“Comeback speech” on tap for McCain after economy talk scrapped
This day, this Monday in October with three weeks to go in the race, had been previewed by a falsely giddy McCain campaign as the potential moment when the election tipped back in their favor. McCain was scheduled to come roaring out of “strategy sessions” with frantic advisers and embrace the economy issue as his own, unveiling new tax cut proposals and taking Obama head-on over the most important issue ion the race. If all went as planned, the campaign assured the press, the GOP nominee would be well within five points of Obama nationally by next week.
Scrap that. Scrap all of it…
Here it is, that special Monday, and the confusion that has been wracking the internal workings of the McCain campaign has spilled out into the news cycle for all to see. The entire theme of McCain’s “comeback” has been thrown out and retooled - like a bad pilot for a new sitcom.
The economy speech has been killed; the campaign is prepared to cede the most vital issue to a vast majority of voters to Obama. The specter of higher taxes will be carried on, but that’s essentially a generic argument that is picked up by every Republican in every campaign across this country.
The new plan is to portray McCain as a scrappy underdog, a candidate willing to “fight for America” even as the “national media has written us off.” It’s a vision of tiny “us” against “THEM,” a collection of liberals set to hijack the country and a biased press eager to put McCain to bed.
“The national media has written us off.,” McCain says in excerpts released by the campaign. “Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.”
“Let me give you the state of the race today,” McCain says in his new speech. “We have 22 days to go. We’re six points down. …
“What America needs in this hour is a fighter; someone who puts all his cards on the table and trusts the judgment of the American people. I come from a long line of McCains who believed that to love America is to fight for her. I have fought for you most of my life. There are other ways to love this country, but I’ve never been the kind to do it from the sidelines.”
The Politico piece goes on to quote anonymous McCain sources as calling today’s speech “hitting the reset button” on the campaign. There is no shortage of confidence publicly over this strategy, but the wild swings of direction within the McCain camp proves that panic and dissension have set in. This is the most complete gamble anyone could accomplish, throwing out discussion of the only issue voters are moving on and deciding instead to chat up your own failings as a campaigner, touting your “underdog” status.
Only thing to watch for is if this shift happens to fire up McCain himself and bring back the hard-charging “maverick” that managed to win New Hampshire in 2000 and this year’s GOP primary. This retooling gives him the kind of campaign he’s most comfortable leading - the only style of campaign he’s comfortable leading. No doubt he fights well when he’s behind and embracing his low odds.
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Before McCain drives his “straight talk” express into the caverns of senility, this needs to be his 11th hour strategy; by remaking Clinton’s “3 a.m. Phone Call”…….it’s 3 a.m. and your stock broker is calling you (ring, ring, ring)….fearing the worst and shaking in his boots, Pres. McCain decides to answer it anyway, hoping it’s only V.P. Sarah Palin wanting to share another spicy recipe for Moose stew: 1) turn the 24/7 financial crisis on its head - come out with attacks ad on Congress and Bush policy (thereby making the inference that Sen McCain is still the “real” Maverick) for approving the ‘bail out’ - ‘rescue’ - ‘loan’ to Wall Street; 2) regret and apologize to the Am. taxpayers for voting along with Obama on “bailing” out the fat cats of Wall Street and enriching CEOs even more so with their golden parachutes, obscene pension and stock options; 3) portray the economic crisis as a “middle class small business” challenge; and put the ENTIRE financial crisis and blame on Sen Obama, starting with Freddie & Fannie ….
I can’t believe you’re lending any credence to this nonsense. The American people want to hear about solutions to the economy (which is exactly what Obama is talking about this week), not another campaign gimmick from McCain.
This just makes him look more erratic. And with about three weeks to election day, there are fewer and fewer undecideds for McCain to sway to close the gap.
The media are still invested in maintaining the appearance of a horserace down to the wire, but Obama has the reins of this election firmly in his graps.