Is McCain trying to lose?
Just a few tidbits from the last few days.
First, McCain endorses the offshore drilling proposal sure to anger big numbers of people in his must win state of Florida.
Then, he goes to must win Michigan and enthusiastically supports NAFTA (in Michigan!,) sure to anger big numbers of people there.
Then, news leaks of a "secret meeting" between McCain and Hispanic leaders where he "assured Hispanic leaders he would push through Congress legislation to overhaul federal immigration laws if elected." (By doing this "in secret" he minimized the positive exposure but the anti-immigration people in his party will be sure to notice.)
It's almost like there's some psychological element in him that craves to be "the maverick." Some element that looks for opposition for self identity.
First, McCain endorses the offshore drilling proposal sure to anger big numbers of people in his must win state of Florida.
Then, he goes to must win Michigan and enthusiastically supports NAFTA (in Michigan!,) sure to anger big numbers of people there.
Then, news leaks of a "secret meeting" between McCain and Hispanic leaders where he "assured Hispanic leaders he would push through Congress legislation to overhaul federal immigration laws if elected." (By doing this "in secret" he minimized the positive exposure but the anti-immigration people in his party will be sure to notice.)
It's almost like there's some psychological element in him that craves to be "the maverick." Some element that looks for opposition for self identity.
posted by mikevotes at
10:54 AM
13 Comments:
It's called Oppositional-Defiance Disorder. It's not uncommon among foster kids who've come from chaotic homes.
McCain is an angry man. I think it's possible he thrives on opposition and conflict. He can't simply have good ideas for their own sake, he must always be engaging an "enemy."
By
-epm, at 12:09 PM
The real problem for McCain is that, at this point, nobody has the slightest idea what a McCain White House would mean to them. He's all over the place, flip-flopping on virtually every issue. Obama's policies are a bit on the murky side, but his outlook and stances are relatively consistent. Thus, any "deals" McCain may hope to make with disparate elements become a sucker's game. McCain only attracts elements who clearly are not on Obama's side, which is Bush's base. And we've seen how well that is working for him.
McCain is an angry man. I think it's possible he thrives on opposition and conflict. He can't simply have good ideas for their own sake, he must always be engaging an "enemy."
Wow. That ranks in the five most insightful comments I've encountered in the campaign yet. It explains so much, so concisely.
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Todd Dugdale , at 12:35 PM
Sounds right epm. It's a defensive mechanism. He's very insecure.
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Anonymous, at 12:36 PM
EPM, I dunno. It's just an observation that has kind of struck me lately.
And you do bring up an interesting point that it is a response from a weaker position in a relationship.
I wonder how such a trait would play out in a presidency, especially where he is surrounded by "yes men?"
But then again, I guess the play of a McCain presidency is an issue not too likely to come up.
.....
Todd, Much more practical. I think you're right that McCain's support is much more party based and anti-Obama.
I've been asking this for awhile, what's the McCain constituency? Who is the group enthusiastically out there volunteering.
....
Anon, yeah.
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mikevotes, at 1:25 PM
I've been asking this for awhile, what's the McCain constituency? Who is the group enthusiastically out there volunteering.
Bush's (rapidly crumbling) base, and those afraid of a half-black man assuming the White House. Sadly, it's not much more complicated than that, IMHO. Fifty years ago, McCain would have been a slam-dunk in this match-up. And he's run his campaign based on a 1950's perspective. This is a guy who has admitted to never using a computer, and he wants to run the White House? He lives in the past, completely and irrevocably. It's not that his body is too old, it's that his mind is anchored in the 1950's.
There is still a market for that kind of idealism today, but it fades with every passing year, thus he relies on fear of the new.
Which, ironically, is the very same fear that drives radical Islam.
At 47, I can no longer pretend to be a young man, but I can still detect the scent of an elderly man pretending to be young. And I am not the only one with that curious ability.
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Todd Dugdale , at 2:22 PM
But without the charisma or trustworthiness of Ike.
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mikevotes, at 3:20 PM
He wants to be Ike. He desperately wants to seen in the same class as Ike, but he's not.
And considering that most of the country would respond with "Ike who? Ike Turner?", he is doomed.
Obama gets the Ike Turner demographic, anyway.
And the real Ike would likely beat McCain into a heap were he able to rise from his grave. Ike would've probably had no trouble voting for a half-black man, and would despise the GOP today. And that goes double for Ike Turner.
Clearly, the McCain campaign is relying on the dead failing to rise from the grave and kicking his sorry ass.
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Todd Dugdale , at 4:20 PM
I think he would despise the GOP today.
Beyond just the immodesty of them, theres that whole industrial military complex, war on terror, mercenaries/graft and all that.
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mikevotes, at 4:38 PM
I wasn't really trying to "diagnose" McCain, of course. Just wanted to point out that there is a disorder that involves active opposition even when it's self destructive.
McCain is an angry man. And from the preceding discussion, perhaps he's angry that he's lived past his generational comfort zone.... The '50s are over. Vietnam is over. Women are no longer "stewardesses" and "secretaries" fetching coffee and the telex is no longer the leading edge of technology... Just spit-ballin' here. I don't thing there's any doubt he's angry. And often defensive.
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-epm, at 7:54 PM
The why I dunno.
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mikevotes, at 9:48 PM
For post-war Republicans, everything is a fight. There is always some menace which we must "unite" against, always some issue that divides us into "patriots" and "traitors". The Yellow Peril. The Red Scare. Uppity Negroes. Dirty Hippies. Greedy Arabs. Crazy Muslims.
The Republicans are always the ones demanding "us" to stand up to "them". It's the staple of the GOP.
Thus, McCain's anger and defensive posture. Only now he is stuck defending "us" from "us". He defends his Party while trying to distance himself from it. He must be proud of America while he criticises it for being weak and not-so-scared. His task is to make us see that we are "them", but that we can be redeemed rather than crushed, and he must make us scary enough to the Faithful that they will rally 'round the flag once again.
It's bleak.
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Todd Dugdale , at 12:28 PM
Yeah, I see your point about villainization and strategy, but within McCain there's a certain element that seems to want to fight anybody, even his own party.
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mikevotes, at 1:19 PM
Who are McCain's "natural allies"?
It's pretty slim out there. Not veterans. Not Republicans. Not Democrats. Not religious people. Not minorities. Not women. Not any particular region. See where I'm going with this?
He's got (maybe) seniors, men, the rich, and independents. And each of those groups get winnowed down in a huge way - for example, black men or independent women.
He has no solid demographic backing him, but rather a mosaic of fractional support from a diverse group. So, in a certain sense, he really is fighting everybody. Inertia is not a constituency.
Also, you can't be the happy, confident guy when you must convince people to be really, really scared.
That's why I think epm's remark about him always needing to be engaging an enemy was so insightful. It's easier for him to create enemies than to appeal to his marginal allies, and by defeating his created enemies he creates new and more emboldened allies. At least in theory.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 2:24 PM
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