Too Little, Too Late For McCain?
This analysis was written by CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs.
"Joe the plumber" achieved sudden national fame in the final presidential debate, but it was John McCain who needed the headlines. Although the Republican nominee was energetic, focused and, at times, emotional in his last on-stage appearance before Election Day, it was likely not enough to change the underlying trajectory of the race.
With Barack Obama by all accounts holding a solid lead and less than three weeks to go, McCain came out aggressive from the very beginning. He grabbed onto a recent exchange Obama had with a small businessman, Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher, and used it like a hammer to pound away at the Democrat as a tax-and-spend class warrior. "Hey, Joe, you're rich, congratulations," McCain said at one point to illustrate a point about the level of taxation in Obama's plan.
McCain took what many in his own campaign reportedly thought to be a risk by directly raising the issue of Obama's association with William Ayers, challenging him to describe the fullness of their relationship. He emotionally described how hurt he was by assertions by Rep. John Lewis about some crowd behavior at McCain's campaign rallies, then turned around and accused Obama of disparaging his supporters. He jumped in at awkward moments, rolled his eyes and demonstrated near-contempt at Obama's answers.
And he pointedly sought to distance himself from President Bush, both on issues and seemingly personally. As if taking offense to the continued comparison, McCain curtly told his opponent, "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."
The kitchen sink was not thrown in but one sensed it was positioned under the table and within reach, just in case it was needed.
What McCain did not manage to do was ruffle the ever-calm, cool and collected Obama. As he has been several times during these debates, the Democrat was on the defensive at several points, especially on taxes. Obama continues to refuse to say which of his big-idea proposals he'd have to shelve because of economic realities, instead choosing to focus on those he won't put aside. If he's not a big taxer, as McCain asserts, he certainly has a lot of things he wants to spend on.
But Obama continues to do a masterful job talking directly about and to the middle class. Polls show overwhelmingly that voters trust Obama more on the economy than McCain and he used that as a wedge to keep it that way. "What we haven't yet seen is a rescue package for the middle class," he said when discussing the Wall Street bailout and John McCain's mortgage proposal.
The Illinois Senator was clearly prepared for the William Ayers issue and McCain's attempts to link his campaign to ACORN, the group which has spurred a flood of voter registration controversies. And while he engaged McCain on who's responsible for the negative tone of the campaign, his heart didn't seem to be into a prolonged exchange. Obama wanted a quiet, low-key affair and for his part, he pulled it off.
The campaign now moves into its most intense phase, if such a thing is even possible in a campaign that has redefined the concept. With just 20 days to go, there's no longer any room for error, adjustment or new approaches. Americans have seen these two candidates at three of these debates now and they've seen a striking contrast - McCain has been at turns uplifting and irritated, if not flat-out angry, while Obama remains steady and level, almost too cool at times.
Those traits were clearly on display last night in New York. McCain did a better job of explaining his economic philosophy than he has during this entire campaign, and perhaps it's better late than never. If not the inspirational, transformational leader he was billed as over the past year, Obama has gone a long way toward making voters feel comfortable seeing him as a president.
Even though he was uneven at times, McCain likely did himself some good last night, particularly among voters like "Joe the plumber" who worry about Obama's plans for the country and remain open to the Republican argument. The problem for McCain, less than three weeks from the election, is that there simply might not be enough of those voters left to do him much good.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. "Joe the plumber" achieved sudden national fame in the final presidential debate, but it was John McCain who needed the headlines. Although the Republican nominee was energetic, focused and, at times, emotional in his last on-stage appearance before Election Day, it was likely not enough to change the underlying trajectory of the race.
With Barack Obama by all accounts holding a solid lead and less than three weeks to go, McCain came out aggressive from the very beginning. He grabbed onto a recent exchange Obama had with a small businessman, Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher, and used it like a hammer to pound away at the Democrat as a tax-and-spend class warrior. "Hey, Joe, you're rich, congratulations," McCain said at one point to illustrate a point about the level of taxation in Obama's plan.
McCain took what many in his own campaign reportedly thought to be a risk by directly raising the issue of Obama's association with William Ayers, challenging him to describe the fullness of their relationship. He emotionally described how hurt he was by assertions by Rep. John Lewis about some crowd behavior at McCain's campaign rallies, then turned around and accused Obama of disparaging his supporters. He jumped in at awkward moments, rolled his eyes and demonstrated near-contempt at Obama's answers.
And he pointedly sought to distance himself from President Bush, both on issues and seemingly personally. As if taking offense to the continued comparison, McCain curtly told his opponent, "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."
The kitchen sink was not thrown in but one sensed it was positioned under the table and within reach, just in case it was needed.
What McCain did not manage to do was ruffle the ever-calm, cool and collected Obama. As he has been several times during these debates, the Democrat was on the defensive at several points, especially on taxes. Obama continues to refuse to say which of his big-idea proposals he'd have to shelve because of economic realities, instead choosing to focus on those he won't put aside. If he's not a big taxer, as McCain asserts, he certainly has a lot of things he wants to spend on.
But Obama continues to do a masterful job talking directly about and to the middle class. Polls show overwhelmingly that voters trust Obama more on the economy than McCain and he used that as a wedge to keep it that way. "What we haven't yet seen is a rescue package for the middle class," he said when discussing the Wall Street bailout and John McCain's mortgage proposal.
The Illinois Senator was clearly prepared for the William Ayers issue and McCain's attempts to link his campaign to ACORN, the group which has spurred a flood of voter registration controversies. And while he engaged McCain on who's responsible for the negative tone of the campaign, his heart didn't seem to be into a prolonged exchange. Obama wanted a quiet, low-key affair and for his part, he pulled it off.
The campaign now moves into its most intense phase, if such a thing is even possible in a campaign that has redefined the concept. With just 20 days to go, there's no longer any room for error, adjustment or new approaches. Americans have seen these two candidates at three of these debates now and they've seen a striking contrast - McCain has been at turns uplifting and irritated, if not flat-out angry, while Obama remains steady and level, almost too cool at times.
Those traits were clearly on display last night in New York. McCain did a better job of explaining his economic philosophy than he has during this entire campaign, and perhaps it's better late than never. If not the inspirational, transformational leader he was billed as over the past year, Obama has gone a long way toward making voters feel comfortable seeing him as a president.
Even though he was uneven at times, McCain likely did himself some good last night, particularly among voters like "Joe the plumber" who worry about Obama's plans for the country and remain open to the Republican argument. The problem for McCain, less than three weeks from the election, is that there simply might not be enough of those voters left to do him much good.
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Wow...that reverberated and circulated everywhere.
And who is it that has insisted on near-total governmental regulation of the federal banking system?
That sounds kind commie to me ------- and look who%u2019s doing it? Your very own little cornpone dictator.
Drill here drill now........McCain is not very well informed or he is in the pocket of BIG OIL.
Big Oil wants access to all US land and off-shore sites.
But facts are facts, and the real facts are that there are 1,995 rigs exploring and drilling for oil & natural gas in the USA right now. These rigs are drilling at both on and off-shore sites.
Of the millions of acres currently leased by BIG Oil, 78 million acres are not being drilled. Of these 33 million acres are off-shore sites and do not need any further Government approval for exploration. Eventually Big Oil will get to these sites.
McCain & his Big Oil cronies do not want you to know the truth. Copy and spread the truth
Posted by Rocca777 at 02:45 AM : Oct 17, 2008"
Check who is Annenberg and who''s president of the Annenberg foundation. She is in the very top list of McCain endorsers. So, McCain is endorsed by terrorists ?
Now, who said
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government", "and I won''t be buried under their *** flag." ?
Who do you want to be the next President of the United States of America?
Posted by Rocca777 at 02:42 AM : Oct 17, 2008"
GO OBAMA!
An average American not needing the family name to get into high places!
Obama is an inspiration to all real Americans!
Voter-registration fraud
The claim: McCain said the Obama campaign has contributed to an organization that is perpetrating "one of the greatest frauds" in American campaign history.
The facts: The organization %uFFFD the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN %uFFFD says it has registered 1.3 million people this year. Obama''s campaign paid an ACORN affiliate, Citizens Services Inc., $832,000 this year for get-out-the-vote efforts in the Democratic primaries, according to the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine, which tracks campaign spending. Republicans have repeatedly accused the group of submitting fraudulent registrations; Obama said it had hired some people who "just filled out a bunch of names."
Bill Ayers
The claim: McCain criticized Obama''s association with former Chicago radical Bill Ayers, whom McCain called "a guy who in 2001 said he wished he would have bombed more."
The facts: Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that engaged in domestic bombings to protest the Vietnam War. He was in hiding for years after three Weathermen died in 1970 when bombs they were making exploded. Federal charges against him for crossing state lines to incite riots and conspiracy were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.
In a New York Times story published by coincidence on Sept. 11, 2001, about his memoirs, Fugitive Days, he said, "I don''t regret setting bombs %u2026 I feel we didn''t do enough."
These days, Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has drawn kind words from the city''s mayor.
Ayers and Obama have moved in some of the same circles. Ayers was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama chaired its board from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Ayers hosted a brunch for Obama, who was running for the Illinois Senate. In 1997, they were on a juvenile justice panel sponsored by the University of Chicago. Ayers gave $200 to Obama''s 2001 state Senate campaign, and the two were on a 2002 panel on intellectualism that was co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library.