Not Cool Enough to be President?
George Will is the highest profile conservative to express doubts about John McCain’s suitability for the White House. In yesterday’s column he writes:
Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.
Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that “McCain untethered” — disconnected from knowledge and principle — had made a “false and deeply unfair” attack on Cox that was “unpresidential” and demonstrated that McCain “doesn’t understand what’s happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does”….
McCain’s smear — that Cox “betrayed the public’s trust” — is a harbinger of a McCain presidency. For McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are “corrupt” or “betray the public’s trust,” two categories that seem to be exhaustive — there are no other people….
Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.
It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?
McCain’s moralizing tendencies are what make him the Maverick. He follows his gut on issues regardless of where his party stands at the moment, and he sees the world as “the just” (his side) versus “the unjust.” Will is the highest profile conservative to have qualms about whether this is something we want in a chief executive.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama has opened up a 9 point lead in the Washington Post/ABC News poll, mostly because of economic issues. Obama leads 52-43 among likely voters. Neither John Kerry nor Al Gore broke 50 percent in the WaPost poll the past two elections. John McCain lead this poll 49-47 after the GOP convention. (the only poll that matters takes place on election day blah blah blah….)
19 Responses to “Not Cool Enough to be President?”
I have the feeling that this whole financial market mess really has the potential to turn the presidential race into a rout for Obama. If it isn’t brought under control quickly in a way that minimizes damage to the economy, swing voters will head in droves to Obama. He doesn’t even have to attempt to pin it on the Republicans at all, plenty of voters will just make that assumption.
Because of this, Democrats and everyone else following the Wall Street problems would be very justified in watching closely to make sure that any solutions that are put in place aren’t short-term-only measures that may make everything seem OK for a few months, but then get even worse at some point in the future.
Personally, I understand quantum physics better than macroeconomics, so I have no idea of my own how to fix the financial system.
FoxNews has Obama’s lead as 6, changed from a 3 point McCain lead after the conventions. Clearly, the economic news is taking its toll on the McCain campaign.
I wonder if George Will’s opinion of McCain being ‘unpresidential’ has changed, for better or worse, now that McCain has suggested that the campaigns be suspended (and debates delayed) so that McCain can ‘turn his attention on this crisis.’ I suspect that Will will be even more critical, noting that there is very little McCain can do himself, and the ’solution’ will not be something agreed to overnight. Suggesting that the debates be postponed suggests that McCain does not have the ability/desire/fortitude to handle more than one ‘crisis’ at one time. He looks scared of the debate, not ‘presidential.’
He’s apparently cool-headed enough to run for the Hill when his numbers start to tank. The last thing difficult negotiations in D.C. need are two presidential candidates who aren’t a part of the relevant committees and who haven’t been bothered to vote for a long, Obama, and an even damn longer time, McCain.
I would have bought it as a non-cynical action by the McCain of 2007, but not from the man as he is now.
FoxNews has Obama’s lead as 6, changed from a 3 point McCain lead after the conventions. Clearly, the economic news is taking its toll on the McCain campaign.
Part of that is the inevitable fade of the convention bounce, but I agree that we’re beginning to see an impact of the problems on Wall Street.
Wow, I can’t believe McCain just admitted he can’t handle his job as a Senator and his role as Republican nominee at the same time.
Call me crazy, but right now I believe that today was the day that the economy bottomed out and McCain lost the election. Stock market prices are all about predicting the future. The hysteria is just so palpable right now that, seriously, if the stock market hasn’t dropped to it’s lowest point today, what will it take to make it drop further?
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Talking Points Memo quoted an anonymous insider, saying that a compromise bill was 98% agreed upon (with Treasury caving on everything) and neither McCain nor Obama were needed to negotiate the last provisions. Could it be that McCain was attempting to turn an agreement into a ‘feather in his cap’, taking credit for the compromise?
R.Johnson–Or McCain could take Patrick Ruffini’s advice and vote against the thing and run as a conservative populist against government bailouts. We just don’t know with McCain, which gets us back to Will’s point.
This is outta Obama’s and McCain’s hands at this point. But that didn’t stop McCain from suspending his campaign yesterday and calling for suspension (ie: cancellation) of Friday night’s debate. Please tell me people aren’t really buying this load of bull.
I think the McCain suggestion that the first debate be postponed was entirely reasonable, even if I don’t personally think it was necessary. You have two major events going on which demand McCain’s and Obama’s attention: the race for President and the problems in the financial market. One must be addressed as quickly as possible, while the other can be put on hold for a little while if necessary. I think it’s reasonable for someone to suggest that a not-so-urgent activity be put to the side in order to focus on more urgent matters. (It’s actually a lot more reasonable than the frequent decisions of candidates to cancel public appearances and fundraisers, etc. when some kind of unfortunate event occurs somewhere which they have no connection to or ability to help with.)
Eric,
Reasonable? Lets see. Bush and republicans have been saying the ‘economy is fine’– McCain said similar comments just a week ago when the markets were in flux- for what seems like forever when there was plenty of evidence to the contrary. Now suddenly we are in a crippled state where nothing else matters, including the presidential debates? And if nothing else truly matters, then why did McCain wait so long to suggest the cancellation? Isn’t it more likely that the American people, in this time of crisis, would want to hear from those who will be in office on what their plan and thoughts are with respect to this ‘crisis’?
Whether intentional or not, the argument that ‘this crisis demands our undivided attention’ plays right into the wheelhouse of the democrat’s message. HRC set it off with the ‘Its 3 am’ ad, and now we have the republican candidate, whose advanced age has long been an issue percolating just below the surface, saying ‘I can’t concentrate on more than one thing at a time.’ While many agree that the circumstances are ‘pressing’, few agree it is as dire as it has been portrayed, and certainly not worthy of granting a blank check written by the American taxpayers to Treasury Wall Street banks. The ‘crisis’, while real in some sense, is being over-hyped for ‘immediate’ action.
And what will McCain do in the midst of a financial crisis when [insert any number of other global crisis], ask for time out? Does this man’s actions give you confidence in his ability to lead this nation? For a great many of us, his actions do not.
And I understand how an appearance on SNL is like a national debate and worthy of criticism (sarcasm), but at least be consistent. McCain canceled his appearance on Letterman for a ‘crisis’ which he has, as you put so eloquently, “no connection to or ability to help with.” Surely some of that contempt you have for Obama’s actions can be shared with McCain’s actions.
You’re crazy RJ, you very well know that McCain barging into the middle of negotiations when he knows next to nothing about what has happened and has no actual legislative position in anything but the final vote for them, is definitely, without a doubt, the most responsible thing any candidate for President has ever, and will ever, do. It’s totally country first!
Eric,
McCain would have the presidential debate postponed until next Thursday which would conveniently eliminate the ONLY scheduled vice-presidential debate. Ha ha ha! I guess he thinks we all just fell off the back of a turnip truck…Good luck trying to sell Americans that “Bridge to Nowhere,” Sen. McCain!!!
October Surprise.
Oooohhh, these Democrats are sharp as tacks
!
Democrats fear this morning that McCain is setting up a scenario in which he will vote against the (bailout) bill, rally conservatives to his side and, most importantly, distance himself from both President Bush and Congress before the election.
My last comment includes “Treasury Wall Street”- the “Treasury” portion was supposed to have a strike through but my html must have been off.
Oh, so that’s what McCain calls forging consensus. I didn’t know that forging consensus was going to a meeting, saying nothing, and then muttering disapproval and being completely non-commital to any possible solution.
Funny.
SLATE PREDICTS MCCAIN’S NEXT 10 HAIL MARY STUNTS.
1. Returns to Vietnam and jails himself.
2. Offers the post of “vice vice president” to Warren Buffett.
3. Challenges Obama to suspend campaign so they both can go and personally drill for oil offshore.
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