From Sen. Obama's speech this morning to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, Florida:
Yesterday, Senator McCain came before you. He is a man who has served this nation honorably, and he correctly stated that one of the chief criteria for the American people in this election is going to be who can exercise the best judgment as Commander in Chief. But instead of just offering policy answers, he turned to a typical laundry list of political attacks. He said that I have changed my position on Iraq when I have not. He said that I am for a path of "retreat and failure." And he declared, "Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president" - suggesting, as he has so many times, that I put personal ambition before my country.That is John McCain's prerogative. He can run that kind of campaign, and - frankly - that's how political campaigns have been run in recent years. But I believe the American people are better than that. I believe that this defining moment demands something more of us.
If we think that we can secure our country by just talking tough without acting tough and smart, then we will misunderstand this moment and miss its opportunities. If we think that we can use the same partisan playbook where we just challenge our opponent's patriotism to win an election, then the American people will lose. The times are too serious for this kind of politics. The calamity left behind by the last eight years is too great.
Essentially, John McCain has been suggesting that Barack Obama would have us lose a war just so he can be president. As TPM Election Central points out:
Here you have the Roveian strategy at its most naked: Keep repeating that your opponent's strong point -- his judgment in opposing the war, something that majorities agree was a bad idea -- is a negative.Also, it bears repeating that here McCain is basically accusing Obama of treason...
Not only is John McCain no Teddy Roosevelt, as Bob Herbert points out this morning in the New York Times, he's also no John McCain. At least, he's not the John McCain of 2000, having sacrificed all his integrity and supposed "independence" in order to: a) win the Republican nomination; and b) win the White House. We'll see if it works, but hopefully the American people will see right through this. On second thought, wasn't that the theory in 2004 as well? Ugh.