The McCain and Obama TalkalotAn orgy of free thought? Not so likely.
By John DickersonPosted Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at 6:11 PM ETObama denounced tit-for-tat politics and the hypercoverage of Hillary Clinton's Bosnia sniper fantasy—and then turned around and tried to exploit the story days later. McCain complains when his words are taken out of context—but he did the same cut-and-paste job on Mitt Romney, thoroughly distorting Romney's views on a future Iraq "withdrawal." Candidates shouldn't claim points for candor when they have the alarm set for an opponent's slightest mistake.
Of course, even if McCain and Obama elevate their own discourse, they should also be accountable for their parties and allies. Howard Dean and the DNC appear to be able to make any old claim about McCain without Obama showing any upset. The DNC's ad about McCain's reference to keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years, for example, doesn't exactly meet the Obama standard for honest dialogue. (Though I suppose that one would be hard for Obama to speak out against, since at times he's embraced the identical distortion.)
The most egregious recent example of word-twisting, though, came to us yesterday from the Republicans. Recently, Sen. Obama let us in on his thinking about Israel in a thoughtful discussion with the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg. At one point, Obama said "this constant wound, that this constant sore, does infect all of our foreign policy." He was clearly talking about the Middle East conflict, not Israel—this is backed up by his thorough support of Israel throughout the interview. Also, when Goldberg asked him directly, "Do you think that Israel is a drag on America's reputation overseas?" Obama said, "No, no, no" right before his constant sore observation.
But that didn't stop Republican Majority Leader John Boehner from issuing a press release denouncing Obama for calling Israel a sore. This amounts to making things up. It's one thing to spin; it's another to see a train and try to convince us it's a ham sandwich. It doesn't bode well for the chance of a new format to produce free-flowing conversation if this kind of distortion can be produced so easily.
I'd like to have faith in this idea, particularly after the Bush campaigns that set a new modern low for town hall meetings. The audiences were so thoroughly screened, it was only slightly easier to get into one of them than it was his daughter's wedding.This produced lots of questions about how Bush managed to perform so well under pressure and testimonials about his greatness that were not really questions at all. So far, there's not much reason to believe that this new gambit will be much more useful than those staged town halls Bush used to hold.
John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at . Follow him on Twitter. Photograph of John McCain by Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images.
Remarks from the Fray:
Who does Dickerson mean by "we" here? Ostensibly he means the general public—but, more accurately, I think he should mean the media. The news media—specifically the gotta-keep-the-drama-flying cable news anchors—are the ones who have driven this "gaffe-centric" campaign. I think the general public will go where it is led, by both the candidates (who both seem to be making an effort to make this a positive, transformative campaign) and the news media. Obama and McCain are holding up their part of the bargain—Wallace, Russert, et al, what about you?
--hslaton
(To reply, click here.)
Here's an alternate take. Enough town hall debates with both candidates on youtube and every little comment will be so microanalyzed, so spun, so exploited for every potential liability that the whole concept of the gotcha moment will have lost its meaning. New moments will be generated faster than a news cycle, even in the age of the 24-hour news network. Serious public relations management of the campaign will no longer be possible. Eventually, the spin will stop, or at least have lost any relevance. It's post-spin.
That's my hope. And I think it's possible...wouldn't it be great if people voted for John McCain because they really believed we should stay in Iraq indefinitely, or Obama because they wanted to consider negotiating with countries we disagree with?
--katedc
(To reply, click here.)
It is the nature of politicians to obfuscate and yet to lecture according to predetermined templates. You must recall how during the late 1970s it began to appear as if all major politicians had suddenly been closeting with political coaches, polishing their ability to run a pundit's question off the clock without ever answering it.
It's a process of evolution, that is, political candor. None of them practice it if at all possible, but they all want to appear as if they are practicing it with every word that tumbles from their lips. So, the town hall concept or internet influenced question and answer sessions are not going to make these men any more open nor filled with honesty. They, however, are going to strive mightily to fake it.
Also, as you well know, political attacks primarily occur nowadays from secondary sources so that the candidate can practice 'plausible deniability.' The GOP are past masters at this and one can bet the bank on them already having several plans of attack for the Swift Boating of Barack Obama.
Only naive political children think that this is not going to happen and that it won't, to a greater or lesser degree, determine the outcome of the general election.
Obviously, to a lesser extent, the DNC will have their own stealth operatives out there producing their own plausible deniability attacks against John McCain. It is not because the DNC is unwilling to fight dirty but -- except when it comes to destroying Hillary Clinton's nomination -- they are fairly inept clowns when it comes to doing this attack poodle stuff.
So that's how this presidential election process will shape up. It usually boils down to which side has the better group of paid professional propagandists working for them [usually the GOP] and how blind and clueless the general press acts whenever plausible deniability attacks occur--usually pretty damn blind and clueless -- just ask John Kerry regarding all those Swift Boating attacks and the generally clueless nature of the press back then.
So it goes.
--Gatewood
(To reply, click here.)
(5/14)
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Remarks from the Fray:
Who does Dickerson mean by "we" here? Ostensibly he means the general public—but, more accurately, I think he should mean the media. The news media—specifically the gotta-keep-the-drama-flying cable news anchors—are the ones who have driven this "gaffe-centric" campaign. I think the general public will go where it is led, by both the candidates (who both seem to be making an effort to make this a positive, transformative campaign) and the news media. Obama and McCain are holding up their part of the bargain—Wallace, Russert, et al, what about you?
--hslaton
(To reply, click here.)
Here's an alternate take. Enough town hall debates with both candidates on youtube and every little comment will be so microanalyzed, so spun, so exploited for every potential liability that the whole concept of the gotcha moment will have lost its meaning. New moments will be generated faster than a news cycle, even in the age of the 24-hour news network. Serious public relations management of the campaign will no longer be possible. Eventually, the spin will stop, or at least have lost any relevance. It's post-spin.
That's my hope. And I think it's possible...wouldn't it be great if people voted for John McCain because they really believed we should stay in Iraq indefinitely, or Obama because they wanted to consider negotiating with countries we disagree with?
--katedc
(To reply, click here.)
It is the nature of politicians to obfuscate and yet to lecture according to predetermined templates. You must recall how during the late 1970s it began to appear as if all major politicians had suddenly been closeting with political coaches, polishing their ability to run a pundit's question off the clock without ever answering it.
It's a process of evolution, that is, political candor. None of them practice it if at all possible, but they all want to appear as if they are practicing it with every word that tumbles from their lips. So, the town hall concept or internet influenced question and answer sessions are not going to make these men any more open nor filled with honesty. They, however, are going to strive mightily to fake it.
Also, as you well know, political attacks primarily occur nowadays from secondary sources so that the candidate can practice 'plausible deniability.' The GOP are past masters at this and one can bet the bank on them already having several plans of attack for the Swift Boating of Barack Obama.
Only naive political children think that this is not going to happen and that it won't, to a greater or lesser degree, determine the outcome of the general election.
Obviously, to a lesser extent, the DNC will have their own stealth operatives out there producing their own plausible deniability attacks against John McCain. It is not because the DNC is unwilling to fight dirty but -- except when it comes to destroying Hillary Clinton's nomination -- they are fairly inept clowns when it comes to doing this attack poodle stuff.
So that's how this presidential election process will shape up. It usually boils down to which side has the better group of paid professional propagandists working for them [usually the GOP] and how blind and clueless the general press acts whenever plausible deniability attacks occur--usually pretty damn blind and clueless -- just ask John Kerry regarding all those Swift Boating attacks and the generally clueless nature of the press back then.
So it goes.
--Gatewood
(To reply, click here.)
(5/14)