Up until today, the campaigns of McCain and Obama have avoided a major conflict, in part because of the attention focused on flooding in the Midwest. (Donate here)
Thus far, the campaigns have conflicted on the proposed town halls, gas policy (Carter's 2nd term versus Bush's 3rd), taxation, the Supreme Court ruling, Obama's VP vetter, and the "9/10 mindset."
However, this story is different for a few reasons.
First, Obama clearly didn't fulfill his promise to sit down with McCain. There's nothing unusual about that in the context of Washington promises, but Obama's narrative is built in part on a rejection of the "old politics." Stories get more play if they augment or work against the narrative; that's why the fist bump was so widely covered as a showcase of his youth.
Second, the two campaigns seem to be in a fundamental disagreement about the facts, represented in the arguments between Bob Bauer and Trevor Potter. This disagreement extends to the question of if Obama broke his word by refusing public money, something that I believe he did not, but can understand the room for various interpretations.
Third, this is a part of the McCain reformer narrative, and his extensive work with Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform. McCain's past makes this a viable issue, and because the DNC is suing McCain for violating public financing rules in the primary, this story will likely crop up again as discussion ensues on what this decision means about Obama, be he dealbreaker, reformer, or pragmatist.
As already mentioned here, Obama rolled out a new ad today; it will be interesting to see the story and the ad in future polling trends. If Obama got a post primary bump, an AP analysis that begins "Barack Obama chose winning over his word" might be the thing to end it.
|
|
|
Permalink :: 10 Comments :: Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.
