McCain Missed A Chance

Commentary magazine ^ | 07.26.2008 | Daniel Halper

[dmh191]

While Senator Barack Obama was on his world tour, Senator John McCain should have been busy—neither planning to speak at an Gulf Coast oil rig, visiting with the Dalai Lama, nor whining about his coverage in the press. Instead, McCain should have paid a visit to the Rio Grande Valley. There, of course, fifteen counties have just been declared federal disaster areas, thousands are still without power, and an assessed $750 million dollar clean-up task awaits. All this as a result of Hurricane Dolly.

The two contrasting images of the presidential candidates would have been staggering. Imagine: Obama assuring hordes of Germans that he is “a fellow citizen of the world” in the picturesque Berlin Tiergarten; McCain, donning a slicker, assuring the citizens of South Texas that the federal government will not allow this to be another Hurricane Katrina. It would have contrasted a sprightly Obama with a sober McCain; an arrogant, high-flying orator with a person conscious of the needs of average Americans...

[berdie]

Exactly correct.

I’m not sure when it became expected that the President or any other official needed to attend state disasters. It’s a nice gesture, but not required.

With the country’s natural disasters as numerous as they are, that in itself could be a full time job.

[CharlesWayneCT]

McCain isn’t the President, he’s just a Senator, and has little reason to show up in a disaster area to politicize it.

[ncalburt]

I can just see the headline in RED on the Drudge-Obama report “ McCain slows down the relief effort with PR visit “ . However, the Obama-Drudge Report headline would be “ Messiah drives away the clouds and feeds the poor”.

[drierice]

Right. McCain isn’t prone to making grandiose appearances for political gain, nor should he. His comments in the past few days have been biting and to the point, and of course, underreported.

But when it comes to the debates, Obama will feel more heat than he ever did from Hillary. McCain is a tenacious debater and doesn’t let anything slide.

[SuziQ]

McCain didn’t need to be in an area where they’re trying to clean up from a storm, for the very same reason that the President didn’t go to New Orleans or the MS Gulf Coast immediately after Katrina. There is way too much important recovery activity going on, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for folks to bring their political campaigns to the midst of all that.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

I totally disagree with this article. McCain should not use an American natural disaster as a “set” for his campaign. That is the worst kind of exploitation. He was wise not to use the suffering of others as a photo op.

[fightinJAG]

I agree with this whole-heartedly.

Sure, McCain would have taken some flap from the MSM (the few that were not traveling with Obambi), but so what.

Which brings up another point: since McCain can’t get media coverage to save his life, why doesn’t his campaign actively court the new media? They should send out invitations to bloggers to accompany McCain in a sort of press pool, with the idea that different bloggers will come along on different events and that they can write whatever they want.