Starting Gate: Swift Boat Legacies
We've heard a lot about so-called "swift boating" in this campaign as it pertains to rumors and innuendo floating around about Barack Obama. Much attention has been paid to those e-mails falsely claiming that the presumptive Democratic nominee is a Muslim who refuses to wear a flag pin on his lapel, among other things.
In the latest attempt by the campaign to get out in front of these rumors, Obama yesterday spoke about his patriotism and will spend the run-up to July 4th discussing American values. The impetus for this apple pie approach seems rooted in the last presidential campaign. Not a few Democrats believe John Kerry's campaign was sunk after he failed to aggressively counter allegations made about his military service by the shadowy Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Obama has insisted throughout the year that he would not make the same mistake. "I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign," he said in yesterday's speech. "And I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine."
On the other side of the equation, John McCain and his supporters reacted quickly and angrily to comments made by retired Gen. Wesley Clark on "Face the Nation" this weekend about the candidate's famed military experience. "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," Clark said Sunday. McCain's campaign spent a good deal of time yesterday condemning that comment and suggesting that Clark's words were part of a strategy on the part of Obama's supporters to denigrate one of McCain's great strengths.
The dangers for both candidates are apparent, but also very different. Despite the phenomenal rise of a politician who was unknown just a couple of years ago, Obama remains a blank slate of sorts. The whispering campaigns are a tremendous threat to a candidate trying to convince many voters that his theme of change is not a threatening one and the issue of patriotism is the prism through which that conversation is taking place.
McCain finds himself in a position similar to Kerry's in 2004. Four years ago it was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran-turned anti-war activist who found himself being questioned about various aspects of his service record. More importantly, the Kerry campaign made his service a defining part of the campaign. When those allegations went largely unanswered, it undercut what should have been a major strength. McCain too has sought to highlight his service, and his years spent being tortured as a POW as a primary focus of his campaign.
In a contest increasingly dominated by concerns about basic pocketbook issues like housing, energy prices and jobs, conversations about the Pledge of Allegiance and the Vietnam War might seem out of place. But the "swift boat" episode has taught campaigns that they can't be too aggressive in answering even the most specious charges.
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