do their research about each candidate, then vote accordingly. Elections are just each party competing to sell their 'product' to the American consumers. Just look at how far Obama's been able to ride the "hope" and "change" slogan.

Because of this memes like "3rd term of Bush" prove very effective. All they see is McCain = Republican, Bush = Republican, therefore McCain = Bush. Throw in "McCain votes 95% the same as Bush" and you have something your 'casual' voter can hold on to on his way to the polls. In a sense it's no different than constructing high profile advertising campaigns. How many people weigh their purchases on actual reviews and research, versus those that see something flashy that catches their eye?

My respect for Obama went up after hearing his response to the satire cartoon, and the "magic negro" bit. I think he realizes that he has to show he's thick skinned and can take a joke. Especially when they were railing him before saying he was trying to make his race off limits, alluding that people who brought up the issue were racist. This shows he's learned from that mistake, allegedly even Rush was impressed.

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Deson

All good points,nothing to add. Go back and note the date of the Magic Negro bit. Also, listen to it and tell me what you think, both of the song and his reaction:
(note: the intro was added by the poster as was the vid. There was also a lot more during that particular show that should color what the song was about)

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