McCain’s Somewhat Smart Negative Campaign

There has been much made about how bad it is for John McCain to release several negative ads attacking the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.

At some time earlier, I would have agreed that such ads like the “Celebrity” or “The One” ads were mean-spirited while lamenting the sad state of politics. But the reality is that politics have always been a rough game and, within limits, some negative ads can be effective to get a point across about your opponent.

Some have said that McCain is being a hypocrite since he has himself had a celebrity status. Fair enough, but I think the McCain campaign is using the celebrity theme at a deeper level. What they are trying to get at is not that Obama is a celebrity but the fact that, while he has a following worldwide, his political resume is considered thin. Hillary Clinton was trying to do the same with her “3 A. M.” ad. She was trying to say that his resume is thin but that she had the experience necessary to lead the nation through a crisis.

Contrary to some centrists, I think this is a legitimate attack. Obama does have little experience and he is running for the most powerful office in the land. Could he lead the nation in a crisis? That was the case Clinton was trying to make in the primaries and what McCain is doing now. The goal is to plant seeds into the mind ofthe populace that maybe this guy isn’t so ready to be president.

Is it unfair to attack Obama on this? I don’t think so. It’s a reasonable question. Of course, not having a lot of experience has not stopped people from becoming President, sometimes with good results (e.g., Abe Lincoln). Obama has also tried to connect McCain with the unpopular President Bush by trying to say that voting for McCain would be voting for a third term. Unfair? Maybe, but there is also a real concern that McCain might govern more to the right to shore up his right flank.

So, McCain does make a good point in his ads. But the fact is, making the case for experience is not necessarily a winning argument. Again, that was one of Hilary Clinton’s lines and it didn’t work for her. The experience tactic works in more stable times when the public is willing to have someone manage the national affairs and not make any big changes. But in times that are more fluid and when the incumbent party is no longer in favor, there is a cry for change. Hilary was trying to portray herself as a competent manager and no doubt she would have been. But the message of hope and change won out over experience.

And so it will be in the general if McCain continues to hit Obama with the experience rhetoric. As Morton Kondracke says, McCain needs to formulate an alternative vision to Obama. This is where McCain is found lacking. Because he has to please both GOP stalwarts and independents, his message has been everywhere, trying to pacify people without really giving people a reason to vote for him.

McCain’s lack of vision is representative of the GOP as a whole: a party that is good at saying what they are not, but has lost how to say what they are for.

Lack of experience can be cause for concern, but even worse than that is lack of a vision.