There is a general sense of disappointment among most people following the election. After months of being promised a “different kind of politics”, most Americans are seeing the “same old political games”. However, contrary to what the Obama campaign would have us believe, the McCain campaign didn’t set the current negative tone that is now prevalent in this election.
For months now, Barack Obama has been throwing stereotypes at John McCain in all of his speeches. From suggesting that McCain is running a racist campaign, to constantly tying McCain to one of the most unpopular presidents of all time, Obama pretty much has made a campaign out of painting McCain with his own negative paintbrush. McCain, until recently, has been trying to run a issues oriented campaign, however, having being left defenseless, McCain has been forced to turn negative.
The McCain campaign has actually been pretty smart by taking advantage of the uniqueness of Obama’s campaign. The media has been worshiping Obama for months now, and McCain was smart enough to point that out. Anyone running against Obama should be smart enough to point out that his campaign is short on substance, that it plays more on people’s emotions than it does on issues, and that his campaign is clearly more of a personality cult than a political campaign.
The truth is that negative campaigning is a part of politics. Sometimes, when a candidate has an appropriate reason for it, it can help them. The most famous example of this is LBJ’s “Daisy” commercial in the presidential election of 1964, which helped him defeat Sen. Barry Goldwater in a landslide. In 2008, negative campaigning might prove successful yet again. According to Real Clear Politics’ latest poll, Obama only leads McCain by 2.7 points nationwide. For a Republican trying to get re elected in 2008, this is pretty good. Maybe an identity of pointing out opponents’ weaknesses might prove effective in 2008. Politics is a dirty business, if you don’t like it, then get out.
