McCain’s Desperation and the Return of the Politics of Rove

These must be desperate times in the McCain camp because the old maverick politics have given way to the full Rove. Here’s what John McCain had to say today:

This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

Joe Klein says he hasn’t seen a candidate get this bad in nine Presidential campaigns. In fact, Klein calls this “scurrilous” charge McCain’s meltdown that “smacks of desperation.”

Why is it so bad, even in this era of hyper-partisanship? There are five reasons why this new line is not only wrong for McCain but self-defeating.

1. John McCain was supposed to be above this sort of stuff. He basically accused Obama of selling out his country for political gain. McCain, to his credit, denounced the quasi-racist rants of Cincinnati radio man Bill Cunningham and the leader of my state (Tennessee) GOP Bill Hobbs and his “Muslim garb” release. McCain seemed to be above this sort of thing. Apparently he is not.

2. Who will be most put off by this? Independents. One thing I’ve learned from participating on this blog with Joe Gandelman is that Independents do not like all the mud-slinging, fear mongering, and accusations of treason. In 2004 Bush could get away with that because he ran a base election and not a play for the middle. McCain, on the other hand, NEEDS to do well among Independents in order to win. These tactics will only turn Independents off and McCain looks, well, unpresidential.

3. Why is this unpresidential? As Joe Klein reminds us, the President is not supposed to say these things. Ever. Surrogates can throw this stuff around all they want. As Klein says, “There is a reason why politicians who want to be President don’t say these sort of things: It isn’t presidential. A President exists in the straitjacket of literality. His words mean something. So John McCain has to literally believe that Barack Obama would “rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.” I can’t imagine that he does. He popped off, out of frustration.” It makes McCain look small and petty and no better than Sean Hannity or any other right-wing hack. Again, McCain cannot afford that.

4. Another reason McCain can’t afford it is that it appears like McCain has lost control of himself. One of the charges against him was his hot temper. It’s hard to think of a more intemperate remark than to accuse your political opponent of wanting to lose a war rather than lose an election. Again, no matter how much the right wing actually believes this, the candidate can NOT say this.

5. A final reason why this charge is so destructive is that it will only rally Democrats who might have been lukewarm to Obama. One thing Democrats remember all too well is the charge that Kerry was weak on terrorism and that his election would actually make us lose the war on terror. Democrats are VERY sensitive to charges of lack of patriotism. Almost all Democrats opposed the surge. In fact, most Independents opposed it too. How would all those voters like to be told that they would rather lose a war than an election? Like Obama, they opposed the surge for good reasons – mostly that Iraq was a strategic blunder and that we need to spend our resources elsewhere. This is a stark reminder to Democrats that McCain’s politics, in the end, are no more “elevated” than Bush’s.

If John McCain is trying to alienate Independents and galvanize Democrats then he is doing a fine job of it with this new tactic. If he is trying to win an election, he might want to take a breather, let Obama have his day overseas, and go after him next week. Because right now, not only is Barack Obama clearing a major hurdle on the way to the White House, he is making John McCain look petulant and out of control.