Obama looking Tired, McCain Energized
Given that at least one of three television monitors in front of the cardio machines at my gym is usually turned to a news channel at any given times, my workouts have become a great window into the presidential election campaign. At present, I get the better part of my news from the web, so seeing TV coverage offers me a different perspective.
Not just that. If I watch the news at home, I usually watch FoxNews. At the gym (it’s in Hollywood), they usually show MSNBC and CNN. And yesterday on CNN, they showed clips of John McCain and Barack Obama at their various campaign rallies. What struck me was that in the images they selected Obama, the younger of the two, looked tired, despondent, McCain the older, looked awake and energized.
(Reminded me in some ways of the contrast between Gorbachev and Reagan at their first summit in 1985. Â The older man seemed the more youthful of the two.)
I’m not the only one to notice. Over at Townhall, Matt Lewis contends that “Obama’s recent series of bad decisions and costly gaffes is largely due to fatigue.” Writing about the lipstick comment Jennifer Rubin agrees, “Obama appears to be crumbling under pressure, reduced to swinging away at the person who has supplanted him as the political star of the Election.”
It seems the Democrats were caught off-guard by McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate and how well she has been received by the American people while being savaged in the media. If Obama crumbles so easily in the face of an unforeseen political setback, how will he hold up when facing an unexpected foreign policy crisis should he win election this fall?
UPDATE: Â Mark Hemingway agrees with me about McCain:
Far from being outshone, McCain is really, really enjoying the energy Palin has brought in. When he mentioned her in his remarks and the crowd just started chanting “Sarah! Sarah!” he just began beeming and he began waving his arms like he was conducting to the crowd. Last time I saw McCain this close and personal was in January when I was on the Straight Talk Express just before the Michigan primary (which he lost). He was still feisty then, but also obviously weary. Today he looked born anew.
8 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Obama’s never run for election against a tough Republican challenger before. The toughest he had was Hillary, and she couldn’t challenge him too much because their positions were more or less identical.
Comment by V the K — September 10, 2008 @ 4:06 pm - September 10, 2008
Many people said during the Democrat primaries that there wasn’t much difference in the positions of Hills and Barack. It was a fight of personalities more than anything. They agreed on most everything. There are stark differences now between conservatives Mac Palin and the most liberal Senator in the Congress. He now needs to keep the differences in mind and be aware of policy questions as well. If he is tired, didn’t he just get back from a Hawaii vacation at a posh resort? Or was it a donors “compound”. Today I heard that Obama has never really had to run a full campaign against any oppponent. They either self destructed with personal scandals or his party cleared the field for him. I hope he doesn’t feel “entitled” to the Presidency.
Comment by Gene in Pennsylvania — September 10, 2008 @ 5:09 pm - September 10, 2008
And lets not forget, Hillary couldn’t run as hard against him as she would have liked too. She was getting dogged on by the party members and media, she was handicapped in what she could do against him. She was getting attacked for “Karl Rove” tactics because of her pointing out that he lacks experience.
Its just burn out, there’s all there is too it.Obama has been campaigning for what seems like forever now, before the primaries, during the primary, and now into the general election. McCain did get a few months to rest and prepare for this final push, and he’s done with situations much more dire. I think Democrats in general are started to get worn out, how long can you keep up excitement and the level of passion that we have seen all through the primaries and before.
Republicans are going to be fresher going into the end, could help push McCain over the top.
Comment by Darkeyedresolve — September 10, 2008 @ 5:09 pm - September 10, 2008
V the K, true, but also Sen. Clinton couldn’t handle him because of her husband’s own shortcomings on terrorism (including the pardons he handed out), her mendacity with regard to getting shot at in the Balkans, her campaign’s overconfidence early on, and the general way in which she polarizes people. Plus, there was the media that had turned on her; some days, coverage of her was so unfair you almost had to wonder if she was now a Republican. Even then, Sen. Obama barely held on. His victory over Sen. Clinton was an impressive feat, but Hillary and her campaign were pretty inconsistent in their strength.
Dan, I know Michael Medved has made this same point a number of times, going back a few months. He has talked about how Sen. Obama, not Sen. McCain, was the one complaining about being tired. No doubt, Democrats would like to think this election is like ’96, where a still youthful Bill Clinton was running against Bob Dole, who often showed his age. So far though, no matter how awesome Sen. Obama may be on the basketball court, he seems to tire more easily while campaigning than his much older rival. And no doubt, it’s only gotten worse since Sarah Palin started taking over his dreams in a way reminiscent of Freddy Krueger.
Comment by cme — September 10, 2008 @ 5:12 pm - September 10, 2008
All good points, but the main thing is, Obama has had it easy. He’s never had a hard campaign for political office. He had so much fundraising that he didn’t have to make hard decisions about using resources. He had the mainstream media working as his unpaid PR firm, and covering his gaffes and weaknesses. He was a hothouse flower, a mama’s boy.
Plus, his whole campaign is based on “I’m not Bush.” Which is enough for Democrats, but the rest of the country wants to know, “Well, then, who are you?” He didn’t have an answer, so McPalin filled in the blanks… celebrity, wannabe messiah, community organizer. Now he’s trying to define McPalin as Bush, because he can’t define himself as anything other than “Not Bush.”
Comment by V the K — September 10, 2008 @ 5:22 pm - September 10, 2008
The Obama defeat will be set after the first presidential debate. Long on words, short on substance. Even the media won’t be able to protect him! Obama will O-bomb.
Comment by epb — September 10, 2008 @ 6:28 pm - September 10, 2008
Obama’s remark “Lipstick on a Pig”, gaff or calculated?
Only if you believe Barrack Obama is a gifted orator who knows how to play to an audience, would you be offended by a remark that seemingly jabs Sarah Palin?
You would also have to know the street use of this term, analogous to putting a paper bag over a woman’s head before sexual intercourse.
Comment by Vic — September 11, 2008 @ 7:01 am - September 11, 2008
#7 – “You would also have to know the street use of this term, analogous to putting a paper bag over a woman’s head before sexual intercourse.”
Actually, Vic, I did not know that. Thanks for the info.
And to be quite frank – as a gay man, I never had to worry about the paper-bag scenario. I just told the guy to lie face-down on the bed.
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — September 11, 2008 @ 10:11 pm - September 11, 2008