McCain Fears Obama
Posted on February 14, 2008
Filed Under Election 2008, Politics
It seems that John McCain will do what he has to to pump up a Hillary Clinton nomination, sparing himself from having to face Barack Obama in the fall. Â With his nomination on the Republican side a near certainty, McCain has trained his focus on Obama as he hopes to tilt that race in Clinton’s favor. Â Yesterday the attacks began in earnest as the Arizona senator derided Obama’s soaring rhetoric for lacking specificity. Â Â
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 ”There’s going to come a time when we’re going to have to get into specifics.  I have not observed every speech he has given obviously, but they are singularly lacking in specifics…To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope, it is a platitude.”Â
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The attacks continued when McCain’s economic adviser, Kevin Hasset, alleged that Obama “plagiarized” Hillary Clinton’s economic stimulus package.  The wording was harsh.  The full text of the attack along with the Obama camp’s response can be found here.   McCain’s attacks hold little water as he has been painfully vague himself in his policy proposals.Â
Why is the Senator bothering to inject himself into this as yet undecided fight?   The polls consistently show that McCain runs stronger against Clinton than Obama by anywhere from 6-11 points.  Obama runs very strong among independents and some moderate Republicans, the same constituency that McCain is courting.  But McCain’s biggest fear is that the conservative wing of his party, jaded by what they see as liberal tendencies of their nominee, simply stays home in November.  With Hillary Clinton on the ballet this is far less likely as she is a most reviled figure in conservative circles and would surely drive Republican turnout in a way that Obama would not.  Â
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Obviously if the McCain camp sees Obama as a more formidable opponent than the Democratic establishment in the form of super delegates are seeing the same thing.  There is nothing this core group of Democratic loyalists want more than to take the White House this fall and if they believe Obama offers them the better shot you can be sure they’ll be abandoning Clinton in droves in the coming weeks. Â
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Comments
6 Responses to “McCain Fears Obama”
Attacking Obama, paradoxically, is the nicest thing McCain could do for him. The supers already know the polling data, he’s just rubbing it in their faces.
Obama has already started going specific. In Wisconsin on the night of the Potomac sweep, he offered $4,000 per year in tuition credits in exchange for a year of public service.
“… [it's] not a promise of hope, it is a platitude.”
Outstanding!
Very insightful. I always enjoy your articles. You seem to know your stuff.
I’m not sure “fear” is the correct verb.
“McCain Begins Campaign Against Obama” seems to be more accurate, although admittedly less interesting.
It’s funny. Every time I hear about McCain and the economy I remember this…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_five
I do feel a bit like J. Jonah Jameson with some of these headlines. With that said, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that McCain would fear Obama as an opponent, at least in contrast to HRC. Obviously he likely doesn’t fear Obama the man. I supposed if I make my headlines too reasonable nobody will read my articles. A little hyperbole goes a long way - this article had 5000 hits in under 4 hours.
Appreciate the comment.