What Would Broder Do?

It's hard to believe that John McCain's time-out and rush to Washington will have any practical effect on the matter at hand, passing a bailout bill. It could have the opposite effect, by injecting presidential politics and posturing into an intricate, and politically volatile, matter of policy. But influencing the policy, for good or ill, doesn't seem to be what McCain's after. It's all about optics: he wants voters to see him as a leader capable of overcoming the partisan divide.

This doesn't make much logical sense coming on the heels of nearly six weeks of divisive culture war politics. But it amounts to an appeal to one of the most dearly-held big media assumptions -- that partisanship is always the problem and bipartisanship always the answer. In this view (reiterated, predictably, in today's David Broder column, which blames both Congress and the White House for the government's lack of credibility in the crisis) grand bipartisan gestures -- bringing everyone together to solve the nation's problems -- are the only way out of gridlock. Making these gestures is a sign of true leadership. Needless to say, this is a highly symbolic and unrealistic approach in a political landscape largely shaped by partisan Republican policies.

The McCain campaign tried to exploit the media's tendency to seek out false equivalencies in fact-checking its ads and rhetoric. When that didn't work so well, it attacked the media. Now it's betting on another political media tic, the yearning for a kind of bipartisan utopia. Will it work?

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Comments

[Chicagowill]

Did your boss ever give you and your colleagues a tough problem to solve in a short time? You had to interact with other departments in your organization and a tough customer or vendor. You all worked hard and resolved the difficult problems one at a time. Everyone had to make painful compromises. Then, as the deadline approached, some high ranking official felt he/she needed some visibility, dropped into the middle of things, made a bunch of inane comments, sets things back a week, and left, claiming victory. Meanwhile, you have to calm everyone down and get the job back on track. Sound familiar?

At one job, we called this "seagull management".

[JohnnyCostic]

How one handles the gathering storm of an economic crisis is one way to gauge a candidate's ability to perform under pressure. Another one is to see who they seek out in these troubled times. Obama turned to Warren Buffet, as well as members of the Clinton administration who actually balanced a budget and provided a surplus. McCain put in a call to Howie Mandel.

[QuakerBeach]

It's simple. McCain hijacked the media for a photo op with the Prez, then went on all 3 networks to sing the praises of his spoils. Basically, outside of counseling Boehner not to go along with the deal, he did nothing. Offered no other suggestions. He is looking at the Reps new idea - private companies buy the bail out - with allowed DE-reg stuff and tax breaks. Where have we heard THAT before? Remember the NYT article about financial people lobbying to get into this mess and make even more money off of our backs?
His kind of deal. Now he is ready for the debate. All he needs are the idiots that have no clue this guy is whacko. I hope Obama nails him tomorrow night for his political ambition and political mayhem.

[bascombe]

the media is overdue for the next application of their collectives lips to the derriere of the repug presidential hopeful. and all this noise drowns out the PlainJane-Couric bimbo showdown. Sarah seems so home-schooled and the nation is given another edition of "Look! Over here! Shiny stuff!!!!!"

[lwaxanatroi]

Repubs speak of bipartisanship when they really mean coopting Dems to help pull their chestnuts out of the fire. Soon as those chestnuts cool off, we'll be traitors again.

[bascombe]

from today's circus, it's obvious that the dems are like charlie brown with lucy the repug holding the ball. the dems get fooled every time.

[sposton]

It is working because we are talking about it instead of talking about the economic meltdown and what's McCain's role in it. It is a classic media topic switcheroo that Republican are so good at. They relentlessly chip away at the opponent's character, lie about their own characteristics and records, and manufacture bogus news that deflects from the real story, and perform outright electoral fraud that generally goes undetected or unreported. I can't wait to see what is going to be their October surprise! Bin Laden caught or killed? False flag operation of some sort, perhaps a small nuke 100 miles off our shore?

[stayinsouth1981]

Best guess: Israel sends something over to Iran.

[Egalitare]

This is how McCain has stage-managed every one of his "bipartisan" gems. Real experts wrestle with the details and when they are close to a finished product, "The Maverick" swoops in for the grand photo op and somehow positions his way to the front and center of the shot.

[bascombe]

and blows the layup

[truesteam]

Hey, where is Rove? Whose turn was it to watch Rove? Nothing good ever comes from Rove falling out of the public eye. We need him out front where we can keep an eye on him.

To answer your question, I hope not. I thought he lost his mind yesterday. But, now that I have heard a couple of the Republican talking points I think they may just be able to turn this into a good thing. I can only hope America has lost patience with the specticle.

[got2Bkidding]

Nah

He was on Fox that night. I was flippin through channels and saw him for like 15 seconds. He seemed to be sayin WTF. I don't thnk he understood McSames thinking either.

[Decipherer]

"A good thing" for whom, exactly? Actually, he DID lose what's left of his mind yesterday and I don't care whose talking points which evidently are persuading you otherwise, there is no going back. It was more naked political pandering and the American people know it and have lost patience with it.

I fully agree with you about Karl Rove, however . . . when he ducks back into the shadows, it is time to watch out.

[maxpenny]

He didn't lose his mind, he just like to make grand impulsive gestures rather than doing hard work. Here's what I picture happening: John was getting weary of the debate prep, venting about what a waste of time it was, and suddenly announced to his staff that he was calling off the debates because he had more important work to do. His staff all knew this was self-indulgent b.s. but they couldn't talk him out of it.

One more indicator that he would be a disaster as a president.