Prior to this protracted campaign, I would have thought that this election would hinge on George Bush’s support base. If the Republican Candidate could hold onto it, he/she would win. If not, the Democratic Candidate would win. That’s not how it has played out at all [confirming my non-pundit status]. It seems to me thatBarack Obama is going to win the election, but the choice is being made based on grammar – parts of speech. What I mean by that is simple. John McCain has all the right adjectives – heroic military service, Republican, a long Congressional Career, conservative political values. Obama is challenged in the adjectival area – black, young, political newcomer, Democrat, liberal, etc. But Barack Obama is one hell of a noun. He talks and acts like the President we need – and it’s genuine. When he speaks, we don’t try to guess which adviser suggested this line or that like we do with McCain or Palin. We think that Obama is saying what Obama thinks. Whatever the meaning is of the noun President – he fits that meaning. It’s not just his platform, or his rhetoric – it’s him. The Republicans can make all the fun of that they want to, but come November 4th, they’re likely to eat their words…
I’ve been thinking about the same point but hadn’t found a way to express it, as you do here. I never doubt that Obama is speaking what he believes. I never believe that McCain is speaking what he believes. It’s hard-wired into their personalities and their campaigns. Obama is authentic; McCain is whatever might work that day.
Just read a blurb about Palin saying “those clothes don’t belong to me; they will be donated.” And then it quoted a ‘senior adviser’ from McCain’s campaign saying “those were not the remarks we sent to her plane this morning.” This was one example of how she’s not minding her handlers.
In other words, each day they tell her what to say.