Four days ago, the WaPo’s David Broder argued very awkwardly that “the tone and direction” of the presidential campaign has been needlessly hostile, and attributed it to the lack of debates between John McCain and Barack Obama. “Since the idea of joint town meetings was scrapped, the campaign has featured tough and often negative ads and speeches,” Broder said. Quoting McCain, Broder added that if the two candidates met more often, they would “improve the relationship,” and there would necessarily have a more positive race.
I didn’t find this argument especially compelling, which is to say, it struck me as pure nonsense. I was a little surprised, then, to see Broder return to the exact same point today. (Yes, Broder made the identical arguments in two separate Washington Post columns running just a few days from each other. Perhaps he couldn’t think of anything new to write about.)
No one else can lift this campaign out of the gutter, but these two are still capable of giving the country the kind of contest voters deserve — if they can build a little mutual trust.
McCain’s offer of weekly joint town meetings still stands. It is not too late for Obama to change his mind and take up this historic offer.
I haven’t the foggiest idea what David Broder is talking about. To hear him tell it, the only way for the presidential campaign to be respectful and substantive is for McCain to get to know Obama better by sharing a stage and arguing with him.
Broder has been around quite a while, and has seen more than his share of candidates and presidential campaigns. He has to realize how foolish this sounds.
First, whether McCain runs a relentlessly negative, substance-free campaign has nothing to do with his proposal for extra debates. If McCain wanted to be an honorable candidate, he could be an honorable candidate, whether his opponent is a Senate colleague or a total stranger. Building a rapport is not a prerequisite for honest campaigning — character and integrity are prerequisites for honest campaigning.
As far as Broder is concerned, McCain has something of an excuse — McCain is running an ugly and deceptive campaign, but that’s okay because he just hasn’t gotten to know Obama very well. In fact, as Broder tells it, this is Obama’s fault — if he’d only agree to 15 town-hall debates like McCain wanted, McCain wouldn’t have to be such a persistently repugnant candidate. This is sheer nonsense.
Second, the notion that McCain is more inclined to show decency when he knows a rival is demonstrably ridiculous. McCain has gotten to know many of his Senate colleagues very well, but that’s never stopped him from screaming obscenities at them if they dare to challenge McCain on a policy matter. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, one of John McCain’s conservative Republican colleagues and a man who’s worked with McCain for years, recently said, “The thought of him being president sends a cold chill down my spine,” Cochran said. “He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.” Broder argues that McCain would be more pleasant to Cochran if they spent time together. Well, they have spent time together, and Cochran thinks McCain isn’t entirely stable.
And third, I’m not sure if Broder was following the presidential campaign earlier this year, but McCain participated in all kinds of debates with Mitt Romney — but it didn’t have the slightest impact on the “tone and direction” of the nasty campaign between the two.
When Broder pressed the point with Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee responded, “I think the notion that somehow as a consequence of not having joint appearances, Senator McCain felt obliged to suggest that I’d rather lose a war to win a campaign doesn’t automatically follow. I think we each have control over ourselves and our campaigns, and we have to take responsibility for that.”
That should have resolved the issue, but Broder is being deliberately dense.
If McCain wanted to run a substantive, grown-up campaign, he could. Whether there are three debates or 300 is irrelevant. It’s not like McCain and Steve Schmidt got together one day on Cindy McCain’s private jet and said, “Well, I wasn’t going to accuse Obama of wanting to lose a war and of being responsible for high gas prices, but since there are only going to be three debates, we might as well.”