Forget the Insults, Stick to the Facts

I enjoy the image of John McCain as an out-of-touch buffoon with big 1980s glasses and being reminded that he doesn’t even know how to send an e-mail as much as the next guy, but it is just not getting us anywhere. The truth is that in this last fifty days, this race is going to be about issues. I can’t state that strongly enough! John McCain simply speaking is the weaker candidate in every category that we measure presidential candidates, but as his people have been saying over and over, this race isn’t about issues.

They are wrong! Clearly that is the campaign that they’re running, but up until this past week, we have been playing right into their hands. Yes, we respond, we react, we coil in shock and surprise, but in the end, the McCain campaign, being run by the same people who brought us the Bush-Cheney regime for eight years, know exactly what they’re doing. They are defining who Barack Obama is, and it wouldn’t shock me at all to hear that Barack once voted in favor of bringing back slavery and having Fox News polling on that within five minutes of that pronouncement.

My cousin gave me a phrase that I think must be coming out of Obama’s mouth every day from now until the election, and that is that every time (which we know will be every day until the election) McCain lies about Obama, his positions, his votes, his life, Barack says something like “That’s not honest and that’s not honorable.” It has already been said, but the difference from the past few weeks till now is that Barack should be talking about honesty and honorability and then move on to the issues and show over and over again that McCain refuses to speak about the issues because he would rather divert the public’s attention from his own positions, because his positions are not consistent with what is either best for this country or he knows deep down that the average American would not like his positions on the issues.

This is crunch time. If we don’t make some significant headway here, we will all be licking our wounds, shaking our heads and saying “I give up.” Well, I for one am not ready to throw in the towel. This is still our race to lose, and I say we are going to win. We can win, but it’s going to take some new slogans. As Thomas Friedman said in the NY Times, the McCain-Palin ticket has hijacked the change slogan. Who cares? It’s a tired slogan, anyway. Let’s come up with something new, something like “John McCain thinks that change means doing things in exactly the same way as before. Well, if that’s his definition, he can have it. I will use a different word, and that is action. Put me in office and watch the difference between the last eight years and the next four. I will provide new leadership for this country. I am you. I livemy life like you live yours. I know what to do when I get into the White House. John McCain tells you he knows what to do on day one, but he can’t even do it with a straight face. Elect me and I will never forget one day that I work for you, not corporations, not TV networks, not the Pentagon and not the leaders of any other country. I am you.”

That is off the top of my head, but let’s shake things up, come up with some slick catchy phrases that people will find themselves repeating to their friends and family, and let’s not spend one more day allowing McCain and Palin defining who we are and what we stand for. They have shown us that like puppets, they will do whatever they are told, and their masters aren’t called masters for nothing. They are damn good at what they do.