Taking a Page from the Movies

I can’t get the movie A Few Good Men out of my mind. There are just too many similarities to tonight’s debate. I see Barack as the Tom Cruise character, someone who fights for what’s right, and even though the character played by Jack Nicholson doesn’t exactly fit with John McCain, I do see that in my mind in this debate and campaign, he is not right on the issues and that Barack must do a superb job making his case.

Tom Cruise plays an attorney who knows that Jack Nicholson’s character, a cocky military leader who has broken the law, is going to walk away from a trial unless Cruise, an upstart attorney with brash talent, but quite a bit of inexperience, can prove that he broke the law. Another attorney, played brilliantly by Demi Moore, rushes to the courtroom right before the final day of the trial to remind Cruise’s character that if he can’t nail Nicholson’s character, don’t try, because a wounded but free man who isn’t literally destroyed will spend the rest of this career trying to ruin Tom Cruise’s character.

I realize this is confusing, but the parallel is clear to me, at least. If Barack is going to beat around the bush (pardon the pun) and simply make vague references to McCain’s lack of effectiveness, wishy-washy behavior and inconsistent messaging, then he might as well not waste his time. In blunt terms, he needs to go for the jugular. Like Cruise, he needs to take every opening to respectfully, but with conviction point out in just a few words how absolutely destructive it will be for a John McCain to be president of this country and that it is just another Bush term.

This past week, John McCain has been all over the map, and I don’t mean geographically. He was originally against the bailout of AIG, then for it. He was originally for the proposed bailout plan, but against it. He announced that he would suspend his campaign, but it was simply a charade. His offices were all kept open and his ads continued running on TV. He lied to Letterman about needing to get back to DC immediately and received way more than a tongue lashing from him, and when he did get back to Washington, he said next to nothing and seemed to negatively affect what looked like the framework of a deal.

In short, instead of Barack saying that McCain didn’t have much to contribute to the delicate negotiations in Congress, he should say that McCain pulled a publicity stunt that backfired and he is left with egg on his face. Barack should say that McCain has told so many lies that even Fox News can’t support his antics any longer, and that instead of suspending his campaign, he was in suspended animation, because his behavior made him look and act like a cartoon character, completely out of control. Okay. Maybe that one’s a stretch, but you get where I’m going with this.

When questions start about Iraq and McCain says that Obama just won’t admit that the surge worked, Barack must say that this country has grown tired of listening to McCain use that tired line over and over. He needs to say that it is time for McCain to take responsibility for his vote and continued support of the Bush-Cheney occupation when it was obvious that it is and was a disaster, and that if McCain wants to have our troops come him victorious, then he must define what victory is and not just use that as a tag line with absolutely no meaning or substance.

I want to see Barack Obama thoughtfully and methodically take McCain apart. Not rudely, not unfairly, but with the class and style that Tom Cruise’s character did in A Few Good Men. A lot of this country will not support just a general mudslinging of John McCain, because his overall character and personality seem to draw a lot of sympathy and compassion, but if it is done right, with McCain left looking inept, angry and bewildered because Barack has clearly pointed out why he is the man this country needs and why McCain is just not mentally or strategically up to the task, the country will rally around Obama and we will witness for the first time a significant uptick in the polls for Obama and the general understanding that McCain gave it a good run, but it is truly over.