McCain Channels Nixon

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 4:03 AM on July 28, 2008.

In true Nixonian fashion, McCain ramps up the politics of resentment:

In his weekly radio address, McCain said, "this week the presidential contest was a long-distance affair, with my opponent touring various continents and arriving yesterday in Paris. With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to 'the people of the world,' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too."

This is classic Orthogonian rhetoric (those of you who've read Nixonland will know what that means.) And it works on many levels. First, he's tweaking the "breathless" press, who are responding predictably, judging from the headlines I'm seeing this morning: Obama Disputes He's on a 'Premature Victory Lap'.

Second he's saying that Obama is more interested in "others" than he is Real Americans. Typical elite. Uppity at that. It's hard to know if this approach will work, but it makesa certain amount of sense for Republicans. People are in a sour mood. They want to blame somebody. Why not a young, black guy? Not much a stretch for a lot of these folks.

The good news is that Obama has probably done all he can to show that he looks presidential --- an extremely important thing to the Village media --- and can now come back and enlarge the agenda. Iraq and Afghanistan are important, but I don't think this election will be fought on foreign policy turf --- at least I hope not. I suspect that is where Obama's heart really lies, and I'm not arguing that it shouldn't. But my sense is that people are really concerned about domestic issues (some of which do relate to foreign policy, like energy.) Democrats have a lot more to offer -- and speak the right language of economic angst --- and should be able to control the agenda at a time like this. Foreign policy and national security must be dealt with, but this is one time when the domestic agenda should be front and center and Obama should be able to capitalize on that.

I'm glad the trip produced some good stories and memorable images. But I'm also glad it's over. Obama needs to shift this election on to domestic ground. The Republicans have got nothing to offer but tax cuts for rich people and I don't think that's going to cut it this time. There's no reason to be playing on John McCain's field.

Even if he is muddled and confused and highly overrated, people still seem to think he knows something about national security. But I don't think anyone thinks he has a clue about domestic issues. He can only rely on the old fashioned conservative politics of resentment and that doesn't play to his strength as a maverick "man of honor." It just makes him look like a mean old man and that's not a winning image, even for Republicans, who are all mean old men at heart.

Tagged as: obama, nixon, mccain, nixonland

Digby is the proprietor of Hullabaloo.