For the media pundits, John McCain's best moment in Wednesday's debate was when he said, "Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush." The line drew favorable ratings for McCain in CNN's instant polling, but its repetition may actually do more damage to McCain's already-suffering campaign than anything else that was said last night.
McCain's statement was a classic example of admission by negation. It is the sort of thing that George Lakoff refers to in his book, "Don't Think of an Elephant!" When you ask people not to think of an elephant, of course that is exactly the image that pops into their head. A statement of negation inevitably conjures up the very idea that it seeks to repress. This is something that Freud observed in 1925 when he explained that "we never discover a 'no' in the unconscious." This is why Nixon's famous declaration that "I am not a crook" actually helped persuade the nation that he was one. Similarly, when McCain claims that he is not President Bush, at the subconscious level he is telling us that he is Bush.
Video clips from other moments in Wednesday's debate may also hurt McCain. His frequent interruptions of Obama, his eye-rolling and general sarcasm will all reinforce his reputation for rudeness and hostility. However, the Obama campaign has smartly recognized that it should focus not on personality but on policy. Its main message to voters is that McCain continues the Bush administration's policies, while Obama offers change. This message remains central to the public's rejection of McCain and needs to remain front and center.
Obama's campaign would do well to run TV ads highlighting McCain saying, "I am not President Bush," juxtaposed against examples of McCain's many policy votes in support of the Bush administration. The blogosphere can spread this meme as well. By election day, McCain's claim that "I am not Bush" should be as deeply entrenched in public consciousness as Nixon's "I am not a crook" or Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman."