Among other even senior points, Dave picks out the "... reject and denounce ..." moment to spotlight Obama's mental agility & flexibility ... which I find amusing as well as illuminating.
Advance to the 5'50" spot where Obama responds to the semantic kerfuffle Hillary digs herself into with Russert's unintentional assistance.
Dave's chief point, which I first saw being discussed on Bill Moyers program after Obama's victory was sealed, is that Barak Obama is redefining democracy. It's not just about using the Internet for fund-raising but about how he's internalized the lessons he learned as a community organizer and mashed them up with what the Internet teaches us about knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
John McCain is a good guy. But he looks ridiculous on script, as the YouTube of his, yesterday's, June 3rd general election opener in Kenner (New Orleans) Louisianna shows.
McCain, as a naval aviator Vietnam War hero & POW, has a few solids going for him. He's not much of a bullshit artist in the Senate, a fairly straight-talker who's word is not bad, as these things go. He's got a temper and he's a little bit disorganized. And he has no chance before this race even begins.
1. John McCain is Too Old
There's nothing to add here. Age isn't especially a problem, except his opponent, being exceptionally virile, makes him look anemic.
2. John McCain is a Bad Speaker
The event in New Orleans above highlights that John McCain is a terrible public speaker and that he is worse than innept when reading the teleprompter ...
"And my friends, good evening [wild hoots from a single female in what seems to reverberate like an empty hall | pause | unbelievably fake smile] from ... the ...great ... city of [looks down, checks notes] ... New Orleans."
Later at 2' 05" comes another howler ...
"... but the choice is between the right change and the wrong change, between going forward and going backward [insincere smile]."
The Hillary Faithful -- which group apparently includes red-neck women as well as "OWW" (older white women) and even quite a few educated women (including my wife) who are not in a position to see the Obama | Clinton battle through any but the frame of gender -- are faced now with their anger.
In time, as their anger subsides, they will be faced with the choice of voting for the old man with the pro-life legislative record which he has promised to uphold and continue, or the young man with the pro-choice position. These women will either vote for the pro-choice candidate or not vote.
That's why I see Obama taking an historic 80% landslide in the general election. Come November, most of the Hillary Faithful will rather stay home than vote.
4. John McCain looks and is Pale
In the purely symbolic terms of visuals, John McCain's short arms and odd hand-gestures (though earned via debilitating torture during the Vietnam War, not all voters will understand this), square physique and too-white complexion compare meakly against Obama's rangey, long-necked charisma.
In terms of quality-of-the-man, McCain looks palid against Obama, who's intelligence permits his policy statements to remain simple and user-centered while having a remarkable internal consistency when examined closely for integrity and common sense in the context of his powerful & hopeful vision.
McCain, in contrast, like many conservatives and Republicans (since the death of Wm F Buckley, these are two distinct groups of people) doesn't seem to have thought through the issues as if he has a stake in them.
5. John McCain thinks we should be One-Hundred-Years-in-Iraq
No matter what happens in the general champaign, no one will ever forget that McCain's position on Iraq was painted as '100 years ... whatever it takes.' Despite what he actually said, John McCain will never succeed in untarring himself from the echos of that perception.
6. Isolation
The Obama | Clinton battle in the primary means that Barak Obama and his champaign staff are honed, hardened and fresh off the gruelling American road, where they've had face-to-face encounters with millions of real people. John McCain has not been traveling and will never successfully imagine his way into the personal situations of these Americans and this will result in his sounding wooden and insincere when he talks about change and about his policies.
Add to this that the steely undercarriage of the traditional Republican philosophy is that the poor are on their own, and you have a Presidential candidate who will fail repeatedly, and often humorously, to connect.
For these six reasons, I predict that John McCain will be fortunate to capture 20% of the vote in the November presidential election. Contrasting against a few appealing qualities, his candidacy looks old, pale, weak, lame and out of touch up against Barak Obama, who succeeds above all in looking Presidential.
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