The unpredictable nature of political fortune has turned. The Dems now have their overwhelming closing argument. John McCain is not ready to lead. His running mate--an absolute disaster.
This needs to be the message that gets driven home at every opportunity. The financial crisis has revealed McCain's ability (or rather, lack thereof), to make the tough decisions, to rise to the occasion, to prove he was a more capable leader than Bush.
He has utterly failed on all counts. A designer I respect once put the job communicators have in clear perspective: "We find the Truth—then we paint it pink." Consider the following:
Rather than rise above the political fray, his return to DC, in a matter of hours, sabotaged what was one of the few instances of bipartisan cooperation we've seen in 8 years.
Rather than embrace the challenge of debating Obama, he is clearly trying to sidestep what a clear majority of Americans view not just as an important milestone in any campaign, but as a birthright-the presidential debates.
He has compounded an ill-advised choice of running mate by closing off all access to the press, in hopes that people won't notice. Unfortunately for them both, Americans have a funny way of wanting to know what their candidates actually think, and how they might expect them to act.
Both McCain and Palin have shown a propensity to not just lie, but to do so repeatedly, as though sheer repetition will make it true. That is not change, and it is not something to believe in.
This country managed to hold an election in the middle of it's two greatest challenges—the Civil War and WWII. Dems need to ask McCain if he thinks we should postpone this election until he's comfortable moving forward.
There you have it. McCain and Unable. Drive home the message. These are the truths—let's paint them pink.
(Apologies if I've ripped off the title from anyone--I haven't seen it yet.)