Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The McCain-Obama Saga and the Funeral Rally




Barack Obama swept the Democratic Party off its feet with his keynote address at the DNC Convention in 2004. His truly inspiring words gave hope and meaning to a party in desperation. His lovable persona and strong work ethic implied that it would be difficult to find a major flaw in the junior senator. However, just when many of us, on the left, thought Obama was un-smearable, Senator John McCain unleashes a mudslinging campaign against him. Here is the letter McCain sent Obama:

"When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership's preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter. ... I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interept your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in political to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won't make the same mistake again."


I'm not particularly interested in McCain's whimpering. Rather, I dare to speculate on what I think is manifesting: Dent Obama's image now for later reference.

It's true. I think McCain, a possible GOP presidential nominee for 2008, is attempting to lay a foundation to later smear Obama, just in case he's on the ticket for 2008 (which I doubt). I'm aware that this may sound all too suspicious, but why else would McCain engage in such a public display of character-thrashing? One thing is for sure, the wingnuts over at Redstate are ecstatic over this. They see it as a victory for the GOP since the Democrat's rising star was bitch-slapped! A bitch-slapping it isn't. Obama hasn't responded to this just yet. When he does, expect the same eloquence and honest character he has employed since he broke-out in 2004.

McCain, I believe you have fucked up going after Obama. It is not because I happen to like Obama, or because I worked on his senatorial campaign, but because this will make you look like the fool that you are.

Then again, the GOP's talking points have been lame as of late. What do they do after Coretta Scott King's funeral? Bitch the fuck about it! They make it seem as though the funeral was actually a political rally. They claim that it was inappropriate to bring politics into the funeral ceremony because it is "bad etiquette". Huh...just like politics were brought into a family's personal decision regarding a woman in a persistent vegetative state. Of course politics were appropriate, in my opinion, because Dr. King's legacy is defined by his civil rights work and the politics that came from it. Perhaps Bush's spy program shouldn't have been mentioned, but continuing to yap about makes the funeral a partisan issue...thanks GOP!

2 comments:

BlackLabelAxe said...

Politics and Dr. King are inseperable. Coretta has done wonderful things in her life, but this is about re-visiting the legacy of Dr. King. The Kings' message of civil equality is one of the most admirable in our country's history, but the political messages Dr. King pushed are going to keep black America in the 1960's until they can move on (instead of moveon.org).

I didn't hear any politics involved with the funeral activities, but it doesn't suprise me that somebody started it.

The Obama vs. McCain issue doesn't matter to anybody but Washington insiders. What they're talking about is of negligible importance to the average American taxpayer.

If the GOP puts McCain up for president, I doubt I'll be voting for him.

BigNewsDay said...

First off, Screw those damn Nazis at Redstate.org.

Secondly, the dispute between McCain and Obama began last week over Obama's suggestion of using a Democratic model for Ethics/lobbiest reform measures. McCain felt that his model should be used. McCain wanted to form a task force to study the issue, but the Democrats wanted the issue to run through the existing committees in the Senate. I think it is an issue of political posturing on both side.

I have a great deal of respect for both Obama and McCain, and I hope that they can get can work out their personal differences so that we can get a solid ethics bill. I agree with McCain's view of this issue, but I disagree with the way he handled this dispute.