How to Beat John McCain and Sarah Palin in November

So imagine for a second that you are Barack Obama. You are feeling good because you just put on a political spectacle in front of 38 million people. The speech you gave the night before was widely acclaimed as the "turning point" of the election. You are going about your morning with an heir of pomposity when you feel your Blackberry buzzing. It's a text message from a news outlet. It reads, "John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (pronounced Payh-lynn) as his running mate."

Your first reaction is, "Who is Sarah Palin, and what has she done?"So, you turn on CNN to see what the story is about. All of the sudden you feel deflated... you've been watching various news outlets for and hour now, and no one is talking about your speech. What's worse is that you come to the realization that you are now going to have to run against a prisoner of war... and a woman.

This is where this already interesting campaign gets more compelling, and maybe even more confusing.

John McCain's choice of a running mate is a bit perplexing, and an incredible risk even for a self professed "maverick" like McCain. He chose a woman who has governed one of the smallest populated states in the union for less than two years to be a heart beat away from being the leader of the free world. To put this in perspective, the mayor of Austin, Texas represents more people than Sarah Palin does for her entire state!

His VP choice is risky because he has taken his most important characteristic, which is experience, and pretty much thrown it out the window. Anytime somebody questions Senator Obama's readiness, they are going to point the finger right at Sarah Palin and say exactly the same thing. The Republicans are going to try to spin it and say how Palin has more "executive" experience than Obama. That may be true, but it can also be argued that the mayor of Dallas has more executive experience than Obama, hell even the president of a high school student council has more executive experience. That does not mean however that they are qualified to be potentially the President of the United States.

But his choice to have Palin be his running mate is not all bad, in fact he may even win the election because of it. It re-enforces McCain’s image as a "maverick."By brining someone from outside Washington, he can argue that his administration is best suited to change Washington. It's smart because McCain realized is that this election is not about experience. It's about change. Barack Obama's campaign has been so successful this election cycle because of his ability to capitalize on the mounting anger against the Bush administration, and use that as fuel to frame himself as the only person who can bring change to Washington.

John McCain saw the enthusiasm, the big crowds, the electrified Democratic base and said, "Why can't I do this?" ... In a sense, he realized that he was not running against a person, he's running against a movement. So the decision had to be made as to whether or not jump on the train, or stay off of it. He had been pivoting the last couple of weeks from his message of experience, to the trendy message of change and picked a woman to be his VP. A woman who agrees almost completely with John McCain on every major issue. But that is not important... what is important is the visual, or the appearance of change.

Now what would it say to the voters had John McCain chosen an old, rich white guy to run with him on a message of change? It would be completely laughable.

And that's why McCain changed the complexion of the election.


It is one of the great political stand-offs of our time, to see which political party can "out-change" the other side. It should be interesting to see how these two political machines duke it out.

But think about this for a second.... Had John McCain chosen a man with similar credentials as Palin, this would not be considered a good pick at all. But by picking a woman, it becomes more difficult for the Obama campaign and the media to point out her flaws without being accused of sexism. And if they are accused of being sexist, then that will most certainly mean that the former Clinton supporters would move on over to the McCain side. So the McCain camp can continue to attack Barack Obama (because they know he will never use the race card) in the ferocity they have, and still be able to pull out not just the P.O.W. card, but also the sexism card.

Sounds brilliant doesn’t it?

If this is the McCain strategy, then he has grossly underestimated the Obama campaign. They forget that Barack Obama ran against one of the most accomplished women in global politics, Hillary Clinton. And they did it all without being accused of being sexist. (MSNBC on the other hand... is another story)

So... how do you run, and beat the McCain-Palin ticket? This is what Obama has to do to win in November.

1) Clearly spell out the policy differences between the two sides to re-enforce the message of change.

On ideology, McCain/Palin/Bush are very similar... Obama has to make the American people understand what is at stake if the last eight years look like the next four. His acceptance speech the other night was vital to driving this message home.

To gather the disaffected Hillary supporters (who may be the dumbest people on the planet) Obama has to make sure Hillary's supporters understand that John McCain and Sarah Palin do NOT support a woman's right to choose even in extreme cases such as rape and incest.


2) Have Obama surrogates paint Palin as inexperienced

Barack Obama may not be able to paint Governor Palin as an inexperienced leader, but his surrogates certainly can. People have been wondering what role Hillary Clinton would have in the Obama campaign... I think McCain just gave it to them.

Having Hillary be the "attack dog" against Palin does two things. One, it keeps the Hillary supporters from crossing over, and two it eliminates any argument about sexism.

Additionally, the Obama camp could turn to Palin's own party to stir the conversation. Many top Alaskan Republicans are reportedly perplexed about the pick. According to the Anchorage Daily, two Alaskan Republican officials told the paper that, "She's not prepared to be governor, so how can she be prepared to be Vice President, or even President?" Another Republican said, "She's old enough, she's a U.S. citizen."

They may not even have to look outside Palin's family to prove she is not qualified. Her own mother in law said, "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket, other than she's a woman and a conservative."

Ouch... that type of endorsement from her own family may hurt her and McCain.

3) Question the judgment and temperament of McCain/Palin

Barack did a good job at this during his speech the other night when he brought up the fact that McCain had voted with Bush 90% of the time, saying, "what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right 90% of the time?"

Bringing up judgment gives Obama a chance to tout his opposition to the Iraq war.

Questioning McCain's temper also re-introduces the belief that McCain is an old, angry, stubborn man.

As for Sarah Palin...
It has only been a couple of days, and already there is an abundance of information about this woman.

For example, when asked by the Politico last month about what she thought about the possibility of becoming McCain's running mate, she said, "what is it exactly that a VP does?"
How can you claim you have the experience judgment and temperament to be the Vice President when you don't even know what a VP does? Obama has to POUNCE on this.

Also...
Despite being credited with cleaning up political corruption in Alaska, Palin herself is being investigated. Palin allegedly fired her Public Safety Commissioner after his refusal to fire her former brother in-law who was in a bitter custody battle with Palin's own sister.

This again brings up the question of temperament and judgment. All fair game.

4) Do well in the debates... and get specific

If the Saddleback forum was any indication of how future debates will go, then Barack Obama has some work to do to compete with John McCain face-to-face.
McCain had the appearance that he did better at the forum because he gave short specific answers. Obama gave long complicated answers.

Fact is... most American's don't understand some of the concepts Obama is throwing around. Never was this more evident at Saddleback than when Pastor Rick Warren asked him about abortion, or when he believes life begins.

John McCain very bluntly said..."life begins at conception." and followed that up by saying he would nominate supreme court justices who would overturn Roe V. Wade.

Obama said it was "above his pay grade" to make that kind of decision, and followed that up by saying we need to stop the number of unwanted pregnancies, and provide more support for single moms. Now I understand what he was trying to say... He was saying that it really is not up to him to decide when life begins, and that he would try to figure out why so many unwanted pregnancies were happening in the first place. I can see why most Americans would think Obama is wishy washy.

Solution... dumb down your message with short specific words. This is tough because a lot of issues are complicated and require a rational explanation before trying to put forth a real solution. Most Americans are not really going to watch the debates... after all, we are living in the 24 hour-cable news soundbite era. Any answer that is longer than 10-15 seconds will sound confusing. So Barack... I know it's hard, but keep it simple and specific at the same time.

As for Joe Biden...

It's up to him to pick apart Sarah Palin on national television without looking too aggressive or sounding too condescending.

5) Make it look like McCain and Palin just don't get it.

The houses gaffe by John McCain is the gift that keeps on giving. It allows Obama to paint McCain as "out of touch" and also gives him an opening for his own economic agenda.

Palin's lack of experience on the national stage should providea gaffe or two.


So if Obama is able to do these things... he will win in November.

Is John McCain using the P.O.W. card too much?

If John McCain maxed out his credit cards as much as he has maxed out his P.O.W card this election, then John McCain is threatening to financially and morally bankrupt the American democratic process.

In case you missed it last night, John McCain was asked as a joke on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno about how many houses he owns (he had previously said he was not sure). His answer was this: (actual video under quote)

“You know, could I just mention to you, Jay, and a moment of seriousness. I spent five and a half years in a prison cell, without-I didn’t have a house, I didn’t have a kitchen table, I didn’t have a table, I didn’t have a chair. And I spent those five and a half years, because-not because I wanted to get a house when I got out.”



To borrow (and tweak) a phrase from Delaware Senator Joe Biden, it seems like these days there are only three things that come out of John McCain's mouth. A noun, a verb, and P.OW.

Now I have no problem with John McCain talking about his experiences as a prisoner of war. His story shows a tremendous amount about his character and strength as a person. But it says even more about his character when he is willing to take those experiences, and use them for political expediency.

The sad thing is is that this is not the first time he has used the P.O.W card:

In McCain's first Congressional race in Arizona, his opponent questioned his ability to lead a state he had lived in for less than a year (a valid point). He responded by saying he was sorry he had not had a chance to live in Arizona very long because the longest he had spent in one place was six years... in Hanoi

When Elizabeth Edwards challenged him on the issue of healthcare he used the P.O.W card to circumvent the question, and instead acted offended and said Edwards took a "cheap shot" at him.

When it was revealed that John McCain was not in a "cone of silence" during the Saddleback forum earlier this month, and therefore may have had the questions in advance, his campaign responded with this statement:

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous.”

I honor and respect Senator McCain's service to our country, like I said... I have no problem with him telling his personal story in the context of him saying how he can better lead America. And From the beggining, McCain has said he wants to have a serious dialogue with the American people about the direction of this country. But when he takes his experience as a prisoner of war and hides behind it to deflect questions that the voters are asking, he makes it clear that he does not care about having a serious discussion about the issues.

John McCain likes to talk romantically about honor, patriotism, and character. If those words really mean so much to him... I implore Senator McCain to start running a campaign that is in alignment with his ideas and words. Otherwise, the American people will "max out" and reject what should be, and remain, a compelling story about a man who put country first.