The Forgotten Man

America Talks ^ | 07/20/08 | David Zublick

[AmericaTalks]

We are in the eye of the hurricane; past the primaries and caucuses, not quite to the conventions, debates and the general election. This should be a time for both candidates to be pounding home their messages. Barack Obama is getting all the support he needs from the mainstream media. They love him, adore him, worship him. He is the second coming of Christ, or so it is believed.

But what of John McCain?

During the primary season, when McCain had already wrapped up the Republican nomination, and Clinton and Obama were duking it out, several pundits were saying John McCain had time to just sit back, formulate policy and strategy, and get his ideas out before the electorate. But that didn't happen. Everyone was enjoying watching Hillary and Barry fight to the last drop of blood for the hearts and minds(well, maybe not minds...after all, they're liberals) of the democrat base. MCain was virtually ignored, save for the occasional comment taken out of context such as the one about staying in Iraq for a hundred years.

Then, once Hillary fell on her sword so that Barack could carry the democrat torch like an Olympic runner all the way to Denver, the pundits again weighed in saying MCain no longer had the distraction of the bitter rivalry between those two to get in the way of his "straight talk". Still, nobody paid attention. All eyes were focused on the lord and savior Obama, as he traversed the countryside throwing water bottles to swooning multitudes of enthralled disciples.

In recent days, even more things have gone Obama's way. He is going on "The Barack Obama World Tour", travelling with an entourage of roadies which includes all of the major network TV news anchors. Probably vetting them out for a possible press secretary.

He has stated repeatedly that he wants to sit down with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, roast some marshmallows over the fire and discuss Iran' s plans to develop a nuclear weapons program. A couple of months back, in addressing the Israeli Parliament, President Bush took a shot across Obama's bow by referring to those who would consider negotiating with governments like the one in Iran "appeasers."

Now, a U. S. decision to bend their policy and sit down with Iran, seems to have signaled that Obama's ideas are not completely without merit. To be fair, the talks appear to have fizzled, indicating that perhaps the Bush administration is trying to do some "appeasing" of his own; namely with those critics who fear the U.S. is getting ready to launch a military strike against Iranian nuclear targets, or at least support a possible decision by Israel to do so. It's a case of, "See? We tried to handle this diplomatically one more time, but they just wouldn't listen" before the bombing starts. It still, however, is something that, on the surface, helps Obama and hurts McCain.

Couple this with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki saying Obama's 16 month time frame for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right one, and you have a one-two punch which seems to leave John MCain unable to catch a break.

In any event, time is running out (and so is money) for McCain. He better find a way to get on message and soon if he hopes to make this a horse race. Because the way things are going now, MCain is looking more like "the forgotten man".

Listen to America Talks Monday through Thursday at 6 pm eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/americatalks. Visit our website at www.americatalks.com.

[I see my hands]

"Couple this with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki saying Obama's 16 month time frame for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right one, and you have a one-two punch which seems to leave John MCain unable to catch a break"

Especially when this left wing lie continues to be spread.