Didn’t anyone else raise an eyebrow on this one?
I did. I found it wierd and a bit out of place when McCain announced he HE was sending a delegation to Georgia. I thought first to myself, isn’t he only a senator. Then I said obviously it is an election year. Then I looked at Chimpy McFlag at the Olympics and said, well Maverific is taking charge. Seemed odd to me though. Sort of stepped up to the plate when the bases were loaded and it wasn’t his turn at bat.
Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.
I’m no tough guy blogger that challenges other bloggers to fights but my “this seems out of line” radar did ping a little.
Asked about his tough rhetoric on the ongoing conflict in Georgia, McCain began: “If I may be so bold, there was another president . . .”
WOW. Projecting a little are we Mr. President?
The extent of McCain’s involvement in the military conflict in Georgia appears remarkable among presidential candidates, who traditionally have kept some distance from unfolding crises out of deference to whoever is occupying the White House.
“We talk about how there’s only one president at a time, so the idea that you would send your own emissaries and really interfere with the process is remarkable,” said Lawrence Korb, a Reagan Defense Department official who now acts as an informal adviser to the Obama campaign. “It’s very risky and can send mixed messages to foreign governments. . . . They accused Obama of being presumptuous, but he didn’t do anything close to this.”
What a joke.
Switch the name McCain to Obama and what do you think you’d get?
Pandora is right. If Obama did this, the traditional media would explode. It would be a campaign-ending misstep. Dukakis in a tank photo on steroids.
Actually, we already got that here, Pandora. I believe there have already been several posts here by jason (I think it was jason) praising Obama for conducting himself as “the acting President.” Several of the posts even bear that term in the title. They all speak in glowing terms of Obama sending world leaders a message: just wait for November and then January and I’ll put things right, guys.
It is inappropriate for either candidate to do it.
I will observe, however, that McCain’s actions in this particular instance are at least two steps beyond those of Obama. Obama only sent campaign reps to Canada to tell them to ignore his NAFTA rhetoric; McCain is attempting to conduct American foreign policy.
If I objected to it when Jesse Jackson did it, or when Nancy Pelosi does it, I have to condemn McCain for it as well.
Although to be honest, part of me suspects that both Barack Obama and John McCain originally knew so little about Georgia and South Ossetia that they figured the biggest danger of Russian action there would be a postponement of the Braves’ game.
The Atlanta Braves, or the Ossetia braves?
OMG!
I will observe, however, that McCain’s actions in this particular instance are at least two steps beyond those of Obama.
The equalizer just surprised me.
One guy called himself the president the other guy acted presidential…