McCain Makes the Biggest Political Mistake of Our Lifetimes

Mondale promised to raise taxes. Dukakis was in the tank. Kerry was for the war before he was against it. All mistakes, mistakes that should never have been made and errors that turn the course of an election. We hear about them all the time. But now, just as the memory of Bill Buckner's error took a backseat for Red Sox fans when their team finally won the World Series, John McCain has made the biggest mistake in politics, an error of such magnitude that he has probably cost himself a shot at the White House.

Senator McCain, knowing that he held an edge on Barack Obama on the "Commander in Chief" question, badly overplayed his hand. He taunted Senator Obama on his lack of foreign policy experience and he challenged Obama to go to Iraq. He sneered at Obama for formulating an Iraq policy prior to traveling to the war zone. He even offered to go with him to Iraq, as if Obama needed his hand held by the man with military experience.

McCain wanted the public to believe that Obama was a novice, a whipper-snapper who would jeopardize our nation's security.

Obama listened to McCain's attempted bullying and said, "You know what? I'll go to Iraq. And Afghanistan, Israel, Germany -- I'll make this a big foreign policy trip abroad. I'll show the voters back home that the world still really does love the United States, they just don't love President Bush or John McCain."

And Obama went abroad, with the world's press following him, clinging to his every word, oohing and aahing at his every jump shot, hoping to catch a glimpse of his every smile.

The trip: the biggest success of the campaign. The Commander in Chief question: negated. Heck of job, McCain.

In the meantime, with all of press following Senator Obama's tour, John McCain has been getting almost no coverage at all. When he does get coverage, he's zipping around in a golf cart with George Bush 41. Not exactly the message of change this nation longs for.

McCain, the former press darling who once referred to the media as "my base," is so upset that press is following Obama, he's become whining and petulant about it. It's as if McCain and Obama both had a party, and everyone went to the Obama party, while McCain found out he's no longer the most popular guy in school.

But perhaps, in one way, the lack of coverage of McCain is a positive. McCain keeps screwing up. His commercials are unbelievably bad. He frequently makes erroneous statements, often about Iraq. To date, he has been wrong about Iraq's geographical location (it does not border Pakistan), wrong about the alliances of Iran (Shiite Iran does not supply Sunni Al-Qaeda with weapons), wrong about the timeline of the Anbar Awakening (occurred months before the surge). The question has to be asked: Does McCain have a firm grasp of what's going on in Iraq?

McCain, of course, has been to Iraq, many times. But while McCain has gone off on Obama for not being there before stating a policy, McCain should remember one thing: he didn't visit Iraq before he voted for the war. He didn't go firsthand to talk to the military. He didn't go firsthand to check out whether or not there would be an insurgency. He didn't go firsthand to talk to see whether the people would support our invasion. Perhaps that why McCain had it all so wrong, and thought we would be greeted as liberators, and that the war would be short. He hadn't gone to Iraq.

Perhaps McCain learned a lesson from his lack of time in Iraq, and perhaps his recent visits did help him learn more. He was correct that the surge has had a positive impact. But it matters not at this point. Iraq is more stable than it was, and we are going to withdraw troops, whether it is on Obama's specific timeline, or on a more general "horizon," as the Bush Administration likes to say. Iraq doesn't want us there for much longer, and besides, bin Laden is not there. And it's bin Laden who is responsible for the death of the thousands of Americans and thousands more people worldwide. It's bin Laden and his supporters that we need to get.

All John McCain has done, with his childish taunting of Obama, is create a situation where Obama has now gone overseas; been seen with General Petraeus smiling, looking Presidential; been photographed with world leaders who seem excited by the prospect of an Obama Presidency, and shown, by images, that he fits in just fine on the world stage; and, of course, Obama has taken all the media attention with him when McCain is desperate for media coverage.

This trip would not have happened without McCain's taunting -- and so, Barack Obama would never have gone on this trip and looked this good if McCain had not made such a stunning mistake in urging him to do so.

Comments

[SamThornton]

Sen. McCain should thank his lucky stars that when he went to Iraq, he wasn't driving the airplane.

Shoutout to Sen. McCain: So, you're upset you aren't getting as much press as Sen. Obama? Who"s whining now?

Test.

[ThePeacemakers]

I heard McCain is trouncing Obama in a poll conducted at 25 cent senior coffee hour at McDonalds locations in Wheeling, WEST VIRGINIA. I'm sure it is also that way with the polls down in the coal mines.

And?????

Meanwhile...look up a poll in the more populated, higher electoral vote count, and non-backward state of Virginia.

[DennyCrane]

The only reason McCain is still seen as more commander-in-chief is because of his military background, as if having served automatically qualifies you to lead the armed forces. Hopefully, as more people see Obama with world leaders and old man McCain confusing his facts, Obama will overtake him in this measure as well.

[barackobama4prez]

Sometimes insecure, jealous people make the best opponents.

[Keith52]

This is great. I hope McCain just keeps being McCain all the way to November. If he keeps going we may see an electoral map of the US that is the polar opposite of the 1980 map.

[HeironymousJosch]

This political misstep, although now just nuance, may prove to be a catastrophic blow to the McCain candidacy. I don't think we can expect the talking heads to discuss it as you have but with the many of the heavy hitters from the world media covering the trip 24/7, the American people have seen more than enough to be impressed if they were unsure of his foreign policy / relations credentials. The trip has effectively nullified any political capital John McCain had 2 weeks ago. On national security, Maliki endorsed Sen. Obama's withdrawal plan. On the world stage, Obama has been greeted as Americas hope and has garnished 10 times the media coverage as did John McCain when he visited Germany. All this aside, Sen. Obama has a 4-9% edge in the polls, a fact the MSM downplays. State by state, Obama holds a hypothetical 120 electoral vote edge, a near 2-1 margin. Unless a major, cataclysmic scandal breaks in ObamaLand, this thing is over.

[bronceye]

MiniBush isn't getting the press coverage because he is saying nothing new. The "Surge" is over. Done. What next, minibush? Quite simply, everything Obama does makes history, everything minibush does is history repeated. I'm waiting for a slip up like comparing Obama to the V.C. As the repubble base loves war, MiniBush is trying to prolong the killing and suffering so as to win the election. Nothing "works" when you're at war unless it ends the war. If you return to pre surge strategy, the surge didn't work.

[Charmed]

Great Article....I wonder where McCain will be today, lol.

[JohnFObama]

I expect Obama, being the good guy he is, to call Mccain as soon as he gets back to thank him for his contribution towards the trip. And a good idea for Obama is on November 5, when he is President Elect, to make Mccain be his aide in charge of planning his trips, because he did a great job here.

[DianeH]

Great article but not quite accurate. The Obama campaign talked about a European trip many months before the taunting by McCain. Whether it would have included the Middle East, however, we'll never know. Given McCain's childish behavior with the taunting, it is wonderful to see him paid back so beautifully.

[JohnFObama]

Yes the trip probably would have happened anyway but it is Mccain's taunts that turned it into an even bigger deal, the make or break event of the obama foreign police question mark.

[SouthPrairie]

With enemies like this, who needs friends?

[Levittown]

Obama agreed the surge helped but if they sent 60 thousand instead of 30 it would have helped more. Imagine if McCain had been awake he might have not shilled for Bush in Bagdad. And if he had been awake he would not have taunted Obama into going to the
Middle East and shown his political skills which McCain sorely lacks. McCain now has to play catch-up and is getting more tongued tied with every speech.

[several]

It is a fun post, but I'm not so sure I agree with the concept that the Obama campaign didn't think of such a trip until McSame mentioned it. More likely they had such a trip planned all along.

[Mathewlittman]

You may be right. I should have said that they would probably not have planned such an extensive visit, but it's likely correct that they did plan a trip all along.

[shystar]

Well said, McCain egged Obama to take the trip now he whines about his lack of media coverage.

Sounding more like a grumpy fellow.

You McCain got the ball a rolling Now Deal!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!

[4President]

McCain should've kept his mouth shut yes, but to suggest it was his challenge and offer that led to Obama's trip abroad is senseless.

Why would Obama, after getting the nomination not go? Wouldn't it have been strange had he not went? We are at war in two countries. Our image is in tatters. This would have been a logical step in a well thought out campaign.

I believe McCain was attempting to capitalize on a trip he knew Obama would be taking. So, he is first to say you haven't gone, maybe I should go with you, show you the ropes. This isn't the only time he's done this.

Someone floats an idea of mutual townhall, Obama comments that it sounds appealing (it does, but that doesn't mean anything in politics), next thing you know, McCain has forwarded 10-12 dates for townhalls, know Obama wouldn't actually agree to them - now we have 'what is Obama afraid of? He can't stand up to John McCain. Just trying to force the narrative.

Meanwhile Obama has run a smooth campaign and get heat for it daily.

[SouthPrairie]

That is precicely what I like about Obama. He is not overly "handled" and makes his own decisions about what and when he wants to do things.

[tlgeiger62]

Here, here.

As Obama has said...as Commander In Chief HE sets the mission.

[MPeter]

Great article. Loved it. The media still fails to follow up on bogus answers or claims when McCain makes them. When he claimed on CBS that he knows how to win wars, nobody pressed him for the fact that he has never won a single war. The only war he was in, he did not complete the fight, except end up in enemy hands. When he challenges Obama for not holding a Hearing on Afghanistan and yet he, himself has missed every hearing on Afghanistan, it makes me wonder really. Can you imagine what the media would have done to Obama if he had gaffed on this foreign trip the way MCSame did?
And yet, they don't stop whinning about Obama getting a free ride.

[Tubby]

Yeah, but the polls still show McCain trouncing Obama. Why's that?

[Necron99]

Which polls are those exactly?

[SeriousBlack]

"Trouncing"? Not quite.

[SeriousBlack]

Oh, and BTW we'll just see what the polls look like 3 months from now, "Tubby".

[leftcoastindy]

Which one were you referring to?

Gallup Tracking 07/20 - 07/22 2640 RV 46 42 Obama +4.0
Rasmussen Tracking 07/20 - 07/22 3000 LV 47 45 Obama +2.0
CBS News/NY Times 07/07 - 07/14 1462 RV 45 39 Obama +6.0
ABC News/Wash Post 07/10 - 07/13 LV 49 46 Obama +3.0
Reuters/Zogby 07/09 - 07/13 1039 LV 47 40 Obama +7.0
Quinnipiac 07/08 - 07/13 1725 LV 50 41 Obama +9.0
IBD/TIPP 07/07 - 07/11 854 RV 40 37 Obama +3.0
Newsweek 07/09 - 07/10 1037 RV 44 41 Obama +3.0

[CurtisEMayle]

I think he was referring to the Tubby polls.

[4President]

It wasn't a poll!

A senior official said it!

[checkitout]

Which poll are you looking at?

[ashenthorn]

I heard McCain is trouncing Obama in a poll conducted at 25 cent senior coffee hour at McDonalds locations in Wheeling, West Virginia .