On a day it has emerged John McCain is actually ahead in one major poll, Robert Novak (to whom we should all lend our emotional support in his battle with cancer) begins his recent column: “In the contest for president, Barack Obama is a magnetic candidate supported by a disciplined, well-organized campaign. John McCain seems wooden, with a campaign that appears to be in shambles. Yet Obama’s lead in the polls over McCain is fragile because he so far has not won the support of a majority of American voters.”
I’m not sure if Novak is just spouting this conventional wisdom to make a point, but I question the assumption. McCain may not be a good speechmaker, but he is far from wooden one-on-one and in town hall meetings. It is Obama who appears uptight in these venues, which are the more telling ones when it comes to revealing personality and behavior. Prepared speeches have their place, but everyone knows they are just that – prepared. Adam Nagourney and others are sucking their thumbs over the strange phenomenon of McCain hanging so close (even being narrowly ahead) in a year that would normally so completely favor the Democrats. They have all kinds of theories, but Occam’s Razor tempts me to the simplest. McCain seems like a regular guy – an attractive trait not very common among politicians.
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17 Comments
1. Barry Dauphin:The press sat at McCains feet for a long time before deciding that he is yesterday’s flavor. People aren’t stupid. Many in the press move on to the next thing pretending what was said yesterday was never said. But a lot of folks see that McCain has moved from saint to outcast for no discernible reason other than his running against a Democrat.
Jul 28, 2008 - 9:13 pm 2. vnjagvet:Not only that, Barry, he has a more open, approachable personality than any presidential candidate since Clinton, and I include potential nominees as well as actual candidates.
2000, I give you Gore, Bradley, Forbes, Bush, McCain.
2004, I give you Kerry, Edwards, Braun, Clark Dean, Gephardt, Graham, Kucinich, Lieberman, and Sharpton and, of course, W.
2008, we have Obama, Clinton, Richardson, Kucinich, Dodd, Biden, Romney, Fred and Tommy Thompson, Huckabee and McCain.
Who among these guys and gals comes across as the most down to earth?
I submit it’s McCain, and that quality counts for something.
Jul 28, 2008 - 10:00 pm 3. heather:I still don’t know what arugula(sp?) is…
Jul 28, 2008 - 10:08 pm 4. Roger L Simon:“I still don’t know what arugula(sp?) is…”
Rocket.
Jul 28, 2008 - 10:38 pm 5. John Moore:Roger,
You have a good point. McCain has been cruising along acting like a normal human being, and a good humored one at that. To the press and the political class, that looks like laziness or lack of drive or organization. To a lot of people, it looks like the sort of fellow they might actually trust and respect.
At the same time, Obama is openly showing remarkable arrogance or narcissism. His act of touring Europe like a rock star, and speaking to a huge crowd of worshipful Germans, doesn’t sit well with those who “cling to their guns and religion…” He is acting like the transnational progressive that he is, and only our elites like the tranzis.
There is a palpable sense that we are supposed to view him as a messiah, and some of the symbolism used by his campaign supports that. The similarity to that used by tyrannical cults of personality sends chills down my back.
North Korea, Stalin, Saddam and most dramatically the Nazis did this same stuff. It’s scary, Orwellian, and hits a sour note for many Americans.
Jul 28, 2008 - 11:03 pm 6. AlanC:vnjagvet I agree with most of what you say. W however, looked and still looks like a real sincere guy that you easily have a beer with (alchol past aside).
The fact that he’s a Texan and shows a lot of those “cowboy” traits is a big turnoff for the media so they never understood his approachability.
OT Roger, does you old keypad sign in no longer apply in your spiffy new digs?
Jul 29, 2008 - 5:59 am 7. tim maguire:Obama’s lead in the polls over McCain is fragile because he so far has not won the support of a majority of American voters
Ooohh…incisive!
Jul 29, 2008 - 7:02 am 8. Roger L Simon:AlanC, TypeKey (keypad sign in) not necessary here.
Jul 29, 2008 - 9:40 am 9. ricpic:McCain is not appealing. Obama is repellent. May the less offputting man win!
Jul 29, 2008 - 12:21 pm 10. Terrye:ricpic:
I think McCain is appealing. He had to face real challenges in his life and he did so with courage and tenacity. People find that appealing. When you see him, he looks like a regular human being. Meanwhile Obama is on the front of the Rolling Stone looking like a male model.
Jul 29, 2008 - 4:08 pm 11. Fred the Fourth:“Obama’s lead in the polls over McCain is fragile because he so far has not won the support of a majority of American voters”
Jul 29, 2008 - 4:10 pm 12. Neo:He gets *paid* to write drivel like this? Hell’s bells, am I ever in the wrong line of work….
This from a “Major DNC Donor” …
And there is more .. read the whole thing.
Jul 30, 2008 - 12:27 pm 13. Roderick Reilly:McCain is the grownup in this race. Obama does not come across as “American enough” to a lot of people.
It remains to be seen whether some of the reflexive Democrats decide to desert Obama, and enough of the undecideds feel comfortable with McCain. What matters most is that this happen in the so-called battleground states, where — hopefully — only actual American citizens will vote. We know who the non-citizen “motor-voter”-enrolled voters would cast their ballots for.
Jul 30, 2008 - 3:43 pm 14. XYZ:Neo: that writeup is quite impressive…
Jul 31, 2008 - 3:31 am 15. Largin Testin:“McCain seems like a regular guy – an attractive trait not very common among politicians”.
I disagree, Mc Cain comes across as a real guy, not relying on handlers and speech writers wthout which Obama has no identity at all.
Jul 31, 2008 - 3:27 pm 16. Larry:Terrye: Jul 29, 2008 – 4:08 pm Ditto. And if he has Bud Day’s admiration, he is by G-d
Jul 31, 2008 - 11:00 pm 17. Bill Bradley:appealing to me.
Right.
Mac is ahead, quote unquote, in a poll which has the number of Reeps in America the same as the number of Dems.
That’s BS.
Aug 5, 2008 - 10:08 am