As Thomas Friedeman might say, Yikes, Yikes, Yikes!
Moran is spooked. Many others who should know better are spooked. After McCain’s sickly-green-background-speech the night Obama passed Hillary and crawled across the finish line, Brit Hume looked like he swallowed a toad.
Hopefully there are more stalwart, less easily panicked men in the Republican party. And more media savvy than the amateurs who prepared McCain for that first speech of the McCain vs Obama contest.
Its a tough contest. Obama is young, fashionable and well financed. All he lacks is substance. McCain is old, old fashioned and his war chest won’t allow him to spend like a drunken sailor.
But he has substance aplenty.
The Republicans have the goods, they only have to improve the presentation. The challenge for the democrats is precisely the opposite.
Telegenics have trumped substance in American politics since the Kennedy-Nixon debates. But Barack Obama, for all his practiced Kennedyesque mannerisms is no Kennedy. And John McCain, a maverick noted for his independence and honesty, is no Nixon.
For the telejournalists from whom Americans get most of their news and opinion, cosmetics and appearance are paramount–the key to professional success. They’re in showbiz and Obama sure looks and sounds better than McCain.
But Obama isn’t running for network anchor or talk-show host or American Idol.
My bet is that the American people are smarter than the shallow pretty people with the authoritative voices who feed them news and opinion twenty-four hours a day.
McCain has far more in common with most ordinary Americans voters than Obama. His character is proven and his accomplishments genuinely inspiring. Obama is an empty suit with a shady past.
The republicans need to get over their early campaign jitters, form up solidly behind their candidate and make his case to the public. The goods are there. What is mainly required is better packaging.
