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Rove May Have a Point Here; How Obama Should Have Responded
I know it won't endear me to anyone, but I think Karl Rove has a point in this WSJ op-ed:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122230655620873931.html
If what Karl says is true (I know, I know! I said IF!), and Obama did lobby hard to have the first debate on foreign policy, then his advisors either disagreed that the first debate is the most critical, or they must have believed that Obama is actually STRONGEST on foreign policy. I think it must be the former, because even though I agree Obama is or should be seen as stronger than McCain on foreign policy, as a matter of comparative advantage I think it indisputable that Obama is MOST strong vis a vis McCain on economics and domestic policy. Mind you, this is all speaking politically, not substantively.
Well, that was how I would have called it before the last two weeks. NOW, I don't think that there can be any doubt about it: this upcoming debate will be the most important, or at least most anticipated, political event of the season, as McCain's ploy and Obama's standing firm have ramped up interest. This would be good for Obama, except that, officially at least, the topic of the debate remains foreign policy. If that remains true in practice, then what Obama is really insisting on here a major coup for McCain: a sudden subject change to McCain's relevant strength, one which McCain in all actuality suggested against.
If I had been counseling Sen. Obama this morning, I would have advised him to respond to McCain's attempt to get special treatment from the debate commission by seeing and raising McCain. I would have had him make this statement: "I agree that the planned event this Friday is not entirely appropriate to events as scheduled. A debate on our who has the best ideas and temperament to keep this country safe and strong in this new century is the most important task we need to accomplish in this campaign, and it must take place in a setting of clarity and national reflection. The ongoing negotiations about how to best address the acute economic crisis now facing our country do not provide that setting of reflection. However, the grave economic conditions our country currently faces does not allow us as leaders simply to postpone our responsibility to communicate to our citizens a plan to restore responsibility and get the economy back to work. Therefore, I call on the Commission on Presidential Debates to officially change the topic of Friday's debate to the economic challenge that now confronts our nation, so that the American people can hear from us about what it can expect us to do to restore America's economic promise and let us begin to believe again in the American Dream. If the Commission will agree to such a change, then I believe the debate in Oxford must go forward on Friday, and I will be there, as I hope Sen. McCain will be. If the Commission insists at this moment of acute economic uncertainty that a foreign policy debate would serve the country best, then I am afraid I must disagree because I do not believe this is the right moment for that debate. I will not be suspending my campaign."
Comments (8)
Rove's political recipe is always 'Attack their strength, and their character, and the rest will take care of itself.' Rove knows that foreign policy is McCain's strength, and, if Obama can stand toe-to-toe with him and bring him down a few notches, then he would have substantially weakened McCain. You want an opponent to be weak as long as possible, so, I think that Rove in WSJ is doing his Machiavellian thing. His dictum 'Attack Strength' is, however, good advice (Rove didn't invent this idea, btw).
September 25, 2008 8:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Look. This is not rocket science. McCain couldn't afford to let the one debate he is going to win get buried in the economic crisis. Either a deal will be reached on the bailout that McCain can take credit for, or he won't debate. Obama can have his two hour, prime time interview. McCain will keep working on "his" solution to the crisis. When McCain does step on to the stage with Obama, whether it's Friday or some other date, he will step on as the leader who resolved the financial crisis. Obama can turn the debate from foreign policy to the economy all he wants to. McCain the leader will ready to answer.
Basic principles here. McCain has been characterizing himself as the guy who puts his country ahead of his career. He has been characterizing Obama as the guy who would rather lose a war than an election. Now he can characterize Obama as the guy who would rather see the economy crash than miss a debate.
The Republicans are choreographing this very carefully. McCain calls for meeting. Bush sets up meeting and orders Obama back to Washington. Lock the doors and send out for pizza. Deal emerges. A weary McCain turns up for the debate and gives Obama a good whipping while Rove laughs his ass off.
September 25, 2008 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you nailed it Billy! This was the one debate that John McCain really thought he could win and he's afraid that it won't get the media's full attention.
Of course now he is adding drama to the event and since he will probably show up at the last minute anyway he will get at least the volume of the attention he wanted but probably not the type of attention that he thought he'd get.
September 25, 2008 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's on Obama to deliver the knock down punch. McCain is the master of the needle. This move gives him a lot to needle Obama with. If Obama starts that raising his hand for attention so he can reply to McCain's points stuff he did with Clinton, he is going to have a bad night. McCain is making the financial crisis the "moral equivalent of war." He's going all out on the CIC and ready to lead themes.
September 25, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
So in addition to the debate being on Foreign Policy, the Washington posturing and emergence (though not from the Bush-McCain(-Obama) meeting) of a bill isolates the debate from the economic crisis and perhaps accents McCain's leadership qualities. Is there anything here that contradicts rather than reinforces my point: a foreign policy debate is not what Obama needs right now, and he should have responded by challenging McCain to speak for himself of economics and the crisis?
I wonder how McCain's voting against the legislation after all works into your credulous Great Leader theory?
September 25, 2008 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Michael, I have good news for you - what you propose - "I would have advised him to respond to McCain's attempt to get special treatment from the debate commission by seeing and raising McCain" - is basically what he did! So rest easy.
On another note, I'm getting really tired of all this "Karl Rove is a super-being" posts.
The fact is, the Deal is practically done. McCain will have no role in the outcome, even with his cheap, obvious gimmicks designed to distract. Making McCain's numerous policy reversals and desperate message flailing of the past couple weeks into some kind of brilliant Rovian ploy is just plain ridiculous, and is like giving him credit for making the sun rise and the birds sing.
September 25, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
No super-being. He occasionally has a shrewd take on things though. Which part of his thesis do you contend: that Obama would be better off debating economics tomorrow, or that the first debate is the most significant in effect on voters?
September 25, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain: The guy who would suspend democracy to bail out millionaires.
If the polling I've seen is any indication, McCains' grandstanding isn't helping him. Heading back to DC with his make-up crew and his political entourage won't help Congress get a plan together any quicker, if anything, it's pretty obvious that they have better things to do then accommodate "I don't know nuttin' about the economy" John McCain. His pathetic attempts to steal the spotlight at the expense of officials trying to do their jobs is really beginning to wear thin. This is the same diversionary tactic he used during the GOP convention when he and his entourage descended on the Gulf Coast to harass already busy officials trying to deal with a natural disaster. They too, had better things to do then serve as a photo-op backdrop to McCain, the pretend leader. Being a leader also involves knowing when to get out of the way, and Presidents are expected to handle more than ONE thing at once.
He didn't help with the Gulf situation, and he won't help this one. Harry Reid got it right. He should stay away, he certainly shouldn't circumvent democracy to help out his wealthy friends.
At this point, McCain has shown America that there is no misery he won't exploit, no lie he won't tell, and that he appears to be more concerned with his buddies the bankers then he is with talking to the American people. Palin isn't the only one that's been ducking the Press.
Enough theatrics, already. Show some decency, McCain.
September 25, 2008 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
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