John McCain: Political Incompetent

[EarlG]

I've seen a few people arguing recently that it's a shame McCain's VP pick has obscured talk of Obama's great speech last Thursday. But it occurs to me in retrospect that McCain's decision to announce his running mate the day after the speech was just about the worst tactical mistake he could make (apart from picking Sarah Palin as that running mate, obviously, which is a mistake for the ages).

At least 38 million people watched Obama's acceptance speech on TV last Thursday. As has been pointed out, that's more than watched the Olympics opening ceremony, the most recent American Idol finale, and the most recent Oscars. Viewers who stuck around after the speech were treated to practically every single talking head on TV - on both the left and the right - raving about what a masterpiece it was.

McCain's plan was to grab the spotlight back from Obama by making his big surprise VP announcement the morning after. What was he thinking? Ever since the campaign began, pundits have theorized that McCain could win by making the election into a referendum on Obama. This theory seemed be borne out by the fact that McCain's constant attack ads were allowing him to close in the polls.

And then, in an apparent fit of pique, McCain threw his entire strategy out of the window.

By making his shocking veep announcement, McCain prevented the media from doing what they do best - spinning and fudging and warping reality to fit their inside-the-bubble perspective. Instead of rolling out a legion of right-wing spinmeisters to sow doubt about Obama's speech (remember what they did in the wake of Paul Wellstone's memorial service?) McCain immediately turned the page and started a new chapter.

So what did the public get? MILLIONS of Americans watched Obama's speech - live, unspun, unfiltered - and then woke up in the morning to BOOM! New narrative. McCain left the public hanging at "Obama = JFK + Reagan" and moved immediately on to, "Hey everybody, look at me! I picked a lady!"

At the very moment when it was most important for McCain's team to methodically tear down Obama and try to reduce the positive effects of his speech, they invited the media to put McCain under a magnifying glass. And they did this because they were panicking - about Obama's media buzz, the upcoming RNC, and Hurricane Gustav. What does that lack of discipline say about McCain's ability to lead the country in tough times?

Oh, but don't worry - his campaign had a http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02assess.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=login">plan for dealing with the multiple Palin scandals.

"We are going to flush the toilet," said Tucker Eskew, who is a senior adviser to Ms. Palin, describing the campaign's plans for Labor Day, when much of the nation was busy with family and social activities.

Is he kidding? They thought Palin would be a one day story?

Since McCain made his announcement, there has been barely any talk of Obama at all, other than to highlight his sensible and statesmanlike comments about leaving Bristol Palin alone. While Obama and Biden are on the ground, campaigning hard in the swing states, the media spotlight is firmly pointed at McCain's Bush-like shoot-first-ask-questions-later style and his nutjob running mate. Meanwhile the last important memory the general public has of Obama was his fantastic speech before 90,000 people in a packed-to-the-rafters NFL stadium.

Which means that McCain is not just a terrible decision-maker, his campaign is politically incompetent.