McCain Takes on Obama
- 03.28.2008 - 1:51 PMJohn McCain has stayed out of the nasty back-and-forth between Obama and Hillary, and he’s been wise to do so. But his new ad, which his campaign is calling his first general election ad, is clearly working off of all the material that the two Democrats have provided during the course of their spats. The message is entirely directed toward Obama. If everyone else is still toying with the idea of Hillary’s triumphant superdelegate finale, no one’s been told at McCain headquarters. They’ve got another target in mind.
In the ad, there’s plenty of neutral footage showing McCain looking TV-Presidential, while the voiceover establishes the theme:
What must a president believe about us? About America?
Thanks to Jeremiah Wright and Michelle Obama. McCain will be able to stay on this point for as long as he wishes.
That she is worth protecting?
That liberty is priceless?
Our people, honorable?
Our future, prosperous, remarkable and free?
And, what must we believe about that president?
What does he think?
Where has he been?
Has he walked the walk?
Then comes the footage of McCain as a POW, giving his rank and serial number. The announcer breaks in with a direct rebuke to Barack Obama.
The American president Americans have been waiting for.
While the ad is, in its way, an attack ad, it offers everything the Democrats have failed to in their campaign: clarity, simplicity, focus, and indisputable evidence (POW footage) of a real record. With the Obama hysteria having been exposed for what it is (to a degree), it’s hard to imagine what kind of second wave the Illinois senator will be able to marshal against this McCain attack.
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March 28th, 2008 at 2:29 PM
How long until the media brands this ad as unfairly questioning Obama’s patriotism?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:48 PM
I like it all except that last part; the ‘American president Americans’ have been waiting for is clunky. I
March 28th, 2008 at 2:49 PM
I like the ad, and its message is right, but the Silver Tongued One will not have trouble deflecting it. He’ll say of course liberty is worth defending, but that Iraq was a tragic mistake that John McCain will perpetuate for 100 years, that of course our future is prosperous and free, but not if we give it to greedy multinationals, etc. Watch for the jujitsu to begin.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Los Angelino - the point of an ad like this one isn’t just to address where a candidate’s or voter’s head or words are - this week or month or year - but where his or her heart is and always has been. Barack can swear up and down the street that he loves this country and all the people in it, but the issue joined here isn’t what he or McCain says he is, but who each really is.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:54 PM
I like the last part about the ‘American president Americans have been waiting for’ — isn’t it just a play on the silly Obama riff of ‘we’re the ones we’ve been waiting for?’
March 28th, 2008 at 4:48 PM
CK MacLeod: I hope you are right.
Jon S: I think you are right.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:26 PM
[…] think Abe Greenwald’s post over at the Contentions blog of Commentary magazine is fascinating - especially when coupled with the […]
March 28th, 2008 at 6:49 PM
Its always important to figure out if one is the target audience. If you old guys like the ads on MTV, then there is something wrong with those ads. If you are the Republican candidate tied to an unpopular war and a bad economy, you need to to do more than appeal to patriotism. You have to let people know you see the same problems they see.
John McCain has very good standing among the general public but he has to argue that he can end the Iraq war and that he can turn the economy around. All Obama has to do to win is say “McCain is a patriot but I can end the war and rebuild the economy.” Its not fair but people will choose a bad solution over no solution.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:51 PM
Presidential ads are enthymemes, which is why best are nothing short of brilliant. This point goes to Los Angeleno’s point #3 above. Of course, Obama will respond according to Angeleno’s script above, but it won’t matter.
The reason is that the best enthymemes (by definition) leave the audience to supply the message. Notice that McCain doesn’t mention Obama in the ad. He doesn’t have to, because the meme of Obama’s lack of patriotism, dislike of America, &c., has long since been planted. That Rubin knows exactly who the target of McCain’s ad is suggests that lots of other Americans will recognize Obama as well.
For all of Obama’ brilliance, his 1972-McGovern style incompetence, especially in managing the symbology, has been stunning. Little, cost-free things, such as the flag-in-the-lapel and pledge of allegiance flap and the Michelle “just scraping by” on 500K per annum meme, combined with larger things such as his continuing default in the face of a once-an-election Sister Souljah opportunity (i.e., Rev. Wright) has allowed the “I dislike America” meme to grow.
For all of Obama’s reliance on history in “The Speech,” he forgot about a small corner of our history that has provided something like a political litmus test since Appomattox: the primacy of unity. And in American politics, that has always been expressed in a few touchstones: flag, a few patriotic pieties, and a nod to American exceptionalism. What is striking about Obama (and perhaps evidence of his real points of view) is his refusal to engage even these in his campaign.
Thus and in an odd way, he has foolishly placed himself on the wrong side of history–American history. And McCain will define him accordingly.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:47 PM
Why would anyone use a word like “enthymemes” and then add “(by definition)” if he or she is interested in anyone understand whatever point is being made? Just askin’.