McCain Rolls Out Latest Production - Atlas Plugged
John McCain’s latest ploy in his “throw the kitchen sink at it” campaign feels like a miscalculation and a turning point. While McCain may think it bolsters his leadership bona fides, I suspect it’s one too many gyrations in a scattered and stilted strategy.
It’s difficult to discern the logic behind the latest political stunt by John McCain. Yes, it may well have been a worthwhile gamble given all of the circumstances, but it also indicates a questionable propensity to engage in reckless risk taking. I suspect once the voting public digests the situation, the conclusion will be that John McCain isn’t the safe bet he may have seemed to be at the start of this campaign.
In fact, I’m willing to bet that his hasty and inconsistent actions only add to the anxiety that voters already feel. I say as much from my own personal experiences with crisis management. In virtually every instance, the individual who remains calm and measured invariably surfaces as the preferred authority figure to lead those involved in the crisis.
The fact that John McCain has been all over the board on this economic meltdown makes it implausible that he’ll be selected to lead. His actions simply fail to comfort or instill a sense of confidence. Instead, his actions run the risk of alienating those who are desperately in search of solace in the throes of a storm.
Time will tell if McCain’s wager will return the desired reward or leave him high and dry. I think it will be the latter. I keep getting this image in my head of a marching band…one where John McCain is the drum major…dressed in an ornate outfit…hoisting his baton and blowing his whistle…proudly high stepping down the football field…fully oblivious to the fact that the band is heading in the opposite direction.
With that said, I put together the following graphic to capture the essence of McCain’s miscalculation and the motivations that may have led him to this moment. The graphic is intended to be tongue-in-cheek. Unfortunately, McCain’s seemingly unhinged unilateral action, so similar to many of those taken by the man currently seated in the White House, is more apt to send a cold chill down one’s spine.
Nice picture!
I share your ambivalence. Personally, I think it’s a very canny move politically, and puts Obama on the back foot. Works much better than the same decision at the RNC over Gustav (though doing it twice does tend to show it up as a tactic.) But the main thing is that the gesture plays mostly with people who were already committed to the Republican cause, whilst Democrats smell it from a mile off.
In the end, the economy will determine the election in a more fundamental way than giving either candidate something to spin on: it’ll convince people that the current party’s commitment to deregulation has, as Paulson and Bernanke explained, failed. I don’t see how this can do anything but give a major boost to the Democrats (especially in places like Michigan and Ohio).