If nothing else, John McCain has cajones. On the very day the McCain campaign announced its rhetorically-challenged man would deliver likely the shortest acceptance speech in modern American political history at the upcoming Republican National Convention, McCain took to the airwaves to mock Barack Obama's stirring oratory.
As the Washington Post reported Saturday morning, McCain's appearance before assembled GOP faithful in Minnesota may resemble a political drive-by:
The speech as written runs roughly 21 minutes, but it could end up being even shorter, because McCain is not a fan of lengthy speeches, aides to the candidate said.
As his recent history shows, McCain's aversion is well-founded. His bumbling celebratory remarks on the night of the New Hampshire primary almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. McCain's now-legendary June 3 "green screen" speech, designed to steal the limelight from Barack Obama's capture of the Democratic nomination, was a rhetorical train-wreck at best, a political Hiddenburg at worst. In Sturgis, South Dakota this week, McCain stumbled over the price of gas even as he offered up his wife for the Miss Buffalo Chip contest. And in Jackson, Ohio Friday, the absentee Senator McCain mysteriously promised that as President, he'd call the now adjourned Congress back into session over the energy issue.
(For more from McCain's oratory hall of shame, see TPM's video montage above.)
But in his radio address today, John McCain showed not humility about his oratorical dysfunction, but instead a severe case of podium envy. No doubt, Sigmund Freud would have a field day with McCain's mockery of Obama's gift for oratory:
"But even the most stirring speeches are easily forgotten when they're short on content. Taking in my opponent's performances is a little like watching a big summer blockbuster, and an hour in, realizing that all the best scenes were in the trailer you saw last fall. In the way of running mates, Sen. Obama should consider someone with a knack for brevity and directness, to balance the ticket.
In the meantime, let me take a stab at a plot summary of the Obama campaign: America is finally winning in Iraq, and he wants to forfeit. Government is too big, and he wants to grow it. Taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. Congress spends too much, and he proposes more. We need more energy, and he's against producing it."
McCain's effort to belittle one of Barack Obama's greatest strengths is hardly unexpected. It's a page right out of the textbook for Political Strategy 101. And more to the point, McCain's childish taunts are in keeping with the petty mean-spiritedness which now defines his campaign.
And, to quote John McCain from his June 3 disaster, "that's not change we can believe in."
