McCain rolls the dice with Gov. Sarah Palin as V.P. Candidate
Dr. Sherman N. Miller
8/30/2008
In performing reverse engineering on Senator John McCain’s Presidential
bid to date, it suggests that his team had a strategic objective to seek
opportunities to turn the Democratic Party Presidential nominee Barack
Obama’s personal assets against him and avoid discussions of the poor
economy, no health care for millions of people, jobs being exported to
foreign nations, four dollar per gallon of gasoline, and so on or argue
they are the results of Democratic Party Congressional Office holders’
inaction. Hence, this strategic
objective evolved into tactical objectives we see on the evening news.
Let us summarize some of these tactical objectives:
1.
Discount Obama’s white heritage while subtly exploiting yesteryears
anti-black fervor to pique yesterday’s fears of black males lusting
white women. The McCain television advertisement with Obama’s face
silhouetted between two young white ladies was an excellent piece of
yesteryear’s racist propaganda for it reminded white women over sixty
that here is a black man committing the mortal sin of suggesting the
legitimacy of race mixing.
2.
Ignore Obama’s white mother’s love of her child and providing for his
development in any public discourse and also discount Obama’s white
grandparents’ Herculean role in his upbringing. The impact of Obama’s
mother and grandparents was highlighted during the Democratic Convention
which offered legitimacy to his white parentage role in not teaching him
the woe-is-me mindset of many civil rights era operatives. Obama morphed
into an African American who was taught to think with a mainstream
mindset comparable to what one finds with African immigrants from
nations where Blacks control the government. Obama’s white uncle was
also a guest at the Democratic Convention clearly showing that his white
parentage is proud of his accomplishment.
3.
Look for subtle opportunities to foster feelings that Obama is not black
enough to be acceptable to yesteryear’s black civil rights leaders.
a.
Obama managed to circumvent the need for approval of yesteryear’s black
civil rights leadership because he is seen as living proof of the Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. legacy. Black politicians learned they must fall
in line behind Obama or lose their elective office in predominantly
black districts.
b.
The black community welcomes mixed race people because we are aware of
yesterday’s racist “one drop rule” that said that any black parentage no
matter how far back still made one black even though he may be mulatto,
quadroon, octoroon, and so on.
4.
Create a quasi atmosphere that encourages right wing talking heads in
the media to make Draconian cases against Obama for they fear losing
their media power with the emergence of liberal competitors for the
nation’s airways.
a.
This unleashes a potent media force acting to vilify Obama at every
juncture without party control. This scenario offers the Republican
Party the ability to drop any of these people under the bus if their
actions become controversial.
b.
Talking heads (Russ Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and so on) become de facto
Ku Klux Klan operatives who are free to act without impunity. These
media forays earned the Dr. Joseph Goebbels Propaganda award for an
Obama media lynching campaign by one of these right wing talking heads.
5.
Vilify Obama’s ability as an international celebrity. Run advertisements
suggesting Obama’s global appeal is nothing more than his being viewed
like any other rock star while overtly questioning his leadership
readiness. Obama’s historic acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic
Party Convention was made live in front of 84 thousand people and viewed
by another 40 million on television which legitimated his celebrity
power in front of American voters.
6.
Question Michelle Obama’s readiness to be First Lady because she allowed
her excitement on the progress of the campaign to shine through
suggesting that she was proud of the US for surpassing yesteryear’s
overbearing racist enchantment in the economic mainstream. Michelle
Obama elevated her stature in her brilliant speech at the Democratic
Convention where she defined her husband for the nation. She came across
as a lady of great wisdom and a true asset to her husband on par with
Senator Hillary Clinton.
7.
Vilify Obama’s relative youth as too immature for the Presidency
suggesting that he may be popular but he is not ready to lead. Bill
Clinton, as the last successful living President, anointed Obama, saying
he is ready to hold the position. History reveals Obama’s experience
level is comparable to the Greatest Republican President, Abraham
Lincoln.
8.
Embarrass Obama into accepting public financing to limit severely his
overwhelming fundraising capability from non-fat cats. Obama did not
accept public financing, so he has more than enough funds to fight the
McCain election team and the devious antics of independent right wing
operatives. McCain must feel stress each time he considers that Obama’s
small amount fundraising style comes replete with a potential vote with
each small donation and a de facto Election Day voter turnout
organization also is taking shape.
9.
Deny Obama any opportunity to end the Democratic Party primaries early
in the process where surrogates can urge Republicans to crossover and
vote for Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton’s campaign identified 18
million potential voters and it forced Obama to have a campaign
organization in all 50 states that demonstrated its capability to win
the final prize in a highly contested campaign.
10.
Sabotage potential unity of Clinton and Obama voters after completion of
Democratic Primaries to pick up disgruntle female voters. Hillary
Clinton led an effort to get Obama voted in successfully as Presidential
nominee by an acclamation vote and made clear that she is working hard
to help him win the Presidency.
If we take a holistic look at these
Republican tactical objectives, we conclude that so far the McCain
strategists have underestimated the wisdom in the Obama camp. They
appear to have forgotten one of the teachings of the Great Chinese War
Philosopher Sun Tzu. “When you are ignorant of the enemy but know
yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.” It is clear that
McCain’s strategic direction was flawed and it needed a radical shift in
focus.
McCain must have concluded that all of
the issues they were attempting to exploit to vilify Obama were not
resonating with the general public. He had to accept defeat in November
or make a paradigm shift in direction because Obama is running a
campaign that does not follow yesterday’s political axioms. McCain
realized that Obama’s characteristics that they were attempting to
malign that the public sees as assets, hence, he pulled his head out of
the sand and followed the old adage, “if you can not beat them, join
them.”
Thus, McCain skipped over all of the
staid Vice Presidential hopefuls anointed in the media to pick an
unknown with an experience level below Obama. The symbolic message of a
one-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, with less than two years
experience in office, suggests McCain has come to accept that
ballyhooing about his great experience in the midst of an economic
downturn might be a bit far fetched. My guess is that if Hillary Clinton
continues to work closely with Obama McCain may find that his new roll
of the dice with Palin may be a crap-out.
