Posted by
Kaisersculture on Thursday, July 24, 2008 2:24:13 PM
You can't blame John McCain for getting hot under the collar. The MSM seems determined to transform Barack Obama's overseas sight-seeing tour into something with the combined resonance of Nixon in China, Reagan's "Tear down this wall", and Kennedy at Vienna (no, wait: that one wasn't a keeper!).
But he should ride this storm out rather than try to get ahead of himself by announcing his choice for Vice-President.
Yes, there are better reasons for doing it than just to change the media narrative. You could argue that making a pick now would allow McCain to put more states and voters in play-- if he's gonna pick Crist, for example, you have to give Floridians a little time to get excited about it. Better, if he picks someone who's going to activate enthusiasm in new corners of the GOP coaltion (or even excitement among Independents) then the sooner he makes that pick, the sooner the fires can get stoked, the fundraising accelerates, and the media labels start to get shuffled.
But the fact is, McCain is not hurting too poorly in the polls at all; Rasmussen has placed him within as little as 2 points of Obama. And so I hardly think it's a bad idea to let Obama's World Tour play itself out.
Suppose Obama finally makes that longed-for gaffe. Do you want it buried under news about McCain's Veepstakes?
Suppose the public starts to feel nauseous after umpteen images of adoring crowds of foreigners chanting Obama's name-- as if the Germans get to decide for us who our President is going to be! Why hand the viewers Drammamine just when their gills are starting to turn a justifiable shade of green?
And really, it looks weak to announce your choice just because everyone knows you can't get any airtime. The media is being grossly unfair. Obama is really being shameless. But right now, McCain isn't really flashing the kind of righteous, sarcastic grief he's capable of dishing out. The media does know it, and they're not inclined to shed favors upon the heads of those they deem "weak"-- especially when there's an ideologically correct Golden One around like Obama.
But not to despair. The race is still tight, and I think there's some good chance that the narrative is going to change of its own accord. There's still a long way to go before November. And McCain can afford to hold the Veepstakes ammo for now. At the worst, he can wait until his poll numbers are down. Maybe he can even wait till his own convention. It might help shift the narrative, just in case Obama (and his running mate) gives 80,000 screaming fans in Denver that familiar feeling running up their leg.