They Wrote Letters [2006 exchange between Obama and McCain]

Long forgotten in the public memory, a couple of years ago the current presidential front-runners, Barack Obama and John McCain engaged in a public exchange of letters. I recall reading these letters at the time and thinking that Obama came of as a fake and McCain was cynical and impatient. Personally I can identify with the latter. Anyway, I’ve been thinking off and on about those letters for a few days, and wondered if copies could still be found on the Internet, or if they too had disappeared down the rabbit hole along with so much else this year. Imagine my surprise when I found them perfectly preserved at Senator Obama’s Senate site.

Not true. At all, apparently. Apparently the name of the game is delay-delay-delay until we get a majority and can take credit for ourselves. Remember, this was February of 2006, when Republicans where just waking up to the fact that they were in for a serious whomping come November. Does anyone think Republican-controlled committees would have allowed that reform to pass at that time? No, so Obama aided and abetted Democratic inaction in order to maximize electoral profits come November. He violated his own claimed core principles for personal gain.

From John McCain's letter:

Dear Senator Obama:

I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. 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 to me dated February 2, 2006, which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions. I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics 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.

In response, the Obama campaign will release a new ad accompanied by the requisite New York Times article with the headline "McCain Admits to Personal Failures in Judgment".

This stuff is great!!!

McCain’s 2006 apology to Obama:

I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. 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 to me dated February 2, 2006, which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions. I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics 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.

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