A FEW MONTHS AGO, John McCain’s campaign events were free-wheeling and fairly entertaining affairs characterised by his answering questions from voters and making humorous wise-cracking remarks to voters in the ‘town hall’ format he is most comfortable with.
And while travelling between events, McCain would also answer any and all questions from the TV and newspaper journalists covering his campaign from the couch at the back of his bus or the front of his plane. But during the last three months, it has become very evident that former Bush campaign advisor Steve Schmidt is now the man calling the shots for the McCain campaign, not McCain the presidential candidate. Now there are two drawn curtains separating McCain from the news media on his plane, and the couch is used as a repository for newspapers.
This is the same Senator McCain who has repeatedly promised that (unlike president Bush) if he is elected president, he would have a press conference every week. In light of this, one has to wonder why he has not seen fit to hold a press conference since early August. Meanwhile, the town hall meetings McCain favours have also changed from campaign events open to all interested parties into ‘invitation only’ affairs with an audience consisting of friendly supporters rather than undecided voters.
The same John McCain who used to roll his eyes when he was asked about the sound-bite advertising and attack ads used by Bush and other politicians now delivers his own attacks on Senator Obama every time he’s given the opportunity to speak into a microphone. Furthermore, McCain’s TV ads have already been criticised by non-partisan watchdog groups for their misrepresentations of Senator Obama’s positions and lack of truthfulness.
The John McCain of September 2008, who for years was reticent to discuss his time in captivity as a Vietnamese prisoner of war, now finds a way to weave his experiences as a POW into his responses to virtually all questions.
As for the McCain who has sponsored legislation on campaign finance reforms, he has apparently been replaced by a team of Bush advisors who are exploiting legal loopholes to raise money in ways that circumvent the intent of McCain’s own campaign finance reform laws.
WILL MCCAIN’S new campaign strategy and tactics work? Will they be enough to get him elected president on 4 November? While I could be wrong, I believe that they won’t. Granted, McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate has energised the social conservatives who had previously been lukewarm to McCain’s presidential aspirations. Cutting off access to McCain and not allowing journalists to question Sarah Palin has also made it difficult for the news media to make either one of them accountable for their scurrilous attacks on Senator Obama’s record or distortions of their own positions on any number of issues.
But I just don’t think these tactics will hold up over the long term, because I think the American voter is smart enough to figure this out before they cast their presidential ballots, less than 45 days from now.
You see, despite McCain’s attempts to recast himself as a ‘change’ candidate by selecting a white working mother as his vice presidential candidate, I think American voters will eventually see the choice of Palin for what it is – the act of a politician who will do or say anything to get himself elected. Once they do, these voters will surely ask themselves if this is really what America needs. With an economic future growing more uncertain with each passing day, I believe America will vote for change. Barack Obama embodies such change. McCain simply doesn’t.
