The word of the week in the Obama camp is, “inartful,” which is quickly taking the place of “distraction” as the campaign’s go-to brush-off of questions on the trail.
They used it to hedge on Obama’s clear move to the center on gun control:
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And, again during Obama’s not-quite-disavowal of Gen. Wesley Clark’s statements.
Since Clark’s statements, two more Dems have joined the ranks of Obama supporters/surrogates who have made slightly squicky arguments about McCain’s military experience, though Webb’s isn’t as ill-delivered as others I’ve heard.
Randy Beers, who I mentioned in a previous post, said at the Center for American Progress this week (audio):
“So I think,” he continued, “to some extent his national security experience in that regard is sadly limited and I think it is reflected in some of the ways that he thinks about how U.S. forces might be committed to conflicts around the world.”
I’m betting many Americans don’t count missing the Haight-Ashbury scene while confined to the Hanoi Hilton in service to country as a point against McCain.
Jim Webb says McCain needs to cool it with the military references…you know, studiously avoid talk of military experience and its importance, just like Jim Webb has.
Some of these arguments from Dems are certainly less sleazy than others, and making the point that piloting a plane and enduring the POW camp doesn’t automatically make one qualified to be commander in chief is not entirely out of bounds. But it’s something that should be undertaken with delicacy, and it would help if John McCain had ever made the argument that his Vietnam service qualified him to be president. To my knowledge, he has not, though his Vietnam experience figures prominently in a compelling biography, and by extension, in the development of his character, leadership skills, and judgment.
His campaign is certainly selling the story of John McCain’s life, including his captivity, partly because they’re competing against a compelling life story from Obama, but McCain has not fallen into the trap of hanging his entire candidacy rationale on his years in Southeast Asia. That’s what John Kerry did, which is part of the reason attacks on his service in Vietnam had currency with the American people. I would also argue that arguments from the Swift Boat Vets were more legitimate than the attacks launched on McCain’s service. Kerry demonstrably threw his medals away, testified against fellow vets, hung out with Jane Fonda, and lied about being in Cambodia. Voters listened to those arguments and were swayed by them.
They’re unlikely to be swayed by the handful of Dems who, without the benefit of having served with McCain, nonetheless feel qualified to draw sweeping conclusions about his philosophy on war, connection to his culture, and even mental health, as a result of his imprisonment. Which makes one wonder why they heck they keep talking about it. It seems likely to backfire with just about everyone outside of Hyde Park. Just for fun, here’s Clark being asked why military experience was so all-fired important in 2004, and here’s Obama making sure to say that his comments about patriotism yesterday weren’t meant to be a response to Clark. He’s distancing himself from his own distancing, now! Meta-campaign!
