Monday, September 15, 2008

Unimaginative?   [Rich Lowry]

Ross faults the McCain campaign for its lack of imagination here. I think this is unfair. The celeb ad was a very creative—brilliant even—approach. It was obvious that McCain had to go negative against Obama; it wasn't obvious that the way to do it was by puffing up his celebrity. "The One" web videos were funny and different. The Palin pick and the non-partisan convention speech were both creative (the former looks at this juncture to have been positively inspired; the latter not so much so, but effective all the same). Ross gives the McCain campaign these two, but dismisses them as a "brief burst of risk-taking and creativity." But the VP pick and convention speech are the most important events of the campaign until the debates. Not minor matters. Then, realizing the incredible impact she was having, the campaign called an audible, as Palin would put it, and kept her campaigning jointly with McCain—a non-traditional move that attracted some negative notice from the press. And it certainly wasn't typical Republican politics to play the PC victim card during the "lipstick on a pig" controversy (but, hey, creativity has its downsides). 

Ross cites Palin's talking points in her ABC interview, but even here, I think the McCain campaign deserves a pass. She has to go from 0-to-60 on foreign policy and is going to have to lean on talking points for a while. I think what gives the McCain campaign a (deceptively) unimaginative air is its bull-dog tenacity and it's comfort on attack. That might not be to everyone's taste, but in this kind of media environment is absolutely necessary. If this campaign were being run with one eye on what the New York Times is saying, it'd be hopeless. Instead, it's mid-September and McCain has a very narrow lead.

09/15 05:30 PMShare