The Right Voice

John McCain ran one of the worst Presidential Campaigns that I have ever seen. It seems almost like he did not want to win. Sure, there was an uphill battle, but there was so much more he could have done to make it close, or even possibly win.

1. I live in the all-important battleground state of Virginia. I was bombarded by Obama campaigners, fliers, and sample ballots. I got nothing from the McCain camp. Nothing. On election at the long lines of the polls who was there? The Democrats. Who wasn’t? McCain people. Who won Virginia? Obama. Obama volunteers knocked on one million doors the day before the election. What did the McCain camp do? nothing.

2. The Interwebz. From day one Obama embraced the Web. He was on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn, SecondLife, and multiple other Social Networking sites while McCain was nowhere to be found. McCain finally embraced the Web about two months too late. More on that in a little bit.

3. He never controlled the right narrative and always controlled the narrative  no one wanted to hear. Obama stated (for the entire campaign) that John McCain was just like George Bush. He had a response to that. About 3 weeks too late. He let that narrative control him and he was killed by it. When the economy was THE ONLY issue ANYONE cared about, McCain focused on Ayers. No one cared and it hurt him badly, yet he kept pushing it.

4. He never challenged anything that Obama said. Instead of pointing out that it is impossible for 95% of the peole to get a tax cut when 30% don’t pay taxes. He talked about a bill that Obama voted yes on in the Chicago state Senate in 2001. Who cares? No one did.

5. The financial meldown. This is where McCain’s campaign fell off the cliff. Obama stated (falsely) that it was 100% the fault of Bush and his economic policies that “McCain agreed with”. McCain did…nothing at first. Then…he did a lot more of nothing…Then he talked about Ayers and ACORN…then he came up with the worst possible solution. He wanted the Treasury to buy all the bad mortgages. Who thought that up?

6. Aside from “Country First” there were no sound bites for McCain. (unless you count “My friends”). Obama was able to lay out his plans clearly and succinctly. McCain was not. He never tried. If he had,  it would be something like “My Friends, you will spend $3,000 more on your health care, but, my friends, don’t worry. You will get a $5,000 tax credit” Whatever that means. McCain decided to focus on the strengths of his plan (which were few) instead of the weaknesses in Obama’s plans (which were more numerous).

7. Finally, everything that McCain did in the last 2 weeks of his campaign should have been done weeks, if not months, earlier. He gave a speech on election day that was full of fire and passion. Too bad it was on election day and not weeks before. he called for the resignation of Ted Stevens AFTER he was convicted. AFTER. Wow. Way to go out on a limb. Here’s what he should have done. He should have called for his resignation the day he was indicted. It would have greatly benefited many things. First, and foremost, it could have gotten Ted Stevens out og the US Senate (he was reelected BTW). It would have bolstered his position as a “maverick” (Palin too, she’s just as guilty) by going against his own party. Lastly, it would have bolstered his position as a pork buster. Lest we forget his now infamous Bridge to Nowhere? [Don’t worry though, even though he was facing criminal charges, Sen. Stevens was still able to earmark funds for Squirrel research on the bailout bill. What a disgrace.]

McCain, during the third debate, FINALLY said that he was not George Bush. He should have set the record straight during the first debate. He also came out guns ablazin’ and on the offensive during the third debate. Would have been great to see in the first two debates. He should have brought up ACORN at the beginning. Why no mention of the fact that they are under investigation in 14 states? He let him off too easy.

All in all his campaign was a failure due to both his staff for making such muddy policies and McCain himself for being “mavericky” when it wasn’t a good time to be one, and not being “mavericky” when it was time to be one.

Todd