tag:www.talkingpointsmemo.com,2008:/talk/blogs/fahrender//1141 2008-07-18T13:09:10Z Movable Type Pro 4.21-en tag:tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com,2008:/talk//17.204580 2008-07-18T13:09:10Z 2008-07-18T13:09:10Z

I don't know how they do it, but there is a secret knowledge that Republicans sometimes have that gives them a chance at winning elections they should logically not win. Some of them have a way of presenting themselves that...

fahrender I don't know how they do it, but there is a secret knowledge that Republicans sometimes have that gives them a chance at winning elections they should logically not win. Some of them have a way of presenting themselves that appeals to average Americans despite the Republican policies which have harmed us individually and as a nation. John McCain has this manner that appeals to people. The video of McCain in Kansas City this week demonstrates what I mean. He just sounded like "the man on the street". He was even able to project this when he spoke to the NAACP,  a group which he knew was not likely to give him much support. Never mind what his policies are, or how wrong-headed or incoherent they might be. McCain had the common touch. Never mind that a cutback on the gas tax is just a band aid that will have little effect, McCain projected empathy and concern to his audience with his proposal. He projected sincerity and humility in a way that Bush could have only mimicked. How real it was I won't conjecture, but I will say that his audience felt that it was.I've read a lot of McCain putdowns in progressive blogs lately. Commenters like to vent. I confess, I like to do that too, but we'd better be careful. McCain does echo a lot of Bush Administration policy and he should be nailed for it. However, Americans know that McCain is a different person. He's not the same arrogant, puffed-up sock puppet that Bush is. We must not conflate the two on the personal level.  If we do, we seriously run the risk of becoming the elitists that are an anathema to most Americans. The elitism that Obama has been accused of can be a weapon used against him, and us. This election is not in the bag, make no mistake about it. I don't care what the consensus is or what the conventional wisdom says. We will do well to keep arrogance and bravado out of it.I want make one thing clear: this post is about perceptions and what people project, how an audience responds to what a speaker exudes, and not about their policies or the ultimate soundness of their ideas. John McCain radiates empathy and concern, and a lot of people respond to that, no matter what you have heard over the past few months. He can win a lot of votes because of it. If progressive Americans want to succeed in ending the nightmare of the past seven and a half years we had better learn to sufficiently respect the opposition now, and not later.