rssMcCain to Obama: Words Matter
Friday, June 20, 2008 at 5:38 pm
- 4 Comments
It looks as though the McCain campaign is developing a new theme for its attacks on Sen. Barack Obama. As in the infamous "That’s not change we can believe in" speech in New Orleans a few weeks ago, Sen. John McCain is looking to turn Obama’s words against him. Following a jab in February from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that implied Obama was all talk and little substance, the Illinois senator responded with a speech in Wisconsin titled, "Don’t tell me words don’t matter."
As The Swamp reports, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt wrote a memo yesterday titled "Words Matter." It laid out the history of Obama’s statements on whether he would participate in the general election public funding program, before he changed course and announced he would opt out of the system. From the memo:
Barack Obama’s rapid ascent to the Democratic presidential nomination is nothing short of remarkable and historic. Much of this rise can be traced to the power of Barack Obama’s spoken and written words. As Barack Obama said during the primaries, "Don’t tell me words don’t matter."
… the words that Barack Obama uses deserve a level of scrutiny befitting the importance that he places on them. But when examined closely, more often than not these words are empty of any meaning in the light of his record and reality.
As we scrutinize Barack Obama’s words, it is increasingly difficult … to discern what Obama truly believes at his core on the issues of great importance to the American people.
Today, news spread that Obama had made statements in a recent interview with Fortune that seem to back away from his previous tough talk on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he conceded, after I reminded him that he had called NAFTA "devastating" and "a big mistake," despite nonpartisan studies concluding that the trade zone has had a mild, positive effect on the U.S. economy.
Does that mean his rhetoric was overheated and amplified? "Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don’t exempt myself," he answered./p>
Obama says he believes in "opening up a dialogue" with trading partners Canada and Mexico "and figuring to how we can make this work for all people."
McCain issued this statement earlier today:
"For months, Barack Obama said that he would ‘make sure that we renegotiate’ NAFTA, demanded unilateral changes and threatened to unilaterally withdraw if he did not get his way. Barack Obama knew better. America has not had a protectionist president since Herbert Hoover, but Barack Obama held his position anyway to further his cynical political purposes in the primary campaign. Now he claims: ‘I’m not a big believer in doing things unilaterally.’ Barack Obama should know words matter — especially in a campaign based on rhetoric rather than a record of accomplishment. The American people and our allies deserve better than calculated efforts to re-invent positions to sound less irresponsible." [emphasis added]
With reversal on two key issues, Obama has given the GOP a lot of fodder for attack ads in the last 48 hours. He’s going to have to make it more difficult for them if he wants to make it through November with his credibility intact.
4 Comments
Comment posted June 21, 2008 @ 7:22 am
Matthew, re: “With reversal on two key issues, Obama has given the GOP a lot of fodder for attack ads in the last 48 hours. He’s going to have to make it more difficult for them if he wants to make it through November with his credibility intact.”
I’m a 50+ year veteran of political infighting and view this issue as such an “inside” issue that not a single voter will be moved to change their vote over it. Everybody knows that if the shoe were on the other foot, McCain would do EXACTLY the same thing.
And Randy, if you Google “Republican corruption and immorality” and explore the first site recommended, my very own http://LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/gopcorruption.html , you will see that there’s nothing new or unique to the corruption of the last 8 years, except the brazenness of the Bush administration, as though it didh’t think or fear that it would be prosecuted.
So far, sad to say, it seems to have proven correct in its expectations regarding the Democrats and the justice system. But the people appear ready to exact their pound of flesh from Republicans running for office this year.
Comment posted June 20, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
I’m a Republican, supporting Obama. This decision of his is disappointing to me. On the other hand, as I have immersed myself in the facts of our political process during the last year or so, I am utterly appalled at the level of corruption which has become the status-quo in Washington D.C., and both parties are guilty. My Republican party has presided over the most corrupt and malignant 8 years in my lifetime (50+ years), and Senator McCain continues to endorse the cynical, self-serving policies of a man who is both obviously incompetent to be President, yet supremely arrogant at the same time.
I am particularly angered by the continuing assertions by Bush and McCain that our policies in the Middle East are working, and that the recent ‘surge’ in Iraq has been a success. As I see it, the Iraqis have chosen to give the appearance of calm because they are concerned about the possibility that their hated benefactors might leave a little too early to suit them. Meanwhile, in the only theater of war that legitimately targets real terrorists, Afghanistan, President Bush has allowed the situation to deteriorate to the point where we are precariously close to open hostilities with Pakistan, and with that, might actually precipitate a takeover of that nuclear-equipped Muslim nation by extremists.What then? I dread the thought that we should give a mandate to more aggressive militarism on the part of a President McCain, fearful of appearing weak.
Just because Republicans enjoy spending money on armaments and love any opportunity to utilize our very sophisticated ordinance, doesn’t mean we’re better able to protect the security of this nation. Terrorist entrepreneurs of mayhem have never been stronger, and we have never been weaker, both militarily and economically than we are today. Newt Gingrich commented on this subject about a year ago. He pointed out that when it was the USA vs. the USSR, the world was more tolerant of excesses by the United States. Today, we risk being perceived as a bully or worse if we rely too heavily on military solutions to problems which, with a little patient diplomacy, might be solved at much lower cost in terms of human lives and national treasure.
I believe Senator Obama understands the necessity to speak softly, but carry a big stick. I also believe he’s got the brains and temperament of a Jack Kennedy, qualities which led Kennedy to sidestepped the conventional military wisdom in 1962, and thereby avoid a nuclear war. So while I regret his decision to go back on his word in this case, I remain firmly in support of electing him President in November.
Comment posted June 20, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
I'm a Republican, supporting Obama. This decision of his is disappointing to me. On the other hand, as I have immersed myself in the facts of our political process during the last year or so, I am utterly appalled at the level of corruption which has become the status-quo in Washington D.C., and both parties are guilty. My Republican party has presided over the most corrupt and malignant 8 years in my lifetime (50+ years), and Senator McCain continues to endorse the cynical, self-serving policies of a man who is both obviously incompetent to be President, yet supremely arrogant at the same time.
I am particularly angered by the continuing assertions by Bush and McCain that our policies in the Middle East are working, and that the recent 'surge' in Iraq has been a success. As I see it, the Iraqis have chosen to give the appearance of calm because they are concerned about the possibility that their hated benefactors might leave a little too early to suit them. Meanwhile, in the only theater of war that legitimately targets real terrorists, Afghanistan, President Bush has allowed the situation to deteriorate to the point where we are precariously close to open hostilities with Pakistan, and with that, might actually precipitate a takeover of that nuclear-equipped Muslim nation by extremists.What then? I dread the thought that we should give a mandate to more aggressive militarism on the part of a President McCain, fearful of appearing weak.
Just because Republicans enjoy spending money on armaments and love any opportunity to utilize our very sophisticated ordinance, doesn't mean we're better able to protect the security of this nation. Terrorist entrepreneurs of mayhem have never been stronger, and we have never been weaker, both militarily and economically than we are today. Newt Gingrich commented on this subject about a year ago. He pointed out that when it was the USA vs. the USSR, the world was more tolerant of excesses by the United States. Today, we risk being perceived as a bully or worse if we rely too heavily on military solutions to problems which, with a little patient diplomacy, might be solved at much lower cost in terms of human lives and national treasure.
I believe Senator Obama understands the necessity to speak softly, but carry a big stick. I also believe he's got the brains and temperament of a Jack Kennedy, qualities which led Kennedy to sidestepped the conventional military wisdom in 1962, and thereby avoid a nuclear war. So while I regret his decision to go back on his word in this case, I remain firmly in support of electing him President in November.
Comment posted June 21, 2008 @ 2:22 am
Matthew, re: “With reversal on two key issues, Obama has given the GOP a lot of fodder for attack ads in the last 48 hours. He's going to have to make it more difficult for them if he wants to make it through November with his credibility intact.”
I'm a 50+ year veteran of political infighting and view this issue as such an “inside” issue that not a single voter will be moved to change their vote over it. Everybody knows that if the shoe were on the other foot, McCain would do EXACTLY the same thing.
And Randy, if you Google “Republican corruption and immorality” and explore the first site recommended, my very own http://LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/gopcorruption.html , you will see that there's nothing new or unique to the corruption of the last 8 years, except the brazenness of the Bush administration, as though it didh't think or fear that it would be prosecuted.
So far, sad to say, it seems to have proven correct in its expectations regarding the Democrats and the justice system. But the people appear ready to exact their pound of flesh from Republicans running for office this year.
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