At the start of this election cycle, no one should have expected a Republican victory. With an unpopular war, corruption within the GOP, and a generally unhappy electorate, there was no reason to expect that McCain or any other Republican would be able to win the White House in 2008. Yet, its very difficult to lay blame for last night’s defeat on anyone other than John McCain and Sarah Palin. The fact that McCain stayed as close as he did, for as long as he did, despite running as poor a campaign as he did, speaks of a fundamental weakness of Obama.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of this campaign cycle was made by Republican voters when they chose an old Washington insider to confront the platform of youth and change. But that alone should not have doomed the party. Had he made the right moves, McCain should still have been able to win this election. Unfortunately, a number of errors on his part led to defeat instead:
1) “I don’t understand the economy” - This reflect just how poor of a campaigner John McCain is. Why any politician would admit that they are clueless about a major issue is beyond me. Exit polls confirmed that the economy was the top issue.
2) Not using the “Wright” issue - McCain had no hesitation about using either William Ayers or Tony Rezko against Obama, so why didn’t he attack him for - willingly - attending a clearly Anti-American church for 20 years?
3) “Country First” - This is one you really don’t here about, but I personally believe that McCain’s choice to make service and sacrifice a primary theme of his campaign was a mistake. You do not go to a war-weary public that is suffering from a deep economic crisis to ask them to give even more. Contrast Obama’s message of hope and change with McCain’s primary theme.
4) Dropping the economic ball, again -Even after McCain admitted a lack of knowledge or experience on the economy, he still could have comeback had he picked a running mate who could have covered for his flaws, or else announced a team of respected advisors who would craft his economic policy. Instead, he failed to use either Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney in any large capacity, while naming a VP who had little - if any - experience on this critical issue.
5) Palin -Am I a little biased? Yes. Undeniably. Not only do I believe that Romney should have been the VP, but I also believe that McCain would have won if he had picked Mitt. But personal loyalty aside, with the exception of exciting the base - which could have been done by any number of Republicans, including Mitt - can anyone name me a single benefit provided by Palin? She failed to bring Hillary supporters to the ticket, she added no additional experience or expertise to the ticket, and was zero help in any state. In fact, poll after poll has shown that, not only did the vast majority of voters believe Palin to be unqualified, but in some areas, she actually had a NEGATIVE approval rating.
I can’t honestly say that any of that surprises me, but if the McCain campaign wants to know why it lost, it needs only to look in the mirror.
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John McCain,
Sarah Palin