This is the first in a four part series — my reaction to each of the opinion pieces the candidates write for The DP and finally my reaction to The DP’s endorsement. I write purely critiquing each candidate’s piece, and not from my own political point of view.
Today I cover yesterday’s piece by Senator John McCain.
To call this editorial a poor piece of electioneering would be generous. At absolutely no point does he actually say why people should vote for him to be president. The entire piece is a commentary of youth involvement in politics, and how amazed he is by it. Then again, he doesn’t need to win anything til November so I guess his campaign doesn’t really care very much about this article.
It shows.
At one point, he states that his daughter, Meghan “is proving that young people are participating in the political process without losing their sense of self and authenticity.”
No, Senator, while your daughter is our age and it is admirable that she is campaigning for her dad, young people are proving that young people are participating in the political process.
Does he really need his daughter to tell him what is plainly evident?
Simply proving a connection with your daughter does not make more young people connect to you. I would assume we young people expect that from fathers anyway. And using such a tactic is as see-through as it is patronizing.
Oh, and ending the article with,
“I work to address their concerns while remaining true to myself and ideals, or in Meghan’s words, “keeping it real.”
marks the Senator out as old. Using one phrase that he implicitly admits he finds “new-fangled” but is nevertheless not in general use marks him as outdated. Using a phrase invented after 1950 doesn’t necessarily make us forget you are 71 years old.
While I can in no way substantiate this, the inclusion of “keep it real” probably comes from McCain campaign officials who think we still use the phrase as often as we use “chillax”, and not from Ms. McCain.
I’m not saying old is a bad thing, especially in Senator McCain’s case. He is certainly an experienced, capable candidate who outwardly appears to be in good health.
But if you are trying to connect with the youth, that last line is catastrophically bad. And I would still appreciate a few reasons why the youth should vote for him, and not just an article telling us what we already know — that we are involved and that we care. This was not the Straight Talk Express.
Tags: John McCain
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April 15th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Are you kidding? These guys are writing in the DP? I’ve never been so proud.
I think McCain was diplomatically speaking against a downside to the “Obamamania” phenomenon - namely, that people are incredibly excited over his personality and abstract ideals like hope and change, much more so than specific issues.
He was trying to tell us that we’re smarter and better than buying into style over substance on such an important thing.
And he does tell us one reason why we should vote for him - he says he will be a “leader who will ask something of” us, calling us to service.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Check out the recent GQ profile of Meghan McCain…she’s quoted as saying Mitt Romney “didn’t keep it real”