Am I the only Obama supporter who doesn't care that McCain can't remember how many houses he owns? Again, I'm not an undecided. I guess there is a swath of them who find this offensive, and maybe there's a way to put this to use. I'm really not seeing it though.
Also, I know we're heavy on Obama today, but come on. I gave you some Robotech. Robotech.
UPDATE: For the record, I may be off the mark on this--as it looks like I was about the elitist ad. I just don't much care for this whether it's Dems or the GOP. But I'm not the target voter either.
UPDATE to the UPDATE: Here's the ad. Props to the commenter below.
UPDATE #3: Obama on the stump hammering the point.Looks a little uncomfortable to me.
UPDATE #4: Ok, Ok, I give. It's Karl Rove's world--I'm just blogging in it.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
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This isn't about how many houses he has, but how out of touch he is.
Yeah, sorry, I think you're wrong here. McCain's lack of awareness about his own wealth (earned or not) is diametrically opposed to his assertion that Obama as an out-of-touch, in it for himself celebrity cream puff.
The GOP has always been hypocritical about calling others elitists. But they rarely go off message and expose themselves as such. They deserve to be hung out to dry on this issue of class and status.
It's not important as an issue, but it matters in a tactical sense. McCain has pulled the "elitist" card on Obama, and there's some evidence that it's working. The fact that the GOP successfully defined Gore and Kerry using similar tactics is cause for concern. So a short sound byte that reveals McCain as an elitist himself (I don't like using that term, but I didn't make the rules) or, more importantly, an insincere hypocrite, will help Obama counter that.
You're right, it's small ball and Obama shouldn't touch it. But McCain just shot himself in the foot and the surrogates should do what they can to keep that quote in the media.
Well, in a perfect world it would not matter.
But considering the fact Obama buys arugula is now common knowledge, I think it is only karma/glasshouse for the Democrats to pound HARD on it.
And the difference between Obama and McCain is that Obama's supposed elitism does not impact the generosity of his policies.
McCain's wealth actually impacts his tax plans and views on the economy because he just does not seem to realize what's up.
Obama's clearly back from vacation and ready to take the gloves off. He is already using the McCain gaffe in an ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpmFd25tRqo
It wouldn't change who I vote for, but I'm glad that Obama isn't going to let a man who has lived a life of massive privilege for decades paint him as the one who's out of touch with the economic concerns of regular Americans. Both of these guys are Senators who are somewhat divorced from the workaday lives of most people, and both of them pretend that they're not. Both may as well point out the absurdity of the other guy doing so as well.
Yeah, as you can see I'm conflicted on this. OK, so you've made your point on tactics. But will it really work? People don't think Obama is an elitist because he has more, but because he's been portrayed as acting as if he knows more.. Will the wealth former POW John McCain be resented by most voters? Even if he can't account for all of it?
1. Mother Teresa personally convinced Cindy McCain to adopt her daughter.
2. The Virgin Mary personally convinced John McCain to leave his first wife for his young mistress.
3. The Apostle Paul personally convinced John McCain to dry hump Dumbya Bush in that now-famous "hug" photo.
4. Quetzalcoatl personally convinced John McCain to abandon his so-called principles and support the continuation of torture.
5. Thor, god of thunder, personally convinced John McCain that he should start a War Against Evil.
McCain's inability to "remember" how many homes/condos he and Cindy own stuck in MY craw...and I don't think I am the target audience either. I have always been for Obama.
Yet...
I am one of those Americans who, in spite of working two jobs, go from paycheck to paycheck trying to raise my 3 kids and make ends meet.
I am insulted by someone who
can't remember how many houses he owns
carries 6 figure credit card balances
can't remember how to check out at a grocery store
spends a ton o money a month for the STAFF of the homes he owns
flies around on his wife's foreign jet
and
wants to spare those like HIM further tax burdens.
I love your ideas. I think you need to get an editor to look at your posts before you submit them. Several errors in spelling. Not what you need "coming out of the gate."
I think this has teeth on two fronts: 1) McCain is so rich he can't even keep track of how rich; 2) the age and confusion thing.
On the first, I don't think the "McCain has money! He wears expensive shoes!" thing has much sting--we're Americans, and we aspire to be rich, too. But losing track of how many homes you have--that seems like something Paris Hilton would say. Not only out of touch with people struggling to keep their one home, but a level of wealth most of us don't imagine for ourselves. Consider how many Americans would agree with the following:
a) I'd love to have a really nice house. (Goes with all those studies that people think twice what they earn now would be all the money they'd want.)
b) I'd love to have a nice vacation house. (See a.)
c) I'd love to have so much real estate I would lose track of it all? Just not what most of us aspire to.
On the latter point, McCain's frequent confusion needs to be an issue in this campaign. (Decouple it from his age--if he were 52 and kept mixing up Suni and Shia, and kept looking out of his depth when asked follow-up questions, and blanked on how many homes he owned, we'd be talking about it.) Everyone occasionally misspeaks, but he's done it so often that, yes, he seems not to be as strong mentally as the job will require.
T-NC...T-NC...
go back and take a look at presidential elections over the last genereation.
yes, in a better world, we would not give a hoot about nonsense like whether someone owned 7 homes or 4 homes or one home.
or whether they wore a flag pin.
or whether they wanted to personally flip the switch when the hypothetical, convicted murderer/rapist of their hypothetically-deceased wife was finally executed.
but this is america, 2008, and the republican party has made a living using trivial issues like this to make points that resonate emotionally with americans and then pounding those points to win elections.
unfortunately, this is the type of politics we have sunk to, and democrats have for too long, from mondale to dukakis to gore and kerry articulated exactly the attitude you just expressed, and we see what happened with them.
the only democrat who understood the benefit of exploiting small issues to pound home larger points was bill clinton, a master of that technique.
as i have written before, it is not a coincidence that he has been the most successful democratic politician over the last generation.
this IS a big deal, and obama should take this statement, combine it with phil gramm's statements and DRIVE the campaign dynamic and put and keep mccain on the defensive about the economy.
this is a gift from the gods.
No, I don't care either. But I care that other voters, who are currently struggling to keep up with their mortgages, might care. I also care that it puts a pretty nice hole through the "McCain is just like you and Obama is a liberal elitist" bullshit.
I don't think that, generally, Atlantic bloggers and Atlantic blog readers are the types of people who are targeted or affected by political ads. We are, in fact, the highest-information voters in the entire electorate, perhaps short of the 535 members of Congress (then again, perhaps not).
But I do like to see his campaign seizing on what is obviously a useful "gaffe". I'd rather gaffes weren't part of the game, but c'est la vie.
Nothing wrong with having money. But if the Republicans want to trot out the "elitist" attack, they need to be prepared for blowback when their candidate left his first wife for a younger, richer one, can't remember how many houses he owns, and professes that he either doesn't understand the economy or that its going along swimmingly.
TC,
You're missing the mark completely on this. The ad is brilliant. The message: McCain is completely out of touch. You can tell Obama hit a nerve if you read McCain's testy response to this ad.
Shorter:
McCain owns 7 houses is not a successful attack.
McCain can't remember how many houses he owns is.
Frankie D is right--put this with Gramm's comments about whiners to drive home a key Democratic theme: McCain's economic policies are those of people who are completely out of touch with your economic concerns. People who don't think there are any economic problems except lack of faith in the economy. Clinton was good at it--as Frankie D says, a short personal story that illustrates the larger point.
On veepstakes someone, I think it was Silver, commented on Schweitzer that one of his greatest gifts was the ability to come up with short, memorable takes on his policies. "My approach to gun control is that you control your gun and I'll control my gun." People remembered it, and could explain to others what Schweitzer's position on gun control, and other issues, was. Schweitzer's a long shot but he'd be a great pick. Even if he's not, the jab "Do you want to vote for someone who can't even remember how many homes he owns?" is simple and memorable, in a way that "Do you want to vote for someone who owns expensive shoes" isn't.
you're right, he isn't really comfortable making this kind of attack. it's just not in his nature. he gets more into it as he goes along, but you can tell that it's simply something he does not relish doing.
on the other hand HILLARY takes to this kind of politics like a black lab - or a blond lab, as the case might me - to water.
she could eviscerate mccain using this same imformation. the fact that obama is not so good at this kind of attack, while hillary is great at it, is the strongest argument to be made for her candidacy.
(i hope this doesn't hijack the thread; don't mean to do so. just making a salient point, i think.)
I completely agree that Hillary would be great at making this type of attack. That is why I strongly encourage her to make it, as early and as often as possible. She does want Obama to win, doesn't she?
Exactly, like other posts have said, it's that he can't remember how many houses he has AND that he needs to ask his "staff" (let me check with my people and get back to you...) for the correct answer BUT the other guy is the out-of-touch elitist.
The Dems also need to take a page from the old Smith-Barney commercial:
"The Obamas'$4 million? They made it the old-fashioned way: THEY EARNED IT."
Cicero pointed out in the first century BC that Cato the Younger was ineffective as a politician because he spoke as if he lived in Plato's Republic rather than Romulus' shit-heap. Not much changes in politics. This is a good issue for Obama to go after, and in terms of what passes for debate these days, hardly a small deal. Besides, McCain has used the irrelevant issue of being a POW to gain credibility, and I don't see how that's any more serious than the issue of his houses, failing memory and ludicrous distortion of what it means to be wealthy in the USA.
Cut him some slack. I don't know how many homes *I* own. Let me ask the wife.
Hrm. Looks like 1.
Whats with this "more of the same" line. Its lame...its too vague.
Why not say "more politics as usual"
or better yet "more back room do nothing beauracracy" or "more you scratch my back and Ill scratch yours with the publics money - sorry middle america - I hope your back doesn't itch"
There has to be a more effective phrase. Maybe you can help find it.
BW wrote: "I love your ideas. I think you need to get an editor to look at your posts before you submit them. Several errors in spelling. Not what you need 'coming out of the gate.'"
As a snobby English Lit aficionado, I appreciate the idea. I have also noticed some grammatical errors and typos--incidentally, Yglesias is/ was also guilty. Even so, I'm not sure the benefit of perfect grammar is worth the cost of paying an editor especially considering the frequency and volume of blog posts.
There are different ways of being elitist, the stereotype of the Republican elitist is that he is someone who is so rich he is just a bit out of touch. He doesn't understand why people who aren't rich just don't work more or get a better job. (Sort of the Phil Gramm type thing about people whining)
The Democratic elitism is seen as the East Coast liberal lecturing on how stupid NASCAR and hunting are.
Republicans try to cover their elitism by sort of saying, So, I maybe be rich, but I like drinking beer, eating pork rinds, and country music.
So someone like John Kerry was perceived as an elitist on both accounts, he was very rich and he appeared condescending (at least to me). When he spoke, I got the Thurston Howell III vibe from him, which was probably more glaring when compared to Bush's huckleberry type delivery.
I think to have the elitist thing stick on Obama, they have to portray him as someone who is lecturing us on how to live or how we are. I think Obama took a hit on this when he said the thing about clinging to guns, but the attempt by McCain to ridicule him for the pump your tires advice pretty much backfired on McCain.
I believe the greater vulnerability for McCain on the out of touch message is not his housing situation (Dems declared housing a non-issue when it involved John Edwards), but to present McCain as someone who doesn't understand the plight of the economic casualties of the latest downturn and to contrast Obama's tax relief with McCain's.
On some level I don't care.
However, it can be an indicator of how little he seems to be involved in his own life. He looks like he puts a lot of the important stuff off for other people to take care of. Translate that to how he would run the country (a la Dubya and look how well that turned out). Seriously though, how much trouble is he looking to get into when he doesn't know something major about his own finances?
Second, the issue of owning multiple (by that I mean more than a main house and a vacation house) is good evidence to use against him when he tries that "I'm just a common man" theme (no matter how it is worded/portrayed). In this economy it won't play as well as it would have when times were good and people felt like the too could live a life where the had multiple houses.
Am I the only Obama supporter who doesn't care that McCain can't remember how many houses he owns?
Jeezus fucking Christ. The insanely rich bumbling motherfucker can't say how many houses he owns, then mumbles something about his people getting back with the answer. That ain't exactly, you know, Presidential Timber. Especially from Captain Straight Talk. Holy fuck, man: McCain can't say how many houses he owns! Apologies for the potty mouth, but good grief. McCain can't even ballpark it for us.
I'm voting for the guy who knows how many homes he owns.
The "out of touch" meme needs to be turned back on McCain. If all he's got is to attack Obama on the "elitist" thing and then he can't remember how many houses he owns, well, then the people who do care about things like this need to be reminded of it.
John McCain: Out of Touch with America.
Let's see: This afternoon McCain supporters have done "Rezko! Rezko! Rezko!", Michelle Obama on being proud of her country, and now they are channeling the Onion. Yeah, this hurt.
I agree this all fits into an "Out of Touch" narrative that attacks McCain while at the same time keeping the focus on the economy.
-Of course he doesn't think there is a housing crisis. He's got 7. The only housing crisis he has is that he can't remember all of them.
-Of course he doesnt think there is anything wrong with healthcare, he's had a government sponsored 100% covered health plan all his life. Its only a bad idea when proposed for everyone else.
-Of course he'd like to privatize social security, he won't need it. He married a heiress.
-Of course he wants to cut taxes, he'll get $300,000 back.
I don't think its attacking him for being rich; Its questioning whether or not it makes sense to let him lead on policymaking. I think as the economy gets worse and worse it will resonate.
I think this year is different. IMO, Dukakis,Gore, and Kerry lacked charisma. Dukakis was boring and lifeless, Gore was a know it all, and Kerry was aloof. Its my opinion. As much as it shouldnt matter as much a policy, it does. Everyone liked Clinton personally, even the Republicans. I think Obama has the same charisma.
Tom,
I think you're missing the subtle genius of the "more of the same" line. It's a subliminal branding tool. When read in context with the line above
John McCain
We can't afford more of the same
It invites the reader to make the rhyming connection branding McCain as McSame without actually saying it. Pretty Rovian, but good for them for starting to play hard.
Rafe wrote: Both of these guys are Senators who are somewhat divorced from the workaday lives of most people, and both of them pretend that they're not.
True, true. Anyone who makes enough money to put them in the top 1 percent of Americans could be called "divorced from the workaday lives of most people." I grew up with squat but now make a really good living and yeah, I'd say sometimes I forget how tough it can be.
But I get the impression Obama at least has some understanding of this whereas McCain has no basis in his background to even form such empathy. This is from "The Audacity of Hope":
"I know that as a consequence of my fund-raising I became more like the wealthy donors I met, in the very particular sense that I spent more of my time above the fray, outside the world of immediate hunger, disappointment, fear, irrationality, and frequent hardship of 99 percent of the population -- that is, the very people that I'd entered public life to serve. The longer you are a senator, the narrower the scope of your interactions. You may fight it, with town hall meetings and listening tours and stops by the old neighborhood. But your schedule dictates that you move in a different orbit than the people you represent."
A McCain spokesmoron actually came out and defended his owner by saying that 'this is a guy who only had one house for 5 1/2 years - when he was in prison.'
So Mother Teresa told Cindy she should buy all these houses...
The McCain gaffe about his homes offers multiple things to latch onto and be concerned with:
1) He's senile
2) He's out of touch, uncaring, blasé about money
3) It reminds people that he married up, he ditched his first wife, and he's married to an heiress and not just some regular women. Anybody care to remind the wingnuts how well received Theresa Heinz Kerry was in 2004? Kerry was portrayed as a worm who'd married up to bolster his political career. What about McCain? Did his P.O.W. experience earn him the right to be a philandering asshole?
@tinisoli
Noun verb POW!
John McCain.. a true Piece Of Work...
publius at Obsidian Wings understands why the houses matter (post pasted in its entirety below).
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/08/why-the-houses.html
It’s tempting, at first glance, to see the attacks on McCain’s house counting problem as trivial gotcha politics. Even assuming that’s true, I won’t shed many tears at this point — not after watching McCain rip Obama every day for the last month for excessively silly reasons. But there’s actually a substantive component to Obama’s attack — that is, there’s a reason why this stuff actually matters.
It’s not that being rich makes you adverse to the interests of working people. I mean, I suppose there are real-life Montgomery Burnses out there, but that’s not the issue with McCain. In his own head, I suspect he would sincerely like to help people.
The point, then, of the attacks is not to claim that McCain’s heart is in the wrong place, or that it’s two sizes two small, etc. The point of the attacks is epistemological. Being that rich for that long puts you in a bubble. Life is the sum of your experiences — the aggregation of your sensual interactions with the things around you. If you live in the world of the super-duper rich, that’s necessarily going to affect how you see the world.
And that's why McCain’s super-wealth is relevant — it shapes the types of experiences he has had on a daily basis. If you’re that rich, you never viscerally worry about losing your job. You never experience the anxiety of not having health care. You tend to be surrounded with rich people who have their own narrow experiences. In short, you get to live inside Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, except without pesky Death wandering the halls ruining everyone’s fun.
Again, it’s not that McCain has it out for working people. He just doesn’t know — he can’t possibly know — what these people are experiencing. And if you don’t think there’s much of a problem, you’re not going to have the fire in your belly that you need to wake up each morning to help people.
That doesn’t mean of course that rich people can’t or don’t help working people — lots of them do. It just makes it harder to believe that they’ll make it a priority, particularly if there’s no evidence that they’ve ever tried in the past. And that’s what you have with McCain — a superrich person who has never made it a priority to help working people. Whatever his subjective motivations may be, all his economic policies help rich people and allocate them even more money. There’s no reason to think he’ll act any different as President. (Yes, many Democrats are rich, but many of them also don't put forth the effort and political capital necessary to really help the working poor -- maybe because they too lack a sense of urgency).
All that said, Obama’s attacks aren’t this intellectual — there’s a lot of gut-based resentment going on. But given the extreme and growing rates of inequality in this country, maybe a few pitchforks now and then aren’t the worst thing in the world.