It seems none of the competing advisers working on Sen. John McCain's
presidential campaign can actually agree who is in charge.
The New York Times reports "it is becoming clear that his campaign is once again a swirl of
competing spheres of influence, clusters of friends, consultants and
media advisers who represent a matrix of clashing ambitions and
festering feuds... His orbit remains filled with people who have been demoted without being told they are being demoted."
In fact, this morning on Fox News, McCain himself denied that Steve Schmidt now runs his campaign -- despite his recent promotion -- saying "Rick Davis is still the guy in charge." He added that Schmidt has simply "taken on some more responsibilities."
Meanwhile, the New Republic reports the McCain campaign is "pushing back" on informed speculation
that GOP consultant Mike Murphy would soon join the campaign -- even
though McCain reportedly offered him the top strategist job last week.
As TNR puts it: "Of course, McCain himself could take control of
the situation by calling all of his competing advisors together and
ordering them to work together. But that would be a dramatic break with
past practice. As the former McCain advisor puts it, 'McCain's style
is, call everyone into a room, say you guys work it out, and then turn
off the lights. And then throw in a knife.' The question going forward
for Murphy -- or anyone, for that matter, who wants to run the McCain
campaign -- seems to be whether he can grab that knife before somebody
else does."
![[RSS]](http://67.192.49.194/templates/images/rss_icon.gif){kind=icon}
Comments
"'McCain's style is, call everyone into a room, say you guys work it out, and then turn off the lights. And then throw in a knife.' "
Wow, that should be really fun to watch at the cabinet level. And just imagine at the Pentagon!
Funny how Obama's campaign doesn't seem to have these sort of infighting problems.
If how you run your campaign is a preview of how you manage the executive branch of our government, then this kind of thing makes one wonder who's the savvy veteran and who's the immature rookie who doesn't have what it takes for the job.
Posted by: katerina
| July 8, 2008 12:15 PM
This is what happens when tactics and strategy have to substitute for core policy. McCain has shown (drilling, gas tax) that he'll propose policy if it is expedient, that is, if strategists and tacticians tell him that 'hey, that would be a good policy.'
The problem isn't multiple factions, but that there is no clear message in McCain's campaign, nothing that serves as a 'reality principle' against which to test and evaluate policies and strategies.
So, if McCain isn't going to go in the room and say 'this is what we're doing and you guys figure out the best way to do it,' then it's going to be a very long and bloody campaign for McBush (in some respects, he'd have a tighter campaign if he just did run for Bush's third term!).
Posted by: rsl
| July 8, 2008 1:08 PM
Obama's campaign is running circles around these buffoons at Camp McBush. Steve Schmidt is working with no contract and no paycheck. Sounds to me like he wants to keep the "I'm outta here" option open.
McBush did offer the top dog job to Murphy who refused it, and explained to McBush that he could not possibly do what is necessary with the people McBush already has surrounding him. Let's put it this way for perspective, Charlie Black is one of the smart ones. And Cindy is there to add a touch of warmth and softness. His top two advisors, Gramm and Graham both have Gomer Pyle accents that 80% of the country associate (unfairly) with being a complete uneducated moron. And Leiberman is the attack dog in the long tradition of elderly Jewish tough guy brawlers.
No one is more frustrated than McBush himself. He knows that absolutely everything that could be wrong with his campaign is. But he is playing "the happy warrior." Just like Dole did. Dole was no dummy either and admited in post election interviews that his campaign was "dead on arrival."
Posted by: artigiano
| July 9, 2008 10:22 AM
Post A Comment